above Kun, the Receptive, earth · below Kiën, the Creative, heaven
This sign describes a time of peace, when much falls into place. Heaven and earth join, the small departs and the great draws near; the Judgement promises that it turns out well. It is a time of concord, when those in high places bend down to the lowly and all feuding comes to an end. A surge of power like this needs ordering, the way the year is divided into seasons. Plan your time and energy with care, encourage whatever is thriving now, and reach out to people you have found difficult until now. Don’t let the good time slip by unplanned.
What comes easily to you right now, and how would you put it in order so that it lasts?
The Receptive, whose movement sinks downwards, is above; the Creative, whose movement rises upwards, is below. Their influences therefore meet and are in harmony, so that all beings blossom and thrive. The sign is assigned to the first month (February to March), in which the forces of nature prepare the new spring.
Some old words keep coming back in Wilhelm’s sayings:
Peace. The small departs, the great draws near.Good fortune! Success!
In nature the sign points to a time when heaven, so to speak, is on earth. Heaven has placed itself beneath the earth. So their powers unite in close harmony. From this arise peace and blessing for all beings.
In the human world it is a time of social concord. Those in high places bend down to the lowly, and the lowly and humble are well disposed towards those in high places, so that all feuding comes to an end.
Within, at the centre, in the decisive place, is the light; the dark is outside. So the light has a powerful effect, and the dark is yielding. In this way both sides get their due. When the good in society hold a central position and have power in their hands, the bad also come under their influence and improve. When the spirit that comes from heaven rules in man, sensuality too comes under its influence and so finds the place that is due to it.
The individual lines enter the sign from below and leave it again at the top. So the small, the weak and the bad are in the act of departing, and the great, the strong and the good are on the rise. This brings good fortune and success.
Heaven and earth join together: the image of peace.So the ruler apportions and perfectsthe course of heaven and earth,promotes and orders the gifts of heaven and earthand so stands by the people.
Heaven and earth have dealings with each other and unite their effects. This makes for a general time of blossoming and thriving. This stream of power must be regulated by the ruler of men. That is done by division. Thus undivided time is divided by man into seasons according to the sequence of its phenomena, and all-encompassing space is marked off by human determination into the points of the compass. In this way nature, with its overwhelming abundance of phenomena, is limited and tamed. On the other hand, nature must be helped along in what it brings forth. That happens when its products are fitted to the right time and the right place. In this way the natural yield is increased. This taming and helping activity towards nature is the work on nature that benefits man.
Goethe expressed the same thought in the lines:
To find yourself within the infinite,you must discern, and then unite.
Wilhelm placed the signs ○ and □ after certain lines (p. 334 f.). They mark the rulers of the hexagram. □ stands by the constituting ruler: the line that gives the hexagram its meaning, however high it stands and whatever its character. ○ stands by the governing ruler. It is always of good character and becomes ruler through the meaning of the time and its position, usually in the fifth place. Where a line is both, it carries ○.
If you pull up ribbon grass, the turf comes along with it.Each after his own kind. Undertakings bring good fortune.
In good times, anyone who takes on a task draws others along at once, like grass whose roots are intertwined. Action on a large scale is possible now. Go out, take like-minded people with you and get something under way; what you undertake now turns out well.
In times of prosperity every capable man who is called to a post at once draws others of like mind after him, just as, in pulling up ribbon grass, one always pulls up several stalks at once that are joined to one another by their roots. In such times, when action on a large scale is possible, the capable man’s mind is set on going out into life and accomplishing something.
To bear the unschooled with mildness,to wade the river resolutely,not to neglect the far-off,to take no account of one’s fellows:so one may succeed in walking the middle way.
A time of flourishing calls for inner greatness: carrying imperfect people along too, without growing careless. Dare to do what is necessary, even when it is dangerous, attend conscientiously to what lies far away, and don’t form a clique with those you trust. That way you escape the gradual slackening that lurks in every quiet time.
In times of prosperity it is above all important to have the inner greatness to carry the imperfect as well. For a great master knows no barren material. He can still make something out of everything. This largeness of heart, however, is by no means carelessness or weakness. Precisely in times of prosperity one must always be ready to venture even dangerous undertakings, such as crossing a river, when they are necessary. Likewise it is a matter of not neglecting what is far away, but of attending to everything punctually. One must be especially on one’s guard against factions and cliques. For even if those of like mind come forward together, they must not form a party by sticking together; each must do his duty. These are the four things by which one can overcome the hidden danger of gradual slackening that lurks in every time of peace, and in this way one finds the right middle in action.
There is no plain that a slope does not follow,no going away that return does not follow.He who perseveres in danger is without blame.Do not lament this truth;enjoy the fortune that is still yours.
Everything on earth changes: decline follows prosperity, and what is bad can be pushed back, though it returns. This need not make you gloomy, only watchful in good times. Stay mindful of the danger, since whoever stays steady in it makes no mistake, and enjoy the good you have; as long as you stay inwardly stronger than your outward good fortune, it stays with you.
All things earthly are subject to change. Prosperity is followed by decline. That is the eternal law on earth. Evil can be pushed back, but not done away with for good. It returns. This conviction could make one melancholy. But it is not meant to. It is only meant to keep one from being blinded in times of fortune. If one stays mindful of danger, one remains persevering and makes no mistake. As long as one’s inner nature remains stronger and richer than outward fortune, as long as we remain inwardly superior to fate, so long will fortune stay true to us.
He comes fluttering down, not presuming on his riches,together with his neighbour, without guile and truthful.
Here people in high positions come quite simply, without parading their riches, to those who have less. They do it out of inner conviction, with no pressure from circumstances. Meet others openly and honestly, without guile, and don’t make others feel your rank; where the trust is real, closeness comes of its own accord.
In times of mutual trust, those in high places come down to the lowly together, quite simply and without presuming on their riches. This is not the compulsion of circumstances but answers to their innermost disposition. Then the drawing together happens quite naturally, because it rests on inner conviction.
The ruler I gives his daughter in marriage.That brings blessing and supreme good fortune.
The picture comes from an old marriage rule: princesses, who outranked their husbands, were to fit into the marriage like any other wife. It points to a truly modest union of high and low. If you hold more rank or power in a relationship, set it aside; that brings great blessing and turns out well.
The ruler I is Tang the Completer. He had decreed that the imperial princesses, although they stood higher in rank than the husbands they were married to, were to obey their husbands just as other wives did. Here too a truly modest union of high and low is indicated, one that brings happiness and blessing.
The rampart sinks back into the ditch.Do not call on armies now.Proclaim your orders in your own city.Perseverance brings humiliation.
The turn has come: the rampart sinks back into the ditch it was taken from, and disaster breaks in. Don’t strain against it by force; keep yourself intact within your closest circle. Whoever goes on resisting in the usual way only makes the collapse worse and reaps humiliation.
The change already hinted at in the middle of the sign has taken place. The town wall sinks back into the ditch from which it was taken. Disaster breaks in. In this case one must submit to fate and not try to hold it back by forcible resistance. The only thing left is to keep oneself intact within the narrowest circle. If, in the usual way, one were to persevere in resisting the evil, the collapse would only be worse, and humiliation would follow.
Would you like to put your own question to the I Ching? Six throws of three coins, and the answer appears straight away.
Consult the I ChingTexts by Richard Wilhelm: I Ging. Das Buch der Wandlungen (first edition Jena 1924), translated into English by NUMEN COMPASS from the Diederichs edition, Munich 1996. Wilhelm’s German text is in the public domain. The section ‘What the hexagram says today’, the question for you and the short notes under the lines are our own reading. The I Ching is no substitute for medical, legal or psychological advice.