above Dschen, the Arousing, thunder · below Dschen, the Arousing, thunder
This sign is about the shock that goes through you like thunder, and the Judgement says that it leads to success. There is good in the shock, because mirth can follow fear: after ‘hoo, hoo!’ comes the laughter. Once you have come to know fear inwardly, you are safe from terrors that come from outside. The Image advises using the shock to set your life right and search within yourself. Ask yourself calmly whether the shock has touched something you wanted to change anyway. Don’t drop the sacrificial chalice: stay composed in whatever you are doing.
What has the shock touched in you that you wanted to change anyway?
The sign Dschen is the eldest son, who seizes power with energy and force. A yang line arises beneath two yin lines and thrusts powerfully upwards. This movement is so violent that it arouses terror. Its image is thunder, which breaks forth from the earth and by its shaking causes fear and trembling.
Some old words keep coming back in Wilhelm’s sayings:
Shaking brings success.The shaking comes: hoo, hoo!Laughing words: ha, ha!The shaking strikes terror a hundred miles around,and he does not drop the sacrificial ladle and chalice.
The shaking that rises when God comes forth in the depths of the earth makes man afraid; but this fear of God is a good thing, for it allows mirth and joy to follow. Whoever has learnt within himself what fear and trembling are is safe from being terrified by outside influences. Even when the thunder roars so that it spreads terror for a hundred miles around, one remains inwardly so composed and reverent that one does not break off the sacrificial rite. Such deep inner earnestness, from which all outward terrors rebound powerless, is the frame of mind that the leaders of men and rulers must have.
Thunder repeated: the image of shaking.So the noble one, in fear and trembling, sets his life rightand searches within himself.
Repeated thunder, by its shaking, brings fear and trembling with it. So the noble one always stands in awe of God’s coming forth, puts his life in order and searches his heart to see whether anything in secret runs counter to the will of God. So reverence is the foundation of a true cultivation of life.
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 shaking comes: hoo, hoo!Then follow laughing words: ha, ha!Good fortune!
The shock hits you first, and for a moment you are worse off than everyone else. That is only for the time being. Go through the fear; relief comes afterwards, and this very shock turns out well.
The fear and trembling of the shock come to one first, so that one finds oneself at a disadvantage compared with others. But this is only for the time being. Once one has come through the ordeal, relief follows. And so the very terror that one must first pass through brings, taken as a whole, good fortune.
The shaking comes with danger.A hundred thousand times you lose your treasuresand must climb the nine hills.Do not chase after them.After seven days you will have them back.
A shock brings danger and heavy losses, and resistance goes against the current of the time. Withdraw to high ground the danger cannot reach, and accept the losses. Don’t chase after what is gone. Once the unsettled time has passed, it will come back of its own accord.
This depicts a situation in which a shock puts one in danger and one suffers great losses. Conditions are such that resistance runs against the direction in which the time is moving and so meets with no success. One should therefore simply withdraw to high ground that the threatening dangers cannot reach. One must accept the loss of property and should not trouble oneself overmuch about it. Without one’s chasing after it, the property will come back of its own accord once the time has passed whose shocks robbed one of it.
The shaking comes and leaves one stunned.If one acts because of the shaking,one stays free of calamity.
A blow of fate leaves you stunned. At such times it is all too easy to lose your presence of mind, overlook what you can still do and mutely let everything happen. Let the shock stir you inwardly, and act; that way you overcome the outward blow without great effort.
There are three kinds of shock: the shock of heaven, which is thunder; then the shock of fate; and lastly the shock of the heart.
Here it is less a matter of inner shock than of the shock of fate. In such times of shock one all too easily loses one’s presence of mind, so that one fails to see any of the possibilities for action and dumbly lets fate take its course. If one lets the shock of fate stir one to inner movement, one will overcome the outward blows of fate without great effort.
The shaking runs into mud.
A movement gets bogged down: nothing offers real resistance, and nothing yields. Circumstances are as sluggish as mud, and every push is paralysed. Accept that your success here depends partly on circumstances, and don’t expect a breakthrough from pushing alone.
Whether inner movement succeeds depends in part on circumstances as well. If circumstances are such that there is neither resistance that could be fought with vigour nor any yielding on the part of things that would let a victory be won, but everything is tough and sluggish like mud, then the movement is paralysed.
The shaking goes to and fro: danger.But nothing at all is lost;there is only business to attend to.
The shaking comes again and again, leaving hardly any time to draw breath. Even so, nothing is lost if you keep to the centre of the movement. Stay centred and keep to what needs doing; then you won’t be tossed helplessly to and fro.
Here it is not a single shock but a repeated one, which leaves no time at all to draw breath. Yet even so the shock brings no loss, since one takes care to keep to the centre of the movement and is thereby spared the fate of being tossed helplessly to and fro.
The shaking brings collapse and fearful glancing about.Going forward brings misfortune.If it has not yet reached one’s own bodybut has only reached the neighbour,there is no blame.The companions have things to say.
When agitation reaches its height, it robs you of composure and clear sight, and going forward now turns out badly. Keep still until calm and clarity return, and withdraw in good time, while the unrest has only gripped the people around you; that is not a mistake. Those caught up in the agitation will be displeased with you; don’t let that sway you.
Inner shock, when it has risen to its height, robs one of reflection and clarity of sight. In such a shock it is of course impossible to act with deliberation. The right thing then is to keep still until calm and clarity have been regained.
But one is able to do this only as long as one has not yet caught the agitation oneself, while one can already observe its baneful effects in those around one. If one then withdraws from the action in good time, one stays free of mistakes and harm. But the companions, who in their agitation will no longer heed a warning, are sure to be displeased with one. Yet one must pay no regard to that.
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.