above Sun, the Gentle, wind · below Kiën, the Creative, heaven
This is a time when big things cannot happen yet: dense clouds, and still no rain. Small things are what work now, and in them you succeed. The way is friendly persuasion, with ‘firm resolve within and gentle adaptability without’, and the Image advises refining the outward form of your nature. Do the groundwork, pay attention to how you come across and how you speak, and win people over kindly, one step at a time. Trying to push things through on a large scale would be premature; that time has not yet come.
What small groundwork could you do now, while the big things are still out of reach?
The sign means the small: the power of the shadowy, which holds back, tames and restrains. In the fourth place, the place of the minister, there is a weak line that holds all the other, strong lines in check. Seen as an image, it is the wind blowing high in the sky. It restrains the rising breath of the Creative, the clouds, so that they gather densely. But it is not at once strong enough to bring them down as rain. The sign presents a constellation in which, for a time, something strong is held in check by something weak. If this is to meet with success, it can only come about through gentleness.
Some old words keep coming back in Wilhelm’s sayings:
The Taming Power of the Small has success.Dense clouds, no rain from our western region.
The simile is drawn from the state of affairs in China at the time of King Wen. He came from the west, but was then in the east, at the court of the great king, the tyrant Dschou Sin. The time for action on a large scale had not yet come. He could keep the tyrant in check to some degree only through friendly persuasion. Hence the image of abundant clouds rising, promising the land moisture and blessing, while as yet no rain falls. The situation is not unfavourable. There is a prospect of success in the end. But obstacles still stand in the way. For now one can only do preparatory work. One can have an effect only through the small means of friendly persuasion. The time for decisive action on a large scale has not yet arrived. But at least one succeeds, to a limited extent, in restraining and taming. To make one’s will prevail, firm resolve within and gentle adaptability without are needed.
The wind sweeps across the sky:the image of the taming power of the small.So the noble one refines the outward form of his nature.
The wind does drive the clouds together in the sky, but because it is only air, without a solid body, it produces no great and lasting effects. So in times when a great outward effect is not possible, nothing remains for a person but to refine, in small things, the way his nature expresses itself.
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 ○.
Return to the way. Where would the blame be in that! Good fortune!
If you press forward and meet resistance, here you turn back of your own accord to your own path. There is nothing wrong in that. Don’t force anything; stay where you are free to go forward or to draw back, and it turns out well.
It is in the nature of the strong one to press forward. But in doing so he enters the sphere of restraint. He therefore returns to the way that befits his situation, on which he is free to advance or to withdraw. Not wanting to force anything is good and sensible, and in the nature of things it brings good fortune.
He lets himself be drawn along into returning. Good fortune!
You want to move forward, and the example of others who think as you do shows you that the way is blocked. Withdraw together with these like-minded people before you invite a rebuff of your own. That turns out well, and you don’t compromise yourself.
One would like to press forward. But before getting any further, one sees from the example of others of the same kind that this way is blocked. In such a case a sensible, resolute person will not first expose himself to a personal rebuff, but will withdraw together with the others of like mind when the urge to go forward does not suit the time. This brings good fortune, because in this way he does not compromise himself.
The spokes fly off the wagon.Husband and wife roll their eyes.
Whoever thinks a slight resistance can simply be overrun gets no further here than a wagon whose spokes have flown off. Circumstances are stronger, and if you refuse to accept that, you end up in irritable quarrels like husband and wife. Don’t try to force anything; the easy victory you hoped for becomes a rebuff, and you lose face.
Here an attempt is made to push forward by force, in the knowledge that the restraining power is only slight. But since, as circumstances stand, it is in fact the weak that holds the power, this attempt to take it by surprise is bound to fail. External circumstances prevent progress, just as a wagon cannot move forward when its spokes fly off. One does not yet submit to this hint from fate. Hence there are angry quarrels, as between husband and wife. This is of course not a favourable state of affairs; for even if, thanks to the situation, the weaker party succeeds in holding on, too many difficulties are bound up with it for the result to be a happy one. As a consequence, the strong one too cannot use his strength to exert the right influence on his surroundings. He has met with a rebuff where he hoped for an easy victory; in this he has lost face.
If you are truthful, blood vanishes and fear recedes.No blame.
A hard position: whoever stands at a powerful person’s side as adviser and is meant to rein them in runs a great risk. Against this stands the power of selfless truth. Stay honest and seek nothing for yourself; that is not a mistake, and it makes such an impression that the danger gives way and the fear fades.
In a difficult position of responsibility, one is to tame the powerful man at whose side one stands as guide, so that what is right is done. In this lies a great danger, so great that even bloodshed is to be feared. But the power of selfless truth is greater than all these obstacles. It makes such an impression that one brings one’s efforts to a successful end, and all danger of bloodshed and all fear vanish.
If you are truthful and loyally bound,you are rich in your neighbour.
Here loyalty binds two people firmly together because each completes the other: the weaker is devoted, the stronger is reliable. Share what you have with the people close to you. Wealth only truly shows itself when it is held in common; joy shared is joy doubled.
Loyalty leads to a firm bond, because it rests on each side completing the other. In the weaker party loyalty consists in devotion, in the stronger in reliability. This mutual completion leads to true wealth, which shows itself as such all the more when one does not keep it to oneself but shares it with one’s neighbour. Joy shared is joy doubled.
Rain comes, and rest comes.This is owed to the lasting effect of character.Through perseverance the woman runs into danger.The moon is almost full. If the noble one presses on,misfortune comes.
The rain has fallen: a success has been won, gathered piece by piece from many small effects. A success of exactly this kind needs caution. Don’t insist on it, and be content with what you have achieved; if you push on now, before the time has come, it turns out badly.
Success has come. The wind has gathered the rain. A firm standpoint has been reached. This has come about through the gradual accumulation of small effects that arise from reverence for a superior character. But a success gathered piece by piece in this way calls for great caution. If one now gave way to the conceit that one could boast of it, that would be dangerous. The feminine, the weak, that has won the victory must never stubbornly insist on it. That would bring danger. The shadowy power in the moon is at its strongest when the moon is almost full. When, as full moon, it stands directly opposite the sun, its waning is inevitable. In such circumstances one must be content with what has been achieved. To go further before the time for it has come would bring misfortune.
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.