HEXAGRAM 56 – Lu – The Wanderer

HEXAGRAM 56 – Lu – The Wanderer

Above    LI    THE CLINGING, FIRE

Below    KEN    KEEPING STILL, MOUNTAIN

• The mountain, Ken, stands still;
  

above it

• fire, Li, flames up and does not tarry.
  

Therefore

the two trigrams do not stay together.

Strange lands and separation are the wanderer’s lot.

THE JUDGMENT

THE WANDERER.

Success through smallness.

Perseverance brings good fortune

To the wanderer.

When

• a man is a wanderer and stranger,
  
  • he should not be gruff nor overbearing.
    
• He has no large circle of acquaintances
  

therefore

• he should not give himself airs.
  

• He must be cautious and reserved;
  

in this way

• he protects himself from evil.
  

If

• he is obliging toward others,
  
  • he wins success.
    

A wanderer has no fixed abode;

his home is the road.

Therefore

he must take care to remain upright and steadfast,

so that

he

• sojourns only in the proper places,
  
• associating only with good people.
  

Then

he

• has good fortune and
  
• can go his way unmolested.
  

THE IMAGE

Fire on the mountain: The image of THE WANDERER.

Thus

the superior man

• Is clear-minded and cautious In imposing penalties, And
  
• protracts no lawsuits.
  

When grass on a mountain takes fire, there is bright light.

However,

the fire

• does not linger in one place, but
  
• travels on to new fuel.
  

It is a phenomenon of short duration.

This is what penalties and lawsuits should be like.

They

• should be a quickly passing matter, and
  
• must not be dragged out indefinitely.
  

• Prisons ought to be places where people are lodged only temporarily,
  

as guests are.

• They must not become dwelling places.
  

THE LINES

Six at the beginning means:

If

• the wanderer busies himself with trivial things,
  
• He draws down misfortune upon himself.
  

A wanderer should not

• demean himself or
  
• busy himself with
  

inferior things he meets with along the way.

• The humbler and more defenseless his outward position,
  
• the more should he preserve his inner dignity.
  

For a stranger is mistaken if he hopes to find a friendly reception

through lending himself to jokes and buffoonery.

The result will be only

• contempt and
  
• insulting treatment.
  

Six in the second place means:

• The wanderer comes to an inn.
  
• He has his property with him.
  
• He wins the steadfastness (1) of a young servant.
  

The wanderer here described is

• modest and
  
• reserved.
  

• He does not lose touch with his inner being,
  

hence

• he finds a resting place.
  

In the outside world

• he does not lose the liking of other people,
  

hence

• all persons further him,
  

so that

• he can acquire property.
  

Moreover,

• he wins the allegiance of a faithful and trustworthy servant –
  

  a thing of inestimable value to a wanderer.
  

Nine in the third place means:

The wanderer’s inn burns down.

He loses the steadfastness of his young servant.

Danger.

A truculent stranger does not know how to behave properly.

• He meddles in affairs and controversies that do not concern him;
  

thus

• he loses his resting place.
  

• He treats his servant with aloofness and arrogance;
  

thus

• he loses the man’s loyalty.
  

When

• a stranger in a strange land has no one left on whom he can rely,
  
  • the situation becomes very dangerous.
    

Nine in the fourth place means:

• The wanderer rests in a shelter.
  
• He obtains his property and an ax.
  

My heart is not glad.

This describes

a wanderer who knows how to limit his desires outwardly, though

he is inwardly strong and aspiring.

Therefore

• he finds at least a place of shelter in which he can stay.
  
• He also succeeds in acquiring property, but even with this he is not secure.
  

He must be always on guard, ready to defend himself with arms.

Hence

he is not at ease.

He is persistently conscious of being a stranger in a strange land.

Six in the fifth place means:

He shoots a pheasant.

It drops with the first arrow.

In the end this brings both praise and office.

Traveling statesmen were in the habit of

introducing themselves to local princes with the gift of a pheasant.

Here

the wanderer wants to enter the service of a prince.

To this end

he shoots a pheasant, killing it at the first shot.

Thus

• he finds friends who praise and recommend him,
  

and in the end

• the prince accepts him and confers an office upon him.
  

Circumstances often cause a man to seek a home in foreign parts.

If

he knows

• how to meet the situation and
  
• how to introduce himself in the right way,
  

he may find

• a circle of friends and
  
• a sphere of activity
  

even in a strange country.

Nine at the top means:

The bird’s nest burns up.

The wanderer laughs at first,

Then must needs lament and weep.

Through carelessness he loses his cow.

Misfortune.

The picture of a bird whose nest burns up indicates

loss of one’s resting place.

This misfortune may overtake the bird

if it is heedless and imprudent when building its nest.

It is the same with a wanderer.

If

he

• lets himself go, laughing and jesting, and
  
• forgets that he is a wanderer,
  

he will later have cause to weep and lament.

For

if through carelessness a man loses his cow – i.e., his modesty and adaptability – evil will result.

(1). [Literally, “perseverance”.]

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