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HEXAGRAM 28 – Ta Kuo – Preponderance of the Great
Above TUI THE JOUYOUS, LAKE
Below SUN THE GENTLE, WIND, WOOD
This hexagram consists of
· four strong lines inside and
· two weak lines outside.
When the strong are outside and the weak inside,
· all is well
and
· there is
o nothing out of balance,
o nothing extraordinary in the situation.
Here, however, the opposite is the case.
The hexagram represents a beam that is
· thick and heavy in the middle
but
· too weak at the ends.
This is a condition that cannot last;
it
· must be changed,
· must pass,
or misfortune will result.
THE JUDGMENT
PREPONDERANCE OF THE GREAT.
The ridgepole sags to the breaking point.
It furthers one to have somewhere to go.
Success.
The weight of the great is excessive.
The load is too heavy for the strength of the supports.
The ridgepole, on which the whole roof rests,
sags to the breaking point,
because its supporting ends are too weak for the load they bear.
It is an exceptional
· time and
· situation;
therefore
extraordinary measures are demanded.
It is necessary
· to find a way of transition as quickly as possible, and
· to take action.
This promises success.
For, although
· the strong element is in excess,
· it is in the middle,
o that is, at the center of gravity, so
o that a revolution is not to be feared.
Nothing is to be achieved by forcible measures.
The problem must be solved by
· gentle penetration to the meaning of the situation
(as is suggested by the attribute of the inner trigram, Sun);
then
· the change-over to other conditions will be successful.
It demands real superiority;
therefore
the time when the great preponderates is a momentous time.
THE IMAGE
The lake rises above the trees: The image Of PREPONDERANCE OF THE GREAT.
Thus the superior man,
· when he stands alone, Is unconcerned, And
· if he has to renounce the world, He is undaunted.
· Extraordinary times
o when the great preponderates
are like
· flood times
o when the lake rises over the treetops.
But such conditions are temporary.
The two trigrams indicate the attitude proper to such exceptional times:
· the symbol of the trigram Sun is the tree,
o which stands firm even though it stands alone,
and
· the attribute of Tui is joyousness,
o which remains undaunted even if it must renounce the world.
THE LINES
0 Nine in the second place means:
A dry poplar sprouts at the root.
An older man takes a young wife.
Everything furthers.
Wood is near water;
hence the image of an old poplar sprouting at the root.
This means
· an extraordinary reanimation of the processes of growth.
In the same way,
· an extraordinary situation arises when an older man marries a young girl who suits him.
Despite the unusualness of the situation, all goes well.
From the point of view of politics,
the meaning is that in exceptional times
one does well to join with the lowly,
for this affords a possibility of renewal.
0 Nine in the fourth place means:
The ridgepole is braced.
Good fortune.
If there are ulterior motives, it is humiliating.
Through friendly relations with people of lower rank,
a responsible man succeeds in becoming master of the situation.
But if, instead of working for the rescue of the whole,
he were to misuse his connections to obtain
· personal power and
· success,
it would lead to humiliation.
Nine in the fifth place means:
· A withered poplar puts forth flowers.
· An older woman takes a husband.
No blame.
No praise.
· A withered poplar that flowers
o exhausts its energies thereby and
o only hastens its end.
· An older woman
o may marry once more, but
o no renewal takes place.
Everything remains barren.
Thus, though all the amenities are observed,
the net result is only the anomaly of the situation.
Applied to politics, the metaphor means that
if in times of insecurity we
· give up alliance with those below us and
· keep up only the relationships we have with people of higher rank,
an unstable situation is created.
MOVING HEXAGRAM
HEXAGRAM 15 – Ch’ien – Modesty
Above K´UN THE RECEPTIVE, EARTH
Below KEN KEEPING STILL, MOUNTAIN
This hexagram is made up of the trigrams
· Ken, Keeping Still, mountain, and
· K’un.
The mountain
· is the youngest son of the Creative, the representative of heaven on earth.
It
· dispenses the blessings of heaven, the clouds and rain that
o gather round its summit, and thereafter
o shines forth radiant with heavenly light.
· This shows
o what modesty is and
o how it functions in great and strong men.
K’un, the earth, stands above.
Lowliness is a quality of the earth:
this is the very reason why it appears in this hexagram as exalted,
by being placed above the mountain.
This shows
how modesty functions in lowly, simple people:
they are lifted up by it.
THE JUDGEMENT
MODESTY creates success.
The superior man carries things through.
It is the law of heaven
· to make fullness empty and
· to make full what is modest;
when the sun is
· at its zenith, it must, according to the law of heaven, turn toward its setting, and
· at its nadir it rises toward a new dawn.
In obedience to the same law, the moon
· when it is full begins to wane,
and
· when empty of light it waxes again.
This heavenly law works itself out in the fates of men also.
It is the law of earth
· to alter the full
and
· to contribute to the modest.
· High mountains are worn down by the waters,
and
· the valleys are filled up.
It is the law of fate
· to undermine what is full
and
· to prosper the modest.
And men also
· hate fullness
and
· love the modest.
The destinies of men are subject to immutable laws that must fulfill themselves.
But man has it in his power to shape his fate,
according as his behavior exposes him to the influence
· of benevolent
or
· of destructive forces.
When a man
· holds a high position and
· is nevertheless modest,
he shines with the light of wisdom;
if he
· is in a lowly position
and
· is modest,
he cannot be passed by.
Thus the superior man can carry out his work to the end
without boasting of what he has achieved.
THE IMAGE
Within the earth, a mountain: The image Of MODESTY.
Thus the superior man
· reduces that which is too much, And
· augments that which is too little.
He
· weighs things and
· makes them equal.
The wealth of the earth in which a mountain is hidden is not visible to the eye,
because the depths are offset by the height of the mountain.
Thus
· high and low complement each other, and
· the result is the plain.
Here an effect
· that it took a long time to achieve, but
· that in the end seems easy of accomplishment and self-evident,
is used as the image of modesty.
The superior man does the same thing when he establishes order in the world;
he
· equalizes the extremes that are the source of social discontent
and thereby
· creates just and equable conditions. 1
