above Kan, the Abysmal, water · below Kan, the Abysmal, water
This is about danger that keeps coming back. Water is the model: it flows on through every difficult place, fills every hollow, shrinks back from no plunge and stays what it is throughout. If you stay truthful, says the Judgement, you succeed in your heart, and whatever you do meets with success. In danger two things count: thoroughness, so that what has to be done really gets done, and going forward. Take the next step fully and keep going. Don’t linger in the danger to brood; if you stand still in it, you go under.
What is the next step in your difficult situation that you can see through to the end?
The sign consists of the sign Kan repeated. It is one of the eight double signs. The sign Kan means plunging in. A yang line has plunged in between two yin lines and is enclosed by them like water in a ravine. It is the middle son. The Receptive has obtained the middle line of the Creative, and so Kan comes into being. As an image it is water, namely the water that comes from above and moves upon the earth in rivers and streams, and that gives rise to all life on earth. Applied to man, it represents the heart, the soul shut up within the body, the light enclosed in the dark: reason. Because the sign is repeated, its name carries the addition: repetition of danger. The sign is thus meant to denote an objective situation to which one has to grow accustomed, not a subjective attitude. For danger as a subjective attitude means either foolhardiness or guile. That is why danger is also called a ravine, that is, a condition in which one finds oneself like water in a ravine, and out of which one comes, like the water, if one behaves rightly.
Some old words keep coming back in Wilhelm’s sayings:
The repeated Abysmal.If you are truthful, you have success in your heart,and whatever you do meets with success.
Through the repetition of danger one grows used to it. Water sets the example of right conduct in such conditions. It flows on and on and simply fills every place through which it flows; it shrinks back from no dangerous spot and no plunge, and nothing makes it lose its own essential nature. It remains true to itself in all circumstances. In the same way, truthfulness in difficult circumstances enables one to penetrate the situation inwardly, in the heart. And once one has inwardly mastered a situation, it will come about quite of itself that one’s outward actions are attended by success. In danger, what matters is thoroughness, which really carries out everything that has to be done, and going forward, so that one does not linger in the danger and perish in it.
Used actively, danger can have an important meaning as a means of protection. Thus heaven has its perilous height, which protects it against every attempt at encroachment. Thus the earth has its mountains and waters, which by their dangers keep the lands apart. Rulers likewise use danger as a means of protection, to guard themselves against attack from without and unrest from within.
The water flows on without a break and reaches its goal:the image of the repeated Abysmal.So the noble one walks in lasting virtueand practises the business of teaching.
Water reaches its goal by flowing without a break. It fills every hollow before it flows on. So does the noble one. He sets store by goodness becoming a settled trait of character, not remaining accidental and isolated. In instructing others, too, everything depends on consistency. For only through repetition does the material become the learner’s own.
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 ○.
Repetition of the Abysmal.In the abyss one falls into a pit: misfortune.
Live with danger long enough and you learn your way around it and get used to what is bad, until it becomes part of your own nature. Then the right way is lost. Make sure a harmful situation doesn’t become a habit for you, or it turns out badly.
Familiarity with what is dangerous easily lets the danger enter into one’s own nature. One knows one’s way about and grows used to evil. With that one has lost the right way, and misfortune is the natural consequence.
The abyss holds danger.One should strive to attain only small things.
In the middle of danger you will hardly get out in one go. For now, be content that it doesn’t overwhelm you, and aim only for small things. Just as a spring flows sparingly at first, the way out into the open takes time.
Within danger one must not simply try to get out at any cost; rather, one must at first be content if one is not overcome by the danger. One must calmly weigh the circumstances of the time and be satisfied with small things, since a great success cannot be achieved for the present. A spring, too, flows only sparingly at first, and it takes a while before it makes its way into the open.
Forward and backward, abyss upon abyss.In such danger, first of all pause,or you will fall into a pit in the abyss.Do not act thus.
Here every step, forward or back, leads deeper into danger. Don’t let yourself be drawn into any action now. Pause, however unpleasant it is to hold out, until a way out shows itself.
Every step forward or backward leads into danger. Escape is out of the question. One must therefore not let oneself be drawn into action that would only take one deeper into the danger. Instead, however unpleasant it is to remain in such a situation, one must first pause until a way out shows itself.
A jug of wine, a bowl of rice besides, earthen vessels,simply passed in at the window.There is no blame whatever in that.
In times of danger the elaborate forms fall away; what counts is honest intent. Go ahead and introduce yourself, with little in your hands and no one to vouch for you, when it comes to standing by one another; that is not a mistake. And if you want to make something clear to someone, it is best to start with what is already obvious.
In times of danger, elaborate forms fall away. What matters most is sincerity of mind. Ordinarily an official needs certain introductory gifts and recommendations before he is appointed. Here everything is simplified to the utmost. The gifts are meagre, there is no one to recommend him, he introduces himself, and yet none of this need make him ashamed, as long as there is the honest intention of helping one another in danger.
Another idea is suggested as well: the window is the place through which brightness comes into the room. If in difficult times one wishes to enlighten someone, one must begin with what is clear and bright in itself and go on quite simply from there.
Note: The usual translation ‘two bowls of rice’ has been corrected on the basis of Chinese commentaries.
The abyss is not overfilled,it is filled only to the rim.No blame.
The water in the ravine rises only as far as the lowest point of the rim and flows out there, without piling up. The danger comes from wanting to rise too high. Take the line of least resistance. Great works won’t succeed now; it is enough to get out of the danger, and that is no mistake.
Danger arises from wanting to rise too high. The water in the ravine does not pile up but rises only to the lowest point of the rim, in order to flow out. So in danger, too, one need only proceed along the line of least resistance; then one reaches the goal. Great works cannot be accomplished in such times; it is enough to come out of the danger.
Bound with cords and ropes,shut in between dungeon walls ringed with thorns;for three years one cannot find one’s bearings:misfortune!
This is someone who has lost the right way in extreme danger and is getting ever more entangled in their own wrongdoing. They sit as if in fetters and for a long time find no way out. As long as they cling to the wrong path there is no escape, and it turns out badly; look honestly at where you have become entangled.
A man who in extreme danger has lost the right way and is incorrigibly entangled in his sins has no prospect of escaping from the danger. He is like a criminal who sits in fetters behind dungeon walls ringed with thorns.
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.