above Gen, Keeping Still, mountain · below Dschen, the Arousing, thunder
This is about what you nourish yourself with and whom you nourish. This covers both food and words, what goes into the mouth and what comes out of it, and both are to be tempered by stillness. If you want to get to know someone, he says, look at which sides of their nature they cultivate and on whom they bestow their care. Ask yourself the same: what do you cultivate in yourself, and whom do you support? Keep to due measure, in words as in eating; if you hold to that steadily, it turns out well.
What are you feeding yourself with at the moment, in words, thoughts and habits, and which of these is doing you good?
The sign is the image of an open mouth: the firm lips above and below, and between them the opening of the mouth. From the image of the mouth, through which one takes in food to nourish oneself, the thought passes to nourishment itself. The three lower lines portray one’s own nourishment, the bodily kind; the three upper lines portray the nourishing and care of others, the higher, spiritual kind.
Some old words keep coming back in Wilhelm’s sayings:
The Corners of the Mouth. To persevere brings good fortune.Look to nourishment and to what a man seeks to fill his own mouth with.
In bestowing care and nourishment, it is important that the right people are provided for and that one sees to one’s own nourishment in the right way. If one wishes to get to know someone, one need only observe on whom he bestows his care and which sides of his own nature he cultivates and nourishes. Nature nourishes all beings. The great man nourishes and cares for the capable, in order to provide through them for all people.
Mong Dsï VI A 14 says of this: If one wishes to know whether a man is capable or incapable, one need look at nothing other than which part of his nature he takes to be especially important. The body has noble parts and ignoble ones, important parts and lesser ones. One must not harm the important for the sake of the lesser, nor harm the noble for the sake of the ignoble. Whoever cultivates the lesser parts of his nature is a lesser man. Whoever cultivates the noble parts of his nature is a noble one.
At the foot of the mountain is thunder: the image of nourishment.So the noble one is heedful of his wordsand moderate in eating and drinking.
‘God steps forth in the sign of the Arousing.’ When the forces of life stir again in spring, all things come into being anew. ‘He brings to completion in the sign of Keeping Still.’ So in early spring, when the seeds fall to the earth, all things are made complete. This gives the image of nourishment through movement and stillness. The noble one takes this as his model for nourishing and cultivating his character. Words are a movement going from within outwards. Eating and drinking are a movement going from without inwards. Both kinds of movement are to be tempered by stillness. Thus stillness ensures that the words going out of the mouth do not exceed due measure and that the food going into the mouth does not exceed due measure. In this way character is cultivated.
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 ○.
You let your magic tortoise goand look towards me with the corners of your mouth hanging down:misfortune!
The magic tortoise stands for the ability to live freely and independently out of your own resources. If you give up that independence and look enviously at those who are outwardly better off, you harm yourself. Let the envy go; it earns you only scorn and contempt, and it turns out badly.
The magic tortoise is a creature that needs no earthly food but has such magic power that it can live on air. The image means that, by one’s nature and position, one could quite well live freely and independently out of one’s own resources. Instead one gives up this inner independence and looks up with envy and resentment at others who are outwardly better off. But such base envy only provokes scorn and contempt in the other. That is harmful.
Turning to the summit for nourishment.Leaving the path to seek nourishmentfrom the hill:to go on in this way brings misfortune.
The line describes living off the favour of people higher up, because inner weakness keeps you from providing for yourself, instead of earning an honest living. That goes against your own nature and is beneath you. Provide for yourself honestly; in the long run, depending on other people’s favour turns out badly.
The normal thing is to provide one’s own food, or to be nourished in a rightful way by those whose duty and right it is to do so. If, through inner weakness, one is unable to provide for one’s nourishment, a restlessness easily shows itself: bypassing rightful earning, one lets those of higher station grant one a living as a favour. This is unworthy, for one departs from one’s own nature. Kept up for long, it leads to misfortune.
Turning away from nourishment:perseverance brings misfortune.Do not act thus for ten years. Nothing is favourable.
Here someone is looking for nourishment that does not nourish, reeling from desire to enjoyment and, in the enjoyment, already craving more. This road never reaches its goal. Never act this way; if you keep to it, it turns out badly.
He who seeks nourishment that does not nourish reels from desire to enjoyment, and in enjoyment languishes for desire. A passionate frenzy to satisfy the senses never reaches the goal. Never (ten years is a completed cycle) may one act thus. Nothing good comes of it.
Turning to the summit for nourishment brings good fortune.Peering about with sharp eyes like a tiger,in insatiable desire. No blame.
Anyone who carries responsibility and has a lofty aim needs helpers, and looks for them with the eyes of a hungry tiger. Go after the right people with determination; that turns out well. Such zeal is no mistake as long as you put it to work for a shared cause and not merely for your own advantage.
Unlike the six in the second place, which stands for a man busily intent only on his own advantage, this line stands for a man in a high position who strives to let his light shine. For this he needs helpers, since he cannot reach his lofty aim alone. Eager as a hungry tiger, he is bent on finding the right people. But because he provides not for himself but for the community, such zeal is no fault.
Departing from the path.To abide in perseverance brings good fortune.One should not cross the great water.
This is someone who ought to provide for others and realises they lack the strength. Leave the usual path, then, and ask the advice of a person who is inwardly superior yet outwardly unremarkable. Stay aware of this dependence, and don’t take on any great ventures in your own name just now. If you hold steady like this, it turns out well.
One is aware of a shortcoming. One ought to provide for the nourishment of people, but one lacks the strength for it. So one must depart from the accustomed path and ask counsel and help of a man who is spiritually superior but outwardly unremarkable. If one holds to this attitude with perseverance, one has success and good fortune. Only one must remain aware of one’s dependence. One must not put oneself forward personally and seek to undertake great works, such as crossing the great water.
The source of nourishment.Awareness of danger brings good fortune.It is favourable to cross the great water.
This person is the source of what many others live on, and that means heavy responsibility. Stay aware of it. Then you may take on even large and difficult undertakings with confidence; it turns out well for you and for everyone involved.
Here is a sage of the highest kind, from whom proceed all the influences that provide for the nourishment of others. Such a position brings heavy responsibility. If he remains aware of it, he has good fortune and may confidently undertake even great and difficult works, such as crossing the great water. They bring general happiness, to him and to all.
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.