above Kan, the Abysmal, water · below Kun, the Receptive, earth
This sign is about holding together and about who forms the centre; holding together turns out well. Every bond needs a centre, and being that centre is a serious matter that carries great responsibility. That is why the Judgement advises examining yourself once more. Ask yourself honestly whether you are equal to it. If not, join a group that already holds firm; that, too, is a duty. Don’t hesitate too long, though: for whoever comes too late, the Judgement says, it turns out badly.
Where in your situation is the centre around which everything is ordered, and is it you?
Water upon the earth flows together wherever it can, as in the sea, where all the rivers gather. This is a symbol that points to holding together and its laws. The same idea is suggested by the fact that all the lines are soft except for the firm line in the fifth place, the place of the ruler. The soft lines hold together because they are influenced by the firm will in the leading place, which is their centre of union. But this strong, leading personality in turn holds together with the others, in whom it finds a complement to its own nature.
Some old words keep coming back in Wilhelm’s sayings:
Holding Together brings good fortune.Search the oracle once moreto see whether you have loftiness, permanence and perseverance;then there is no blame.The unsure gradually come near.Whoever comes too late has misfortune.
The point is to join with others so that, by holding together, each completes and helps the other. For such holding together there must be a centre around which the others gather. To become the centre of a union of people is a weighty matter that carries great responsibility. It requires inner greatness, consistency and strength. Therefore whoever wishes to unite others around himself should examine himself to see whether he is equal to the task; for whoever tries to gather others without the seal of the one called to the task creates more confusion than if no union had taken place at all.
But where a real rallying point exists, the uncertain, who at first still hesitate, gradually come of their own accord. Those who come too late bear the harm themselves. For holding together, too, is a matter of the right time. Relationships are formed and grow firm according to definite inner laws. Shared experiences make them firm, and whoever comes too late and can no longer take part in these fundamental shared experiences has to suffer for it when, as a latecomer, he finds the door closed.
But whoever has recognised that union is necessary and yet does not feel in himself the strength to act as the centre of holding together has the duty to join another organic community.
Compare the distich: ‘Always strive towards the whole, and if you cannot yourself become a whole, join yourself to a whole as a serving member.’
Upon the earth is water: the image of holding together.So the kings of old granted the separate states as fiefs and kept up friendly relations with the feudal princes.
Water on the earth fills every gap and clings firmly to it. The social order of antiquity was founded on this principle of holding together between dependants and ruler. Water flows together of its own accord because all its parts are subject to the same laws. So human society too must hold together through a community of interests that lets each individual feel himself a member of a whole. The central authority of a social organism must see to it that each member finds his true interest in holding together, as was the case in the fatherly relationship between the great king and his vassals in Chinese antiquity.
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 ○.
Hold to him truly and faithfully: that is no blame.Truth like a brimming clay bowl:so at last good fortune comes from outside.
In forming a bond, truthfulness counts above all, a truthfulness like a brimming clay bowl, all substance and no empty shell. Be open and genuine, without courting anyone with clever words. Loyalty of this kind is no mistake; it turns out well in the end, because it draws good things to you from outside.
When it comes to forming relationships, complete truthfulness is the only right foundation. This attitude, represented under the image of a filled earthen bowl in which everything is content and nothing is empty form, does not show itself in clever words but through the strength of what is within; and this strength is so great that it powerfully draws good fortune to itself from outside.
Hold to him from within. Perseverance brings good fortune.
This is a bond sustained above all from within. Follow the call that comes to you from above, sincerely and steadily, and don’t lose yourself in it. Anyone who clings to others in an eager bid to belong throws themselves away; if you stay inwardly loyal, it turns out well, and you keep your dignity.
If one responds in a right and persevering way to the requests from above that call us to act, one’s relations with the other are first and foremost inward ones, and one does not lose oneself. But whoever seeks union by clinging like a careerist does not follow the path of the noble one, who preserves his dignity, but throws himself away.
You hold together with peoplewho are not the right ones.
Often you find yourself among people who don’t belong to your own circle. Don’t let habit sweep you into a familiarity that isn’t real. Stay friendly and sociable without creating closeness; that keeps you free for a later bond with people who truly suit you.
One often finds oneself surrounded entirely by people who do not belong to one’s own sphere. Then one must not let the force of habit carry one away into a false familiarity. That this would be harmful needs no saying. Sociability without intimacy is the only right attitude towards such people; only in this way does one keep oneself free for a later relationship with one’s own kind.
Hold to him in outward ways too. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Here the relationship with the person the community gathers around is already firm. So you may now show your attachment openly. Stay steady in it, and let nothing put you off; that turns out well.
Here the relations with a man who is the centre of holding together are already firmly settled. Then one may, and should, show one’s attachment openly as well. One need only stay firm and not let anything lead one astray.
Holding together made manifest.At the hunt the king has the beaters drive from three sides onlyand lets go the game that turns aside in front.The townsfolk need no warning. Good fortune!
The picture of the hunt in which the game ahead is allowed to escape stands for a person around whom others gather freely. Whoever comes is welcomed; whoever leaves may go. Don’t court favour or flatter anyone; cultivate purity and strength within yourself, then it turns out well, and the people who belong with you come of their own accord.
At the royal hunts in ancient China it was the custom for the game to be driven from three sides. On the fourth side the driven game could turn aside. Those animals that did not turn aside here had to pass through a gate behind which the king stood ready to shoot. Only the animals that came through here were shot. Those that turned aside in front were allowed to run. This custom matched the royal disposition, which did not wish to turn the hunt into a slaughter but brought down only the game that had, so to speak, offered itself of its own free will.
Here a ruler, or an influential man, is shown, to whom people are drawn. Whoever comes to him he receives; whoever does not come he lets go. He asks no one, flatters no one: they all come of their own accord. In this way a free dependence forms among those who hold to him. People need not forcibly hold themselves in check but can show their feelings without guile. No police measures are needed. They are devoted to their lord of their own accord. This freedom holds for life in general as well. One should not court people’s favour. If one cultivates within oneself the purity and strength needed for a centre of union, the people who are meant for one will come of their own accord.
He finds no head to his holding together. Misfortune.
Without a proper beginning there is no proper end. The line warns against the hesitation of someone who has already missed the boat and shies away from a full, honest commitment. Whoever goes on dithering like that regrets their mistake too late, and it turns out badly; make up your mind while you still can.
The head is the beginning. Without a right beginning there is no right end. If one has missed the moment to join and now keeps hesitating, shrinking from full and true devotion, one will regret one’s mistake too late.
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.