above Dui, the Joyous, lake · below Kun, the Receptive, earth
This sign is about gathering people around a cause or a person, in the family or in a larger community. There is a condition: whoever wants to gather others must first be collected within. So first get clear for yourself what you are really after, and then say it. Then the gathering succeeds, helped along by a great effort for the shared cause. The Image is water gathering in the lake above the earth until it threatens to break through; where many come together, strife arises easily. Don’t go in unprepared, and take precautions against the unexpected.
Are you collected enough within yourself to gather others?
The sign is related in form and meaning to the sign Bi, Holding Together (No. 8). There, water is above the earth; here, a lake is above the earth. The lake is the gathering point of water, and so the idea of gathering is expressed even more strongly here than in that sign. The same basic idea also follows from the fact that here two strong lines, in the fourth and fifth places, bring about the gathering, whereas there only one line, in the fifth place, stands amid the weak ones.
Some old words keep coming back in Wilhelm’s sayings:
Gathering together. Success.The king draws near to his temple.It is favourable to see the great man.This brings success. It is favourable to persevere.To bring great offerings creates good fortune.It is favourable to undertake something.
The gathering of people into larger communities is either natural, as within the family, or artificial, as in the state. The family gathers around the father as its head. This gathering is carried on through the sacrifices to the ancestors, at which the whole clan assembles. Through the collected devotion of those left behind, the ancestors are concentrated in their spirit, so that they do not scatter and dissolve.
Where people are to be gathered together, religious forces are needed. But there must also be a human head as the centre of the gathering. To be able to gather others, this centre must first be inwardly collected. Only through collected moral strength can the world be united. Such great times of union will then also leave great works behind them. That is the meaning of the great offerings that are made. And in the secular sphere, too, times of gathering call for great works.
The lake is above the earth:the image of gathering together.Thus the noble one renews his weaponsto meet the unforeseen.
When the water in the lake gathers until it rises above the earth, it threatens to break through. Precautions must be taken against this. In the same way, strife easily arises where people gather in great numbers; where goods are gathered, robbery easily follows. Therefore in times of gathering one must arm oneself in good time to ward off the unexpected. Suffering on earth mostly comes from unexpected events that find one unarmed. If one is ready for it, it can be prevented.
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 ○.
If you are truthful, but not to the end,there is now confusion, now gathering.If you call out, then after a single handgrip you can laugh again.Regret nothing. Going is without blame.
Wanting to join someone you look up to while letting many others sway you leaves you wavering. Say openly that you are struggling and ask for help; often one grasp of the hand is enough, and you can laugh again. Don’t let yourself be thrown off course; joining is right, and it is not a mistake.
The situation here is that one wants to gather around a leader to whom one looks up. But one is in large company and lets it influence one, so that one wavers in one’s resolve. So one has no firm centre for a gathering. But if one gives voice to this distress and calls for help, a single handgrip from the leader is enough to turn all distress aside. Therefore one must not let oneself be thrown off course. To join that leader is plainly the right thing.
Letting oneself be drawn brings good fortune and remains without blame.If one is truthful,it is favourable even to bring a small offering.
This is about hidden forces that bring together people who belong together. Don’t choose your way on your own authority here; give yourself up to this attraction. Where there is an inner bond, there is no need for elaborate preparations or formalities; even a small gesture is enough if it comes from the heart. That turns out well.
In times of gathering, one should not choose one’s way arbitrarily. Secret forces are at work that bring together the people who belong together. One must give oneself up to this attraction; then one makes no mistake. Where inner bonds exist, no great preparations and formalities are needed. People understand one another without more ado, just as the deity graciously accepts even a small offering if it comes from the heart.
Gathering together amid sighs. Nothing that would be favourable.Going is without blame. Slight humiliation.
Sometimes you look for a place among others only to find they have long since closed ranks; you are left outside, and that is untenable. Turn resolutely to someone who stands closer to the circle and can bring you in. Feeling a little humiliated at first, as an outsider, is not a mistake.
One often feels the need to join others, but everyone else around has already joined together, so that one remains isolated. The whole situation proves untenable. Then the thing to do is to turn towards progress and join resolutely with a man who stands nearer the centre of the gathering and is able to bring one into the closed circle. That is no mistake, even if at first, as an outsider, one is in a somewhat humiliating position.
Great good fortune! No blame.
This line shows someone who gathers people on another’s behalf and seeks no advantage for themselves. Work selflessly for the unity of the whole. Then it turns out very well.
Here a man is depicted who gathers people around him in the name of his master. Since he seeks no special advantage for himself but works selflessly for the common unity, his work is crowned with success, and everything turns out right.
If in gathering together one holds the position,that is no blame.If some are not yet truly part of it,supreme and lasting perseverance is needed;then remorse disappears.
Here people gather around someone who gains influence as a result, and some come only because of that position, without real trust. Using the position is not a mistake, yet there is no quick remedy for mistrust. Stay steady and faithful to your duty; in that way you gradually overcome the hidden mistrust, and what you regret will pass.
When people gather around one of their own accord, that is nothing but good, provided it comes unsought. It gives one a certain influence, which can be thoroughly useful. But of course this also opens the possibility that some will gather around one who do not come out of inner trust but only for the sake of one’s influential position. That is certainly regrettable. With such people there is no other means than to win their trust through increased, unwavering faithfulness to duty and steadfastness. In this way the secret mistrust is gradually overcome, and the cause for regret falls away.
Lamenting and sighing, streaming tears.No blame.
It hurts to want to join someone and have your good intentions misjudged. You may show your sadness about it; that is not a mistake. It is even the right way, because it can bring the other person to their senses, and you may yet find the bond you long for.
It can happen that one would gladly join with another but is misjudged in one’s good intentions. Then one is sad and laments. But that is the right way. For it may bring the other to his senses, so that one does after all find the bond one sought and has painfully missed.
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.