above Li, the Clinging, fire · below Li, the Clinging, fire
This sign speaks of dependence, of clinging to something or someone. That is no weakness: everything that gives light needs something to cling to, sun and moon to heaven, grass and trees to the earth. The Judgement speaks of caring for the cow, the symbol of utmost docility; if you acknowledge your own dependence, you gain clarity without sharpness. Get clear about which people, tasks and values you depend on, and look after those bonds with care; with perseverance it turns out well. Trying to shine entirely by your own power would mean burning yourself out.
What do you cling to, and does it give you something to hold on to, or take away your light?
This sign, too, is a double sign. The single sign Li means ‘clinging to something’, ‘being conditioned’, ‘resting on something’, ‘brightness’. A dark line clings to a light line above and below: the image of an empty space between two strong lines, through which these become bright. It is the middle daughter. The Creative has taken the central line of the Receptive into itself, and so Li comes into being. As an image it is fire. Fire has no definite shape but clings to the things that burn, and so it is bright. Just as water comes down from heaven, so fire blazes up from the earth. Whereas Kan means the soul enclosed in the body, Li means nature in its transfiguration.
Some old words keep coming back in Wilhelm’s sayings:
The Clinging. It is favourable to persevere.It brings success. Care of the cow brings good fortune.
The dark clings to the light and so completes its brightness. As the bright radiates light, it needs something persevering within, so that it does not burn itself out entirely but can shine lastingly. Everything that gives light in the world depends on something to which it clings, so that it can shine lastingly.
Thus sun and moon cling to heaven; grain, grass and trees cling to the earth. Thus the twofold clarity of the man called to his task clings to what is right, and so he is able to shape the world. When man, who stands in the world conditioned and not independent, acknowledges this condition and makes himself dependent on the harmonious and good forces of the world’s order, he has success. The cow is the symbol of utmost docility. By cultivating this docility and willing dependence in himself, man attains clarity without sharpness and finds his place in the world.
Note: It is a remarkable coincidence, and one worth noting, that here, just as in the Parsi religion, fire and the care of the cow are linked with each other.
Brightness rises twice: the image of fire.So the great man, by carrying this brightness on, lights up the four regions of the world.
Each of the two single signs represents the sun in the course of one day. What is represented, then, is a repeated activity of the sun. This points to the working of light in time. The great man carries on the work of nature in the human world. Through the clarity of his nature he causes the light to spread ever further and to penetrate human nature ever more deeply from within.
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 ○.
The footprints run criss-cross.If one is earnest about it: no blame.
Early morning: work is starting, impressions run criss-cross and everything is hurry and bustle. Keep your inner composure through it and don’t let the turmoil sweep you along. Taking it this seriously is no mistake; it matters most at the very beginning, because the beginning holds the seeds of all that comes after.
It is early morning. Work begins. After the soul has been shut off from the outer world in sleep, its dealings with the world now begin again. The traces of impressions run criss-cross. Hurry and bustle prevail. What matters here is to keep one’s inner composure and not to be swept along by the turmoil of life. If one is earnest and composed, one gains the clarity needed to deal with the many impressions that crowd in upon one. At the very beginning such composed earnestness is especially important, for the beginning contains the seeds of all that comes after.
Yellow light. Supreme good fortune.
The midday sun shines with a yellow light, and yellow is the colour of the middle and of measure. What is meant is a clarity whose harmony lies in right measure. Keep to the middle and avoid every excess; then everything turns out well.
The noon of the day has been reached. The sun shines with a yellow light. Yellow is the colour of the middle and of measure. Yellow light is therefore the image of perfect culture and art, whose highest harmony lies in measure.
By the glow of the setting sunmen either beat on the pot and singor sigh aloud that old age is drawing near:misfortune.
In the evening light you sense that everything passes, and many people lose their inner freedom over it: they celebrate all the more wildly or complain about growing old. Both turn out badly, because that way you waste precious time. Stay calm, do what needs doing and wait quietly for what comes; that is how you make your destiny secure.
Here is the end of the day. The light of the sinking sun recalls how conditioned and transient life is. In this outward unfreedom most people become inwardly unfree as well. Either transience spurs them on to all the more unbridled merriment, to enjoy life while it is still there, or they let themselves be carried away by grief and spoil the precious time for themselves with laments over old age drawing near. Both are harmful. To the noble one an early or a late death makes no difference. He cultivates his person, awaits his lot, and thereby makes his destiny secure.
Its coming is sudden;it flares up, dies away, is thrown away.
The image is a fire of straw: a restless, excitable person rises quickly, yet there is no lasting effect, and it all burns away again. Don’t spend yourself too fast. Use your strength so that it lasts longer than a brief flare.
The clarity of the intellect stands to life as fire stands to wood. Fire clings to wood, but it also consumes the wood. Clarity of intellect is rooted in life, but it can also consume life. Everything depends on how it is exercised. Here the image of a meteor or a fire of straw is drawn. An excitable, restless character rises quickly. But lasting effects are lacking. In these circumstances it is harmful to spend oneself too quickly and burn oneself out like a meteor.
Weeping floods of tears, sighing and lamenting: good fortune!
At the high point of life you could consume yourself like a flame. If you let go of fear and hope then, see how empty many things are and grieve honestly over it, you keep your clarity. Allow this grief; after a real change of heart, it turns out well.
Here is the high point of life. Without being warned, one would consume oneself in this position like a flame. If instead one gives up fear and hope, recognises the vanity of all things, and weeps and sighs out of concern to keep one’s clarity, then good fortune comes from this grief. What is meant here is a real change of heart, not merely a passing mood as with the nine in the third place.
The king employs him to go out and chastise.Then it is best to kill the leadersand take the followers captive. No blame.
Here strictness is meant to create order without punishing blindly. Tackle the evil at its root: remove what really does harm and leave what is harmless alone; that is not a mistake. The same goes for how you treat yourself, because trying to root out bad habits with too much severity succeeds no better than a court that is too harsh.
The purpose of chastisement is to establish discipline, not to let punishment fall blindly. The evil must be healed at the root. In the life of the state, the ringleaders must be removed but the followers spared. In one’s own self-cultivation, bad habits must be rooted out but harmless ones tolerated. For asceticism that is too strict, like punishment that is too severe, leads to no success.
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.