above Dui, the Joyous, lake · below Dui, the Joyous, lake
Joy is at work here, among friends, in conversation, in a cause you share. Two lakes that are joined do not dry up so easily, because each enriches the other. The Image speaks of friends who come together for discussion and practice. It takes truth and strength in the heart and gentleness on the outside; winning hearts through kindness achieves more than intimidation ever does. Seek out people who think as you do and bring your joy with you; then it succeeds. Keep it from sliding into unbridled merriment, because it needs constancy.
Who could you talk things over with, so that your joy and theirs feed each other?
Like Sun, Dui is one of the eight doubled signs. Dui signifies the youngest daughter; its image is the smiling lake, its attribute joy. Joy does not rest, as might well appear, on the softness that shows in the top line. The attribute of the soft or dark principle is not joy but melancholy. Rather, joy rests on there being two strong lines within, which express themselves through the medium of softness.
True joy, then, rests on firmness and strength within, which appear outwardly as soft and gentle.
Some old words keep coming back in Wilhelm’s sayings:
The Joyous. Success. Perseverance is favourable.
A joyful mood is infectious, and that is why it succeeds. But joy needs constancy as its foundation, so that it does not degenerate into unbridled merriment. Truth and strength must dwell in the heart, while gentleness shows outwardly in one’s dealings with others. In this way one takes up the right position towards God and men and achieves something. Mere intimidation without gentleness may in some circumstances achieve something for the moment, but not for long. If, on the other hand, one wins people’s hearts through kindness, one brings it about that they gladly take every hardship upon themselves and, if need be, do not shrink even from death. So great is the power of joy over people.
Lakes resting one upon the other: the image of the Joyous.Thus the noble one joins with his friends for discussion and practice.
A lake evaporates upwards and so gradually exhausts itself. But when two lakes are joined, they are not so easily exhausted, because each enriches the other. So it is in the field of learning too. Learning should be a refreshing and enlivening force. It can become this only through lively intercourse with like-minded friends, with whom one talks things over and practises applying the truths of life. In this way knowledge becomes many-sided and gains a cheerful lightness, whereas the knowledge of the self-taught always remains somewhat heavy and one-sided.
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 ○.
Contented joyousness. Good fortune!
This is a quiet joy, at rest in itself, that needs nothing from outside and is content with what there is. Stay with that contentment instead of reaching for more. It turns out well: it keeps you free of selfish likes and dislikes and gives you the calm assurance of a heart that is firm in itself.
A quiet, wordless joy, gathered within itself, that desires nothing from outside and is content with everything, remains free of all selfish likes and dislikes. In this freedom lies good fortune, for it holds the calm assurance of a heart that is firm in itself.
Sincere joyousness. Good fortune! Remorse disappears.
If the company around you holds out low pleasures, you face a choice. Stay with the sincere cheerfulness that comes from within you and take no delight in the rest; then it turns out well, and what you regret will pass. Once the people around you notice that such things give you no joy, they soon stop offering them.
One often finds oneself in contact with people of lesser worth, from whose midst pleasures beckon that are not fitting for the higher man. Were one to take part in such pleasures, remorse would surely follow; for a higher man cannot truly be satisfied with low pleasures. If, recognising this, one does not let one’s will be shaken, so that one takes no delight in that kind of thing, then not even dubious company will venture to offer one ignoble pleasures, since they would give one no joy in any case. And with that every cause for regret is removed.
Coming joyousness. Misfortune!
Here joy comes in from outside because there is emptiness within. Anyone who looks for diversion because they lack inner steadiness always finds the chance, and gets more and more lost along the way; this turns out badly. So look for joy within yourself, since only what comes from inside you will sustain you.
True joy must well up from within. But if one is empty inside, so that one loses oneself in the outside world, then pleasures come in from outside. That is what many people welcome as diversion. Those who, for want of an inner hold, feel the need for diversion will always find occasion to divert themselves. They draw outward pleasures to themselves through the emptiness of their nature. In this way they lose themselves more and more, which naturally does harm.
Joyousness that weighs and ponders is not at peace.Once the faults are put aside, there is joy.
This line shows someone caught between two kinds of joy, still undecided which to follow and restless because of it. Be clear with yourself that passion brings suffering, and choose the higher joy. Once that decision has been made, inner calm returns.
A person often finds himself midway between different kinds of joy. As long as one has not yet decided which kind of joy to choose, the higher or the lower, one is inwardly restless. Only when one has clearly recognised that passion brings suffering can one decide to put away what is low and strive for the higher joys. Once this decision is sealed, one has found true inner cheerfulness and calm, and the conflict within is overcome.
Sincerity towards what corrodes is dangerous.
This is about trust given to something corrosive. Such influences approach good people too, and whoever gets involved with them is worn down slowly but surely. Look closely at what is approaching you; if you see through the situation and stay on your guard, you come to no harm.
Dangerous elements approach even the best of men. If one becomes involved with them, their corrosive influence works quite slowly but surely, and inevitably drags its dangers along behind it. But whoever recognises the situation and is able to see through the danger knows how to guard himself and remains free of harm.
Seductive joyousness.
Here a joy beckons that sweeps you along, and no one is at the helm any more. If you are inwardly vain and unsteady, and do not withdraw from the lure of outside things, you leave your life to chance. Take the helm yourself again and pull away from whatever is trying to carry you off.
If one is vain at heart, one attracts the pleasures of diversion and has to suffer from them (cf. the six in the third place). If one is not inwardly firm, the pleasures of the outside world, from which one does not withdraw, act on one so strongly that one is carried away. Here there is no longer any question of danger, of good fortune or misfortune. One has let go of the helm of one’s life, and what becomes of one depends on chance and outside influences.
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.