above Li, the Clinging, fire · below Kiën, the Creative, heaven
This sign is about having a great deal in your hands: influence, means or opportunities. The Image ties such possession to a duty: to check evil and foster good. How can the weak hold on to so much that is strong? ‘Through its unselfish modesty.’ Then things succeed on a large scale. Put what you have to work for the good, and manage it carefully. Beware of showing off what you own or using it only for yourself.
What do you hold in your hands that you could put to good use?
Fire high up in heaven shines far, so that all things come into the light and into view. The weak fifth line is in the place of honour, and all the strong lines correspond to it. Everything falls to one who is modest and gentle in a high place.
The meaning of the sign agrees with the words of Jesus: ‘Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth.’
Some old words keep coming back in Wilhelm’s sayings:
Possession in Great Measure: supreme success.
The two primary signs indicate that strength and clarity are uniting. Possession in great measure is ordained by fate and in keeping with the time. How is it possible for the weak line to have the power to hold the strong ones fast and possess them? Through its unselfish modesty. It is a favourable time. Strength within, and clarity and culture without. Power expresses itself with refinement and restraint. This brings supreme success and wealth.
One might think that the sign ‘Holding Together’, No. 8, would be more favourable still, since there one strong line gathers the five weak ones around it. Yet the judgement attached here, ‘supreme success’, is far more favourable. This is because those held together by the strong ruler there are merely ordinary subjects, whereas here the gentle lord has at his side none but strong and capable men as his helpers.
Fire up above in heaven:the image of possession in great measure.So the noble one checks evil and fosters goodand in this way obeys heaven’s good will.
The sun up in the sky, shining on all things earthly, is the image of possession on a great scale. But such possession must be rightly managed. The sun brings both evil and good to light. Man must fight and curb evil, and foster and favour good. Only in this way does one accord with the good will of God, who wills only good and not evil.
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 ○.
No contact with what does harm; there is no blame in that.Whoever stays aware of the difficultystays without blame.
Great possessions or success stand right at the beginning here, not yet tested and so still without fault. There are still many difficulties to overcome, though. Stay aware of them; that keeps you inwardly safe from arrogance and extravagance, and so you make no mistake.
Great possession that is still at its beginning and has not yet been put to the test is without blame; for there is as yet no occasion at all to make mistakes. But there are still many difficulties to overcome. Only if one stays aware of these difficulties does one become truly free within from the possibility of arrogance and extravagance, and so in principle one has overcome all blame.
A great cart to carry the load.Something may be undertaken. No blame.
The picture is a great cart that can carry a heavy load and travel far; it stands for capable helpers to whom you can entrust responsibility. What you have only counts once it can be moved and put to use. With able people at your side, you can take on something bigger and make no mistake.
Great possession consists not only in the quantity of goods at one’s disposal, but above all in their mobility and usefulness. Then one may put them to use in undertakings and remains free of embarrassment and mistakes. The great cart, on which much can be loaded and with which one can travel far, stands for capable helpers at one’s side who are equal to their task. On such people one can lay a great responsibility, which is necessary in important undertakings.
A prince presents it to the Son of Heaven.A small man is not capable of this.
A generous-hearted person does not regard what they own as theirs alone and makes it available to the community. Put what you have at the service of something larger. Whoever clings to it narrowly and wants to keep instead of give will find great possessions turning to harm.
It is the mark of a high-minded, liberal person that he does not regard his possessions as his exclusive personal property but places them at the disposal of the ruler or of the community. In this way he takes the right attitude towards possession, which can never last as private property. A narrow-hearted person, it is true, is not capable of this. For him great possession turns to harm, because instead of sacrificing he wants to keep.
Here the same principle is expressed with regard to possession as in the saying:
‘Whoever would keep his life shall lose it,but whoever loses his life shall keep it.’
He draws a distinctionbetween himself and his neighbour.No blame.
Standing between rich and powerful neighbours is dangerous. Look neither right nor left. Stay free of envy and of the urge to keep up with the others, and keep what is yours apart from theirs; that way you make no mistake.
What is described is a position between rich and powerful neighbours. This brings danger. Here it is a matter of looking neither to the right nor to the left, of staying free of envy and of the attempt to keep up with others. In this way one stays free of mistakes.
Another translation, which is generally accepted, would read: That would mean that one keeps free of mistakes by possessing as though one did not possess.
He does not rely on his abundance. No blame.
One whose truth is affable and yet dignified has good fortune.
Someone wins people over without pressure, simply through unforced sincerity, and they are honestly devoted in return. Gentleness alone is not enough, though, or insolence gradually creeps in. Stay open and approachable while keeping your dignity; then it turns out well.
The situation is very favourable. Without outward compulsion, simply through unsought sincerity, one wins people over, so that they in turn are devoted to one in sincere truth. Yet at the time of possession in great measure, gentleness alone is not enough. Otherwise insolence could easily creep in by degrees. This rise of insolence must be kept within bounds by dignity; then good fortune is certain.
From heaven he is blessed. Good fortune!Nothing that is not favourable.
At the height of wealth and power, someone here stays modest and honours the sage who stands apart from the bustle of the world. Whatever your success, stay truthful and devoted and hold the worthy in honour. Whoever does this finds that it turns out well; they stand under heaven’s blessing.
In the fullness of possession and power one remains modest and honours the sage who stands outside the bustle of the world. In this way one places oneself under the beneficent influence from heaven, and all goes well.
Confucius says of this line: ‘To bless means to help. Heaven helps the devoted; men help the truthful. He who walks in truthfulness, is devoted in his thinking and moreover holds the worthy in honour, is blessed by heaven. He has good fortune, and there is nothing that would not be favourable.’
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.