above Dui, the Joyous, lake · below Sun, the Gentle, wind
Here the load is too heavy for what has to bear it: the ridgepole sags. This exceptional situation calls for a swift transition, and the knot is loosened by gently penetrating to the meaning of the situation. First try to understand what it all hangs on, then act soon, even if it means standing alone. The Image speaks of being ‘untroubled’ when you stand alone and ‘undismayed’ when you must renounce the world. Nothing is achieved by force; with a clear aim, the transition succeeds.
What is the burden that has grown too heavy really hanging on, and what would be your first step out of it?
The sign consists of four strong lines within and two weak lines without. When the strong are outside and the weak inside, all is well and there is no preponderance; nothing out of the ordinary is present. Here the reverse is the case. The sign represents a beam that is thick and heavy in the middle but too weak at the ends. This is not a lasting condition. It must be changed, it must pass, or else misfortune threatens.
Some old words keep coming back in Wilhelm’s sayings:
Preponderance of the Great. The ridgepole sags.It is favourable to have somewhere to go.Success.
The great preponderates. The load is too heavy for the forces that bear it. The ridgepole, on which the whole roof rests, sags, because its supporting ends are too weak for the load. It is a time and a situation that needs extraordinary measures to be overcome, because it is itself an exceptional time. One must therefore take care to find a way across as quickly as possible, and to act: that promises success; for although the strong preponderates, it is nevertheless in the middle, that is, at the inner centre of gravity, so that no revolution need be feared. Nothing, to be sure, is achieved by forcible measures. The knot must be loosened by gently penetrating to the meaning of the situation (as the quality of the inner sign, Sun, suggests); then the transition to other conditions will succeed. It calls for great superiority; that is why the time of the preponderance of the great is a great time.
The lake goes clean over the trees:the image of preponderance in the great.So the noble one, when he stands alone, is untroubled,and when he must renounce the world, undismayed.
Extraordinary times of the preponderance of the great are like a flood, when the lake goes clean over the trees. But such conditions pass. The two single signs show the right bearing in such exceptional times: the image of Sun is the tree, which stands firm even when it is alone, and the quality of Dui is cheerfulness, which remains undismayed even when it must renounce the world.
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 ○.
To lay white reed grass underneath. No blame.
In extraordinary times every beginning needs extraordinary care, just as you lay reed grass beneath something heavy before you set it down, so that nothing breaks. Be very careful with the groundwork, even if it seems excessive. This caution is not a mistake.
If one wishes to begin something in extraordinary times, one must exercise extraordinary caution, just as one carefully lays reed grass beneath something heavy that is to be set down on the ground, so that nothing breaks. This caution may seem excessive, but it is no fault. All extraordinary undertakings can succeed only with the utmost caution in their beginnings and foundations.
A dry poplar sends up a shoot from its root.An older man gets a young wife.Everything is favourable.
An old, dry tree sends up a new shoot from its root: the image is of an unexpected renewal. An unusual partnership can turn out well too, if the people in it suit each other. In unsettled times it pays to stay close to ordinary people, because renewal can start with them.
Wood stands by water, hence the image of an old poplar that sends up a shoot from its root. This is an extraordinary renewal of the process of growth. The same extraordinary situation arises when an older man takes a young maiden to wife who suits him. Unusual as the situation is, all goes well.
Politically considered, the meaning is that in extraordinary times it is favourable to keep close to the lowly, for here lies the possibility of renewal.
The ridgepole sags: misfortune.
The line shows someone trying to force their way through a difficult situation and refusing all advice. So no one stands by them either, the load grows, and something breaks. Accept advice; in dangerous times, wilful pushing only hastens the collapse, and that turns out badly.
Here a personality is portrayed who, in times of the preponderance of the great, wants to force his way through headlong. He accepts no advice from others, and so the others are not ready to support him either. Thus the load grows until something has to bend or break. In dangerous times, wilful rushing ahead only hastens the collapse.
The ridgepole is propped up: good fortune.If there are ulterior motives, it is humiliating.
Here someone with responsibility masters a difficult situation through good relations with the people below them. Use those relations to save the situation as a whole; that turns out well. If you wanted to use them for your own power and advantage, that would be humiliating.
Through friendly relations with those below, a responsible man succeeds in mastering the situation. But if he wished to misuse these relations to gain power and success for himself, instead of caring only for the rescue of the whole, that would be humiliating.
A dried-up poplar puts out blossoms.An older woman gets a husband.No blame. No praise.
The dried-up poplar flowers once more and only exhausts itself in doing so: a last blossoming with no renewal. It is no mistake, yet it cannot last. In uncertain times, keep your connection with the people below you and don’t rely only on your ties to those above.
A dried-up poplar that puts out blossoms exhausts its strength by doing so and only comes nearer to its end. An older woman takes a husband once more. But no renewal takes place. Everything remains barren. So, though all is done honourably, nothing remains but the oddity of it.
Politically, the suggestion is that if in uncertain times one gives up one’s connection with those below and holds only to one’s relations with the higher ranks, a condition is created that cannot last.
One must go through the water. It goes over one’s head:misfortune. No blame.
The extraordinary has risen to its height: someone wants to accomplish their task at any cost, and the danger closes over their head. That turns out badly. Yet standing up for what is good and right in this is still not a mistake. If the water is up to your own neck, don’t face it alone.
Here the situation is portrayed in which the extraordinary has risen to its height. One is courageous and wants to accomplish one’s task at all costs. This brings one into danger. The water goes over one’s head. That is the misfortune. But to give one’s life for the sake of carrying through what is good and right incurs no blame. There are things more important than life.
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.