above Gen, Keeping Still, mountain · below Kiën, the Creative, heaven
This sign speaks of gathered strength: knowledge, experience or resources pressing to get out. Heaven in the midst of the mountain points to hidden treasure. The words and deeds of the past have something to teach you that can make your character firm, and daily renewal belongs with it, since that is the only way to stay at the height of your strength. Each day, put a little of what you have gathered to use and take it out into the world; not eating at home, says the Judgement, turns out well. The danger would be to keep gathering and never use any of it.
What have you stored up in yourself that you aren’t yet bringing to your question?
The ‘Creative’ is tamed by ‘Keeping Still’. This gives great strength, quite unlike No. 9, where only the ‘Gentle’ tames the ‘Creative’. Whereas there a single weak line is to tame the five strong ones, here there are two, the prince as well as the minister. Their power to tame is therefore far greater. The sign carries a threefold meaning. Heaven in the midst of the mountain gives the idea of holding firm in the sense of holding together; the sign Gen, which holds the sign Kiën still, gives the idea of holding firm in the sense of holding back. Finally, since a strong line at the top is the ruler of the sign, honoured and cared for as a sage, there follows the idea of holding firm in the sense of caring for and nourishing. This last idea comes into its own above all in the ruler of the sign, the strong top line, which represents the sage.
Some old words keep coming back in Wilhelm’s sayings:
The Taming Power of the Great. It is favourable to persevere.Not eating at home brings good fortune.It is favourable to cross the great water.
To hold fast and gather great creative powers, as the sign depicts, there is need of a strong and clear-minded man who is honoured by the ruler. The sign Kiën points to strong creative power, the sign Gen to firmness and truth; both point to light and clarity and to the daily renewal of character. Only through such daily self-renewal does one stay at the height of one’s strength. While in quiet times the force of habit helps to keep order, in great times such as these, when strength is being gathered, everything depends on the force of personality. But because the worthy are honoured, as is shown by the strong personality whom the ruler has entrusted with leadership, it is favourable not to eat at home but to earn one’s bread in public life by taking office. One is in harmony with heaven; therefore even difficult and dangerous undertakings succeed, such as crossing the great water.
Heaven in the midst of the mountain:the image of the taming power of the great.So the noble one comes to know many words of former timesand deeds of the past,so as to make his character firm by them.
Heaven in the midst of the mountain points to hidden treasures. In the same way a treasure lies hidden in the words and deeds of the past, which can be used to strengthen and elevate one’s own character. This is the right way to study: not to confine oneself to historical knowledge, but to make what is historical present again and again by putting it to use.
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 ○.
There is danger. It is favourable to refrain.
You would like to press ahead hard, yet circumstances hold you fast. If you force your way forward now, it ends in trouble. Compose yourself and wait until a way out opens for the strength you have gathered.
One would like to press forward vigorously. But there is an obstacle in the circumstances. One finds oneself held fast. To force an advance would lead to misfortune. It is therefore better to compose oneself and wait until a way out opens for the gathered strength.
The axle blocks are taken off the cart.
Here the restraint is so clearly stronger that there is no point in fighting it. Give way for now and settle for waiting, the way you take the axle blocks off a cart. In that stillness the energy gathers for a vigorous advance later.
Here advance is checked, much as in The Taming Power of the Small (No. 9, nine in the third place). But whereas there the restraining force is slight, so that a conflict arises between what presses forward and what holds back, with the result that the spokes burst from the wheels, here the restraining force is decidedly superior. Therefore no struggle takes place. One submits and, for the time being, takes the axle blocks off the cart, that is, confines oneself to waiting for now. In this way energy gathers for a vigorous advance later.
A good horse following others.Awareness of danger and perseverance are favourable.Train yourself daily in driving the chariot and in defence with arms.It is favourable to have somewhere to go.
The way opens, and a strong will is pulling in the same direction as you. Stay aware of the danger all the same. Practise both what carries you forward and what guards you against unexpected attack, and keep a clear goal in view.
The way opens. The obstruction has ceased. One is in touch with a strong will working in the same direction. One makes headway like a good horse that follows another. But danger still threatens, and one must remain aware of it so as not to be robbed of one’s firmness. Thus one must practise on the one hand what carries one forward, and on the other what guards against unexpected attack. Then it is good to have a goal towards which one strives.
The guard board of a young bull.Great good fortune!
Before a young bull’s horns grow, a board is fixed to its forehead: that is how you tame wildness before it breaks out. Deal early with whatever could become dangerous later. That way you achieve a great deal with little effort, and it all turns out well.
It is this line and the next that tame the lower lines pressing forward. Before a bull’s horns have grown, a board is fixed to its forehead, which ensures that once the horns are there they can no longer do harm. It is a good way of taming to meet wildness that is about to break out before it shows itself; in this way one gains an easy and great success.
The tooth of a castrated boar: good fortune!
Here headlong urges are tamed by an indirect route: once the boar’s nature is changed, its tooth loses its danger. So with people, don’t fight wildness head-on. Go to its roots and remove what feeds it; that turns out well.
Here the taming of what presses impetuously forward is achieved indirectly. A boar’s tooth is dangerous in itself, but if the boar’s nature is changed, the tooth loses its danger. So too with people, one should not fight wildness directly but remove its roots.
One attains the way of heaven. Success.
The time of obstruction is over. Strength that has long been held back breaks through and achieves great success. If you were held back a long time and kept to your principles, you now find recognition; put to use what has built up in you.
The time of obstruction is over. The strength long stored up by obstruction breaks through and achieves great success. This is a sage who is honoured by the ruler and whose principles now prevail and shape the world.
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.