above Gen, Keeping Still, mountain · below Li, the Clinging, fire
Right now it is about form and beauty, about how something looks and comes across. Beautiful form deserves to be taken seriously, and at the same time it has a limit: it is only ornament. Like the fire at the foot of the mountain, it lights up only what is near. Give a thing its beautiful shape once its core is sound, and enjoy it; in small matters it succeeds that way. Important questions, though, should never be decided by fine appearances; they need greater seriousness.
Where are you paying more attention to how things look than to the thing itself?
The sign shows a fire breaking forth from the secret depths of the earth and, flickering upwards, lighting up and beautifying the mountain, the heavenly height. Grace, beautiful form, is needed in every union, so that it becomes ordered and lovely rather than chaotic and disordered.
Some old words keep coming back in Wilhelm’s sayings:
Grace has success.In small matters it is favourable to undertake something.
Grace brings success. But it is not the essential thing, the foundation; it is only ornament. Therefore it may be applied only sparingly, in small matters. In the lower trigram, fire, a soft line comes between two strong ones and makes them beautiful; but the strong lines are the substance, and the weak line is the form that beautifies. In the upper trigram, mountain, the strong line takes the lead at the top, so that here too it counts as decisive. In nature we see in the sky the strong light of the sun. On it rests the life of the world. But this strong, essential element is transformed and given graceful variety by the moon and stars. In human life, beautiful form consists in the existence of firm, strong structures of order, standing like mountains, which are made pleasing by clear beauty. Contemplating the forms in the sky gives the ability to understand time and its changing demands. Contemplating the forms in human life gives the means to shape the world.
Note: The sign shows beauty at rest: clarity within and stillness without. This is the calm of pure contemplation. When desire is silent and the will comes to rest, the world appears as representation. And as such it is beautiful and removed from the struggle for existence. This is the world of art. But mere contemplation does not bring the will to rest for good. It will awaken again, and then all beauty will have been only a passing moment of exaltation. Therefore this is not yet the true path to redemption. That is why Kungtse felt very uneasy when, on one occasion when he consulted the oracle, he received the sign ‘Grace’.
At the foot of the mountain is fire: the image of grace.So the noble one proceeds when clarifyingthe affairs of the day,but he does not venture to decide disputed questions in this way.
The fire whose glow lights up the mountain and makes it graceful does not shine far. So graceful form is enough to cheer and brighten lesser matters, but important questions cannot be decided in this way. They need greater seriousness.
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 ○.
He makes his toes graceful, leaves the carriage and walks.
This line shows someone at the start who could get some relief on the quiet and would rather walk. Leave aside easy advantages that could only be had in dubious ways. Making your way by your own strength is the better attitude here, and the more graceful one too.
Being at the beginning and in a subordinate place means that one must take on the toil of making progress oneself. One would have the opportunity of obtaining some relief on the quiet (represented by the image of the carriage). But a person of inner integrity scorns relief obtained in such dubious ways. He finds it more graceful to go on foot than to ride in a carriage unlawfully.
He makes the beard on his chin graceful.
The beard moves only with the chin; it is ornament with no life of its own. So form counts only as an accompaniment to content. Do not cultivate outward appearance for its own sake, since that would be vanity; look first to the thing it is meant to adorn.
The beard is nothing independent. It can move only together with the chin. The image therefore means that form counts only as a consequence and accompaniment of content.
The beard is a superfluous ornament. To tend it for its own sake (without regard to the inner content it is meant to adorn) would therefore be a sign of a certain vanity.
Graceful and moist.Lasting perseverance brings good fortune.
This is a very pleasant situation, with grace and radiance all around you. That can adorn you, yet you can also sink into it. Do not let it lull you into comfort, and stay with your task for the long haul; then it turns out well.
One finds oneself in a most graceful situation in life. Grace and a moist, transfigured radiance surround one. This grace can adorn, but it can also make one sink. Hence the warning not to sink into moist comfort but to remain persevering at all times. On this good fortune rests.
Grace or simplicity?A white horse comes as if flying:No robber is he,He means to woo when the time is due.
Doubt arises whether to go on seeking outward splendour or to return to simplicity; the doubt itself already holds the answer. Confirmation comes from outside, like a white horse in flight. Choose what is simple, even if it means going without some comforts; in a faithful bond you find peace.
One is in a situation in which doubts arise whether one should go on seeking the grace of outward splendour or whether it is not better to return to simplicity. The answer already lies in this doubt. Confirmation draws near from outside. It comes like a white winged horse. The white colour points to simplicity. And even if at first it may seem disappointing to have to do without the comforts that one could obtain by other means, one finds peace in the faithful bond with the friend and suitor. The flying horse is the image of thoughts that soar beyond all bounds of space and time.
Grace in hills and gardens.The bundle of silk is paltry and small.Humiliation, but in the end good fortune.
Withdrawing from surroundings where only show counts, you meet someone you look up to and have little to offer them. That is humbling. Do not let it hold you back: the true intention matters far more than the size of the gift, and so it turns out well in the end.
One withdraws from dealings with the people of the lowlands, who seek only pomp and luxury, into the solitude of the heights. There one finds a person to whom one looks up and whom one would like to win as a friend. But the gifts one has to offer as a guest are only slight and meagre, so that one is ashamed. Yet what matters is not the outward gift but the true disposition; therefore all goes well in the end.
Plain grace.No blame.
At the highest stage all ornament is laid aside, and the content comes fully into its own, undisguised. This is the highest grace: a plain shape true to the nature of the thing. Leave out whatever merely decorates, and show the thing as it is; that is not a mistake.
Here, at the highest stage, all ornament is laid aside. Form no longer conceals content but lets it come fully into its own. The highest grace consists not in outward ornamentation of the material but in giving it a plain shape true to its nature.
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.