above Li, the Clinging, fire · below Dui, the Joyous, lake
This is about opposition, between people or between two intentions. No great work can be carried out together like this, though in small things, through gradual effects, it turns out well. The Image advises keeping what sets you apart even amid fellowship, the way fire and water never mingle. Look for one small thing the two of you do well together, and stay who you are while you do it. Acting abruptly only sharpens the opposition.
What small thing still works despite the opposition, and could you start there?
The hexagram is made up of the upper primary trigram Li, the flame, which flames upward, and the primary trigram Dui, the lake, below, which seeps downward. These movements stand in opposition to each other. Moreover, Li is the second daughter and Dui the youngest. Although they live in the same house, they belong to different husbands, and so their wills are not held in common but directed towards opposite ends.
Some old words keep coming back in Wilhelm’s sayings:
Opposition. Good fortune in small things.
When people live in opposition and estrangement, no great work can be carried out in common. Their dispositions are too far apart. Above all one must not proceed abruptly, which would only sharpen the opposition; one must keep to gradual effects in small matters. Here good fortune may still be expected, since the situation is such that the opposition does not rule out all understanding.
Opposition, which in general appears as an obstruction, also has its good and important functions when it is a polar opposition within an all-embracing whole.
The oppositions between heaven and earth, spirit and nature, man and woman bring about, through their reconciliation, the creation and reproduction of life. In the visible world of things, opposition makes possible a division into kinds, and through this order comes into the world.
Fire above, the lake below:the image of opposition.So the noble one, for all his fellowship, keeps what sets him apart.
Just as the two elements fire and water never mingle, even when they are together, but keep their own natures, so the cultivated man, even in dealings and shared interests with people of a different kind, will never let himself be drawn into lowering himself to their level; for all that he has in common with them, he will always preserve his own character.
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 ○.
Remorse disappears.Should your horse be lost, do not chase it.It returns of its own accord.Should you see wicked people, beware of errors.
When opposition is just beginning, unity can’t be forced. Someone who belongs with you and drifts away over a misunderstanding will come back of their own accord if you let them be; don’t run after them. Someone who doesn’t belong and pushes in, on the other hand, you can simply tolerate without trying to remove them by force; they will leave by themselves, and what you regret will pass.
Even in times of opposition one can act so as to stay free of errors, so that remorse disappears. When opposition is beginning, one must not try to force unity; that would only achieve the opposite, just as a horse goes further and further away if one runs after it. If it is our horse, we can calmly let it run: it returns of its own accord. In the same way a person who belongs to us and, because of a misunderstanding, draws away from us for the moment will come back of his own accord if we let him be. On the other hand, one must be careful when wicked people who do not belong to us press themselves upon us (also as the result of a misunderstanding). Here the thing is to avoid errors: not to try to remove them by force, which would only create real enmity, but simply to tolerate them. They will withdraw of their own accord.
One comes upon one’s master in a narrow alley.No blame.
People who belong together inwardly sometimes can’t find their way to each other by the proper route because of misunderstandings. Then a chance meeting in informal circumstances may be enough. Make use of such an encounter without misgivings, as long as the inner bond is genuine; that is no mistake.
Owing to the misunderstandings, it is not possible for people who belong together by nature to meet in an entirely correct manner. In that case a chance meeting in informal circumstances may well be allowed to pass, provided only that the inner bond is there.
The cart is seen hauled backwards,the oxen held fast,the man with hair and nose cut off.No good beginning, yet a good end.
Sometimes it seems as if everything has conspired against you: you are held up, held back, even insulted and hurt. Don’t let it throw you, and hold fast to the person you know you belong with. It may start badly, yet it ends well.
Sometimes it looks as if everything had conspired against one; one finds oneself hindered and held back in one’s progress, insulted and injured (cutting off the hair and the nose was a severe and dishonouring punishment). But one must not let oneself be thrown by this; despite these oppositions one must hold fast to the person with whom one knows one belongs. Then, despite the bad beginning, the end will turn out well.
Left solitary by opposition,one comes upon someone of like mindwith whom one may deal in good faith.Though there is danger, no blame.
Anyone left isolated by an inner opposition to those around them may meet someone who fundamentally belongs with them. Give this person your full trust. Together you can overcome the dangers of isolation, your shared will succeeds, and despite the danger it is not a mistake.
If one is among people from whom one is separated by an inner opposition, one becomes isolated. But if in such a situation one meets a person who by his whole nature belongs to one from the outset, and to whom one can give one’s full trust, then one overcomes all the dangers of isolation. Our will succeeds, and one becomes free of error.
Remorse disappears.The companion bites his way through the covering.To go to him: how could that be an error?
Amid the general estrangement, a loyal companion whom you fail to recognise at first bites through the covering that divides you. As soon as this companion shows their true nature, go to meet them and work together. This is a duty, and what you regret will pass.
One finds a loyal person whom at first, amid the general estrangement, one fails to recognise. But he bites his way through the coverings that divide. It is then the duty of the one to whom this companion reveals his true nature to go out to meet him and work together with him.
Left solitary by opposition, one sees one’s companionas a swine caked in filth,as a cart full of devils.First one draws the bow on him,then one lays the bow down.No robber he, but a suitor in due season.On the way rain falls; then good fortune comes.
This isolation comes from within: you take your very best friends to be unclean and dangerous and go on the defensive. Check whether you are misjudging someone like this. Lay the bow down as soon as you see that the other person means well; then it turns out well, and the tension lifts the way rain breaks the sultry air before a storm.
Here the isolation through misunderstandings is brought about not by outer circumstances but by inner states. One misjudges one’s best friends, takes them to be unclean like a filthy swine and dangerous like a cart full of devils. One takes up a defensive position. But in the end one recognises one’s error, lays the bow aside and realises that the other is approaching with the best of intentions to form a close bond. So the tension is released. The union resolves the opposition, just as falling rain relieves the sultriness before a thunderstorm. All goes well, for at its very height the opposition turns into its opposite.
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.