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HEXAGRAM 58 – Tui – The Joyous, Lake

Above    TUI    THE JOYOUS, LAKE

Below    TUI    THE JOYOUS, LAKE

• This hexagram,
  
• like Sun,
  

is one of the eight formed by doubling of a trigram.

The trigram Tui denotes the youngest daughter;

it is symbolized by the smiling lake, and

its attribute is joyousness.

Contrary to appearances,

• it is not the yielding quality of the top line that accounts for joy here.
  
• The attribute of the yielding or dark principle is
  
  • not joy
    
  • but melancholy.
    

However,

JOY is indicated by the fact that

there are two strong lines within,

expressing themselves through the medium of gentleness.

 

True joy, therefore,

• rests on firmness and strength within,
  
• manifesting itself outwardly as yielding and gentle.
  

 

THE JUDGMENT

THE JOYOUS.

Success.

Perseverance is favorable.

The joyous mood

• is infectious
  

and therefore

• brings success.
  

But

• joy must be based on steadfastness
  

if

• it is not to degenerate into uncontrolled mirth.
  

• Truth and strength must dwell in the heart,
  

while

• gentleness reveals itself in social intercourse.
  
• In this way
  

one

• assumes the right attitude toward God and man and
  
• achieves something.
  

Under certain conditions,

intimidation without gentleness may achieve something

• momentarily,
  
• but not for all time.
  

When, on the other hand,

the hearts of men are won by friendliness,

they are

• led to take all hardships upon themselves willingly,
  

and if need be

• will not shun death itself,
  

so great is the power of joy over men.

 

THE IMAGE

Lakes resting one on the other: The image of THE JOYOUS.

Thus the superior man joins with his friends

For

• discussion and
  
• practice.
  

• A lake evaporates upward
  

and thus

• gradually dries up;
  

but when

two lakes are joined

• they do not dry up so readily,
  
• for one replenishes the other.
  

It is the same in the field of knowledge.

Knowledge should be a refreshing and vitalizing force.

It becomes so only through stimulating intercourse

• with congenial friends
  
• with whom one
  
  • holds discussion and
    
  • practices application of the truths of life.
    

In this way

learning

• becomes many-sided and
  
• takes on a cheerful lightness,
  

whereas

• there is always something ponderous and one-sided about
  
• the learning of the self-taught.
  

 

THE LINES

Nine at the beginning means:

Contented joyousness.

Good fortune.

A

• quiet,
  
• wordless,
  
• self-contained
  

joy,

• desiring nothing from without and
  
• resting content with everything,
  

remains free of all egotistic

• likes and
  
• dislikes.
  

In this freedom lies good fortune, because

it harbors the quiet security of a heart fortified within itself.

Six in the third place means:

Coming joyousness.

Misfortune.

True joy must spring from within.

• But if
  

one

• is empty within and
  
• wholly given over to the world,
  

idle pleasures come streaming in from without.

This is what many people welcome as diversion.

Those who

• lack inner stability and therefore
  
• need amusement,
  

will always find opportunity of indulgence.

They attract external pleasures

by the emptiness of their natures.

Thus

they lose themselves more and more,

which of course has bad results.

Nine in the fifth place means:

Sincerity toward disintegrating influences is dangerous.

Dangerous elements approach even the best of men.

If a man permits himself to have anything to do with them,

• their disintegrating influence
  
  • acts slowly but surely, and inevitably
    
  • brings dangers in its train.
    

But

if he recognizes the situation and can comprehend the danger,

• he
  
  • knows how to protect himself and
    
  • remains unharmed.
    

Six at the top means:

Seductive joyousness.

A vain nature

• invites diverting pleasures and
  
• must suffer accordingly (cf. the six in the third place).
  

If

a man is unstable within,

• the pleasures of the world that he does not shun
  

  have so powerful an influence that
  

• he is swept along by them.
  

Here

• it is no longer a question
  
  • of danger,
    
  • of good fortune or misfortune.
    
• He has given up direction of his own life, and
  
• what becomes of him depends upon
  
  • chance and
    
  • external influences.
    

 

MOVING HEXAGRAM

 

HEXAGRAM 50 – Ting – The Caldron

Above    LI    THE CLINGING, FIRE

Below    SUN    THE GENTLE, WIND, WOOD

1. The six lines construct the image of Ting, THE CALDRON;
   

• at the bottom are the legs,
  
• over them the belly,
  
• then come the ears (handles), and
  
• at the top the carrying rings.
  

At the same time,

1. the image suggests the idea of nourishment.
   

The Ting, cast of bronze, was the vessel that

held the cooked viands

• in the temple of the ancestors and
  
• at banquets.
  

The head of the family served the food

• from the Ting
  
• into the bowls of the guests.1
  

THE WELL (48) likewise has the secondary meaning of

giving nourishment, but rather more in relation to the people.

The Ting, as a utensil pertaining to a refined civilization, suggests the

• fostering and nourishing of able men, which
  
• redounded to the benefit of the state. (2)
  

• This hexagram and
  
• THE WELL
  

are the only two in the Book of Changes that represent

• concrete,
  
• man-made objects.
  

Yet here too the thought has its abstract connotation.

• Sun, below, is wood and wind;
  
• Li, above, is flame.
  

Thus together they stand for the flame kindled by wood and wind,

which likewise suggests the idea of preparing food.

THE JUDGMENT

THE CALDRON.

Supreme good fortune.

Success.

While

THE WELL relates to

• the social foundation of our life, and
  
• this foundation is likened to
  
• the water that serves to nourish growing wood,
  

the present hexagram refers to

• the cultural superstructure of society.
  

Here

• it is the wood that serves as nourishment for the flame, the spirit.
  

All that is visible must

• grow beyond itself,
  
• extend into the realm of the invisible.
  

Thereby

it

• receives its true consecration and clarity and
  
• takes firm root in the cosmic order.
  

Here

we see civilization as it reaches its culmination in religion.

The Ting serves in offering sacrifice to God.

The highest earthly values must be sacrificed to the divine.

But

the truly divine does not manifest itself apart from man.

The supreme revelation of God appears in

• prophets and
  
• holy men.
  

To venerate them is true veneration of God.

The will of God, as revealed through them, should be accepted in humility;

• this brings inner enlightenment and true understanding of the world, and
  
• this leads to great good fortune and success.
  

THE IMAGE

Fire over wood: The image of THE CALDRON.

Thus

the superior man

consolidates his fate

By making his position correct.

The fate of fire depends on wood;

• as long as there is wood below,
  
• the fire burns above.
  

It is the same in human life;

• there is in man likewise a fate that
  
• lends power to his life.
  

And if

• he succeeds in assigning the right place
  
  • to life and
    
  • to fate,
    

thus bringing the two into harmony,

• he puts his fate on a firm footing.
  

These words contain hints about the fostering of life

as handed on by oral tradition in the secret teachings of Chinese yoga,

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