above Li, the Clinging, fire · below Kun, the Receptive, earth
Things are looking up, and other people can see it. There is nothing suspect in that: the sun rises over the earth and shines all the more purely the higher it climbs. In his reading, progress depends on two people: the one who does not abuse their growing influence, and the one who furthers it without jealousy. Put what you have gained to work for the common cause, and when you see someone else rising, back them generously. Using your influence only for yourself would be the mistake.
Who else, apart from you, could benefit from your progress?
The hexagram represents the sun rising over the earth; it is therefore the image of rapid, easy progress, which at the same time means ever wider expansion and clarity.
Some old words keep coming back in Wilhelm’s sayings:
Progress:The strong prince is honoured with a great many horses.Three times in one day he is received.
By way of example, a time is described in which a strong feudal prince gathers the other princes around the great king in obedience and peace, and is richly rewarded by the great king and drawn close to his person.
A twofold thought is contained in this. The actual impulse of progress comes from a man in a dependent position whom the others regard as their equal, which is why they follow him willingly. This leader has enough inner clarity not to abuse the great influence he has but to use it for the good of his lord. The lord for his part is free of all jealousy; he showers gifts on the great man and keeps him close to him for good. An enlightened lord and an obedient servant: these are the conditions of great progress.
The sun rises up over the earth:the image of progress.So the noble one himself makes his clear gifts shine.
The light of the sun rising over the earth is clear by nature, but the higher the sun climbs, the further it emerges from the murky vapours and shines over an ever wider expanse in its original purity. So too the true nature of man is originally good, but it is clouded by its bond with earthly things and therefore needs purifying, so that it may shine in the clarity that is properly its own from the beginning.
Here is the theme that is treated at length in the ‘Great Learning’ (Daxue).
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 ○.
Advancing, yet rebuffed.Perseverance brings good fortune.If one finds no trust, one should stay composed.No error.
You want to move forward, and here you meet with rebuff and find no trust. Simply carry on doing what is right, and in the end it turns out well. Don’t chase other people’s trust at any price; stay composed and cheerful and don’t let yourself be provoked to anger. That way you make no mistake.
At a time when everything is pressing towards progress, one is still uncertain whether one may not meet with rebuff as one advances. Then the thing to do is simply to carry on in what is right: that brings good fortune in the end. It may be that no trust is shown one. In that case one should not strive for trust at any price; one must remain composed and cheerful and not let oneself be provoked to anger. In this way one stays free of error.
Advancing, yet in grief.Perseverance brings good fortune.Then great blessing comes to one from one’s ancestress.
Progress stalls, and you can’t reach someone in a leading position to whom you have ties; that brings grief. Stay steady all the same, and it turns out well. You will then meet with great kindness from this person, as gentle as a mother’s, and it is well deserved, because the affection rests on firm principles and has nothing to do with self-interest.
Progress is held up; one finds oneself prevented from making contact with the person in a leading position with whom one has ties. This brings grief. But in such a case one must remain persevering; then one will receive great blessing from that personage in a spirit of motherly kindness. This blessing comes and is well deserved, because the mutual affection rests not on selfish, partisan motives but on firm and correct principles.
All are agreed. Remorse disappears.
Here you move forward together with others whose agreement carries you and lifts you up. There is no need to regret that you can’t manage it by your own strength against every turn of fate: what you regret will pass. Go forward with the others and accept their backing; you don’t have to do this alone.
One strives forward, and does so in fellowship with others whose agreement lifts one up. Thus the cause for regret disappears, which might lie in lacking the independence to prevail alone against every hostile turn of fate.
Advancing like a hamster.Perseverance brings danger.
In times of upswing, strong people in the wrong place find it easy to scrape a lot together, like a hamster. Such conduct shuns the light, and right now everything that shuns the light comes to light. Give up this hoarding before it is exposed; anyone who keeps at it is heading into danger.
In times of progress it is easy for strong people, when they are in the wrong place, to scrape a great deal together. But such conduct shuns the light. And since times of progress are always also times in which the sun brings every light-shunning activity into the light of day, persisting in such doings necessarily brings danger.
Remorse disappears.Do not take gain and loss to heart.Ventures bring good fortune.All is favourable.
This shows someone in a position of authority who stays gentle and reserved in good times and does not grab every advantage. The reproach of having made too little of a favourable time fades; what you regret will pass. Don’t take gain and loss to heart; what matters more is that this keeps the way open for good and beneficial work, and what you undertake turns out well.
A situation is depicted here in which, in a time of progress, one holds a position of authority and is gentle and reserved. One might reproach oneself for not having made energetic enough use of the favour of the time and secured every possible advantage. But this remorse disappears. One must not take loss and gain to heart. They are secondary matters. What matters more is that in this way one has secured the opportunity for successful and beneficial work.
One may advance with the horns onlyto chastise one’s own domain.To be mindful of danger brings good fortune.No blame.Perseverance brings humiliation.
Going on the attack is allowed here only against the faults of your own people, and even then in the knowledge that it is dangerous. That way it turns out well. Don’t keep up this sharpness, though, least of all towards people further removed from you; otherwise it ends in humiliation.
Advancing with the horns, that is, going on the attack, should in such times as are meant here be directed only against the faults of one’s own people. In doing so one must remain aware that such aggressive action is always bound up with danger. In this way one avoids the mistakes that would otherwise threaten, and what one has set out to do succeeds. A persevering continuation of this all too energetic attitude, on the other hand, especially towards those further removed, will bring humiliation.
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.