above Kan, the Abysmal, water · below Li, the Clinging, fire
Something has been achieved, and everything is in its place. That is just when the effort tends to slacken, and this indifference breeds decay. Things turn out well at the start, and confusion threatens at the end, the Judgement says. This rule is no inescapable law: whoever understands it can avoid its effects through constancy and caution. Keep looking after the details, even when everything seems to run by itself, and prepare for trouble in advance, as the Image advises. Do not simply let things take their course.
What have you achieved that now needs care to keep it from decaying?
This sign is the unfolding of the sign Tai, Peace (No. 11). The transition from confusion to order has been accomplished, and now everything is in its place in detail as well. The strong lines are in the strong places, the weak lines in the weak places. This is a very favourable aspect. Yet it gives cause for thought. Precisely when perfect equilibrium has been reached, any movement may cause decay to arise once more out of the state of order. The one strong line that has moved upwards and so made the order complete in every detail is followed by the others, each according to its nature, and so the sign Pi, Standstill (No. 12), suddenly arises again. Thus the sign points to the conditions of a culmination, which make the utmost caution necessary.
Some old words keep coming back in Wilhelm’s sayings:
Success in what is small. Perseverance is favourable.Good fortune at the start, confusion at the end.
The transition from the old time to the new has already been accomplished. In principle everything has already been settled. Success can now be achieved only in matters of detail. Here, however, what counts is that one always keeps the right attitude. Everything takes its course as if of its own accord. This all too easily tempts one to slacken one’s effort and let things run on without attending to them in detail. But this indifference is the root of all evil. From it, signs of decay necessarily arise. What is set out here is the rule by which history usually proceeds. But this rule is not an inescapable law. Whoever understands it is able, through unremitting constancy and caution, to avoid its effects.
Water is above fire:the image of the state after completion.Thus the noble one ponders misfortuneand makes ready against it beforehand.
When the water hangs over the fire in a cauldron, the two elements stand in relation to each other, and power is generated as a result. (Compare the generation of steam.) But the tension this produces calls for caution. If the water boils over, the fire is put out and its energy is lost. If the heat is too great, the water evaporates and escapes into the air. The elements that here stand in relation to each other and so generate power are by nature hostile to each other. Only the utmost caution can prevent harm. So in life too there are conditions in which all forces are in balance and work together, and in which everything therefore appears to be in the best of order. In such times the sage alone recognises the moments of danger and knows how to ward them off by timely precautions.
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 ○.
He puts a brake on his wheels.He gets his tail in the water.No blame.
After a great transition everything pushes forward, and that urge easily carries you past the goal. Do not get caught up in the general momentum, and brake in good time. You may not stay entirely untouched, yet as with a fox that only gets its tail in the water once it is across, the damage is slight, and it is not a mistake.
In times following a great transition, everything is bent on progress and development and presses forward. But this pressing forward at the beginning is not good and surely leads to loss and a fall, because one overshoots the mark. A strong character therefore does not let himself be infected by the general giddiness, but checks his course in good time. He may then not remain wholly untouched by the disastrous consequences of the general rush, but it strikes him only from behind, like a fox that has already crossed the water and only gets its tail in it, and it cannot do him any real harm, since his conduct has hit the mark.
The woman loses her carriage curtain.Do not chase after it; on the seventh day it will be yours.
This line shows someone who wants to achieve something yet lacks the necessary trust from those in authority. Do not chase after recognition or throw yourself away on the outside world; wait calmly and develop your own worth. What belongs to you is not lost for ever; it comes back of its own accord.
When a woman rode in a carriage, she had a curtain that hid her from the eyes of the curious. If this curtain went missing, it would have been against good manners to ride on. Applied to public life, this means that when one wants to achieve something, those in authority do not show one the trust one needs, so to speak, for one’s personal protection. Especially in times after completion one may find that those in power grow proud and self-assured and no longer trouble to meet unknown talents with attention.
This, as a rule, gives rise to place-seeking. When no trust is shown one from above, one looks for ways and means of obtaining it and bringing oneself to notice. Such an unworthy course, however, is advised against. ‘Do not look for it.’ Do not throw yourself away on the outside world, but wait calmly and develop your personal worth on your own. Times change. When the six stages of the sign are past, the new era comes. What belongs to one cannot be lost for ever. It comes to one quite of its own accord. One need only be able to wait.
The High Ancestor chastises the Devil’s Land.After three years he subdues it.Base people must not be employed.
After a period of order, expansion often begins: a venture grows beyond its old bounds, and that brings long struggles. Prepare to hold out. Staff the new ground with capable people, and do not shunt anyone there who has worn out their welcome elsewhere; that spoils the success from the start.
The ‘High Ancestor’ is the dynastic title of the ruler Wu Ding of the Yin dynasty. After he had set the affairs of the empire in order with a strong hand, he waged long colonial wars to subjugate the northern border regions inhabited by Huns, from which incursions constantly threatened. The situation depicted is this: after times of completion, when a new power has arisen and all is in order at home, colonial expansion begins with a certain inevitability. As a rule, long struggles are to be expected. But in this a right colonial policy is especially important. One must not regard the hard-won territories as a means of providing for people who have somehow made themselves unacceptable at home but are still just good enough for the colonies. That spoils every success from the outset. This holds in great things as in small; for it is not only rising states that pursue a colonial policy. The urge to expand, and the dangers bound up with it, are never far from any enterprise that is on the rise.
The most beautiful garments become rags.Be on your guard the whole day.
In a time of flowering, an upheaval lays bare a hidden flaw that is quickly patched up and soon forgotten. Take such incidents as serious warnings, even if everything looks peaceful again afterwards. Stay alert and do not neglect them; only then can the harmful consequences be averted.
In times when a culture is in flower, there are always occasional upheavals that lay bare some inner damage in society and at first cause a general stir. But since the general situation is favourable, such damage is easily patched up and concealed from the public. Then everything fades from memory again, and it looks as if nothing but peace prevailed. To the thoughtful person, however, such incidents are serious hints, which he does not neglect. Only in this way can the evil consequences be averted.
The neighbour in the east who slaughters an oxdoes not receive as much real blessingas the neighbour in the west with his small sacrifice.
Great outward show is set here against a small gift given in earnest. More blessing rests on the simple, sincere gesture than on the grand yet cold display. In whatever you do or give, pay attention to your inner attitude; pomp cannot replace earnestness of heart.
The religious attitude, too, is influenced by the prevailing mood of the soul in times after completion. In place of the simple old forms, the services of worship are given ever richer elaboration and ever greater outward pomp. But this display of splendour lacks inner earnestness. Human caprice takes the place of the conscientious observance of the divine will. But while man sees what is before his eyes, God looks upon the heart. Therefore not so much blessing rests on the mighty but cold service of worship as rests on a simple, devout sacrifice.
He gets his head in the water. Danger.
Having come through a danger, you may stop to look back and admire yourself and still end up with your head in the water. Such vain self-regard brings no luck. Look ahead and keep going with resolve; if you cannot bring yourself to, it turns out badly for you in the end.
Here, at the close, a warning is added once more. After crossing a stretch of water, one can get one’s head in the water only if one carelessly turns back towards the water. As long as one strides forward and does not look back, one escapes this danger. Yet there is something tempting in standing still and looking back on the danger one has overcome. But such vain self-admiration brings no good fortune. It leads one into danger, and unless one resolves after all to press on without stopping, one falls victim to this danger.
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.