6 |
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5 |
T |
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4 |
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3 |
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3 |
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3 |
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2 |
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3 |
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8 |
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1 |
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7 |
HEXAGRAM 30 – Li – THE CLINGING, FIRE
Above LI THE CLINGING, FIRE
Below LI THE CLINGING, FIRE
This hexagram is another double sign.
The trigram Li means
- ¨to cling to something,”
- “to be conditioned,
- to depend or rest on something,” and also
- “brightness”.
A dark line clings to two light lines,
- one above and
- one below –
the image of an empty space between two strong lines,
whereby the two strong lines are made bright.
The trigram represents the middle daughter.
The Creative has incorporated the central line of the Receptive, and thus
Li develops.
As an image, it is fire.
Fire
- has no definite form but
- clings to the burning object and thus
is bright.
As water pours down from heaven,
so fire flames up from the earth.
- While K’an means the soul shut within the body,
- Li stands for nature in its radiance.
THE JUDGMENT
THE CLINGING.
Perseverance furthers.
It brings success.
Care of the cow brings good fortune.
What is dark clings
- to what is light and so
- enhances the brightness of the latter.
A luminous thing giving out light
must have within itself something that perseveres; otherwise
it will in time burn itself out.
Everything that
gives light
is dependent on something to which it clings,
in order that it may continue to shine.
Thus
- sun and moon cling to heaven, and
- grain, grass, and trees cling to the earth.
So too
the twofold clarity of the dedicated man
- clings to what is right and thereby
- can shape the world.
Human life on earth is conditioned and unfree, and,
when man
- recognizes this limitation and
- makes himself dependent upon the harmonious and beneficent forces of the cosmos,
he achieves success.
The cow is the symbol of extreme docility.
By cultivating in himself an attitude of
- compliance and
- voluntary dependence,
man
- acquires clarity without sharpness and
- finds his place in the world. 1
THE IMAGE
That which is bright rises twice: The image of FIRE.
Thus the great man, by perpetuating this brightness,
Illumines the four quarters of the world.
Each of the two trigrams represents the sun in the course of a day.
The two together represent the repeated movement of the sun,
the function of light with respect to time.
The great man continues the work of nature in the human world.
Through the clarity of his nature
he causes the light
- to spread farther and farther and
- to penetrate the nature of man ever more deeply.
THE LINES
0 Six in the fifth place means:
Tears in floods,
- sighing and
- lamenting.
Good fortune.
Here the zenith of life has been reached.
Were there no warning,
one would at this point consume oneself like a flame.
Instead,
understanding the vanity of all things,
one may
- put aside both hope and fear, and
- sigh and lament:
if one is intent on retaining his clarity of mind,
good fortune will come from this grief.
For here we are dealing
- not with a passing mood, as in the nine in the third place,
- but with a real change of heart.
MOVING HEXAGRAM
HEXAGRAMA 13 – T’ung Jen – Fellowship with Men
Above CH’IEN THE CREATIVE, HEAVEN
Below LI THE CLINGING, FLAME
The image
-
of the upper trigram Ch’ien is heaven, and that
-
of the lower, Li, is flame.
It is the nature of fire to flame up to heaven.
This gives the idea of fellowship.
It is the second line that, by virtue of its central character,
unites the five strong lines around it.
This hexagram forms a complement to Shih, THE ARMY (7).
-
In the latter, danger is within and obedience without –
the character of a warlike army, which, in order to hold together, needs
one strong man among the many who are weak.
-
Here, clarity is within and strength without –
the character of a peaceful union of men, which, in order to hold together, needs
one yielding nature among many firm persons.
THE JUDGMENT
FELLOWSHIP WITH MEN in the open.
Success.
It furthers one to cross the great water.
The perseverance of the superior man furthers.
True fellowship among men must be based upon a concern that is universal.
It is
not the private interests of the individual that create lasting fellowship among men,
but rather the goals of humanity.
That is why it is said that fellowship with men in the open succeeds.
If unity of this kind prevails,
even difficult and dangerous tasks, such as crossing the great water,
can be accomplished.
But in order to bring about this sort of fellowship,
a persevering and enlightened leader is needed –
a man with
-
clear, convincing, and inspiring aims and
-
the strength to carry them out.
-
(The inner trigram means clarity;
-
the outer, strength.)
THE IMAGE
Heaven together with fire: The image of FELLOWSHIP WITH MEN.
Thus the superior man
-
organizes the clans And
-
makes distinctions between things.
Heaven
-
has the same direction of movement as fire,
-
yet it is different from fire.
Just as
-
the luminaries in the sky serve for the systematic division and arrangement of time,
so
-
human society and all things that really belong together must be organically arranged.
Fellowship should not be a mere mingling, of individuals or of things –
that would be chaos, not fellowship.
If fellowship is to lead to order, there must be organization within diversity.