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HEXAGRAM 01 – Chien – The Creative
Above THE CREATIVE, HEAVEN
Below THE CREATIVE, HEAVEN
The first hexagram is made up of six unbroken lines.
These unbroken lines stand for the primal power, which is
- light giving,
- active,
- strong, and of
- the spirit.
The hexagram is consistently strong, in character, and
since it is without weakness,
its essence is power or energy.
Its image is heaven.
Its energy
- is represented as unrestricted by any fixed conditions in space and
- is therefore conceived of as motion.
Time is regarded as the basis of this motion.
Thus the hexagram includes also
- the power of time and
- the power of persisting in time, that is, duration.
The power represented by the hexagram is to be interpreted in a dual sense – in terms of
- its action on the universe and of
- its action on the world of men.
- In relation to the universe, the hexagram expresses the strong, creative action of the Deity.
- In relation to the human world, it denotes the creative action of the holy man or sage, of the ruler or leader of men, who through his power awakens and develops their higher nature. 1
THE JUDGMENT
THE CREATIVE works sublime success,
Furthering through perseverance. 2
According to the original meaning, the attributes (sublimity, potentiality of success, power to further, perseverance) are paired.
When an individual draws this oracle, it means
- that success come to him from the primal depths of the universe and
- that everything depends upon his seeking his happiness and that of others in one way only, that is, by perseverance in what is right.
The specific meanings of the four attributes became the subject of speculation at an early date.
The Chinese word here rendered by “sublime” means literally “head,” “origin,” “great.”
This is why Confucius says in explaining it:
“Great indeed is the generating power of the Creative; all beings owe their beginning to it. This power permeates all heaven. 3 For this attribute inheres in the other three as well.
The beginning of all things lies still in the beyond in the form of ideas that have yet to become real.
But the Creative furthermore has power to lend form to these archetypes of ideas.
- This is indicated in the word success, and
- the process is represented by an image from nature: “The clouds pass and the rain does its work, and all individual beings flow into their forms.” 4
Applied to the human world, these attributes show the great man the way to notable success:
“Because he sees with great clarity causes and effects, he
- completes the six steps at the right time and
- mounts toward heaven on them at the right time, as though of six dragons.”
The six steps are the six different positions given in the hexagram,
which are represented later by the dragon symbol.
Here it is shown that the way to success lies in
- apprehending understanding and
- giving actuality to the way of the universe (Tao), which, as a law running, through end and beginning, brings about all phenomena in time.
Thus each step attained forthwith becomes a preparation for the next.
Time is no longer a hindrance but the means of making actual what is potential.
The act of creation having found expression in the two attributes – sublimity and success,
the work of conservation is shown to be a continuous actualization and differentiation of form.
This is expressed in the two terms
- “furthering” (literally, “creating that which accords with the nature of a given being”) and
- “persevering” (literally, “correct and firm”).
“The course of the Creative alters and shapes beings until each attains its true, specific nature, then
it keeps them in conformity with the Great Harmony.
Thus does it show itself to further through perseverance.”
In relation to the human sphere, this shows how
the great man brings peace and security to the world through his activity in creating order:
“He towers high above the multitude of beings, and all lands are united in peace.”
Another line of speculation goes still further in separating the words “sublime,” “success,” “furthering” “perseverance,” and parallels them with the four cardinal virtues in humanity.
1)To sublimity, which, as the fundamental principle, embraces all the other attributes, it links love.
2) To the attribute success are linked the mores, which regulate and organize the expressions of love and thereby make them successful. 5
3) The attribute furthering is correlated with justice, which creates the conditions in which each receives that which accords with his being, that which is due him and which constitutes his happiness.
4) The attribute perseverance is correlated with wisdom, which discerns the immutable laws of all that happens and can therefore bring about enduring conditions.
These speculations, already broached in the commentary called Wen Yen, 6 later formed the bridge connecting the philosophy of the “five stages (elements) of change,” as laid down in the Book of History (Shu Ching) with the philosophy of the Book of Changes, which is based solely on the polarity of positive and negative principles. In the course of time this combination of the two systems of thought opened the way for an increasingly intricate number symbolism. 7
THE IMAGE
The movement of heaven is full of power.
Thus the superior man makes himself strong and untiring.
Since there is only one heaven, the doubling of the trigram Ch’ien, of which heaven is the image, indicates the movement of heaven.
One complete revolution of heaven makes a day, and the repetition of the trigram means that each day is followed by another.
This creates the idea of time.
Since it is the same heaven moving with untiring power, there is also created the idea of duration both in and beyond time, a movement that never stops nor slackens, just as one day follows another in an unending course.
This duration in time is the image of the power inherent in the Creative.
With this image as a model,
the sage learns how best to develop himself so that his influence may endure.
He must make himself strong in every way,
by consciously casting out all that is inferior and degrading.
Thus he attains that tirelessness,
which depends upon consciously limiting the fields of his activity.
THE LINES
Nine in the second place means:
Dragon appearing in the field.
It furthers one to see the great man.
Here the effects of the light-giving power begin to manifest themselves.
In terms of human affairs, this means that the great man makes his appearance in his chosen field of activity.
As yet he has no commanding position but is still with his peers.
However, what distinguishes him from the others is
- his seriousness of purpose,
- his unqualified reliability, and
- the influence he exerts on his environment without conscious effort.
Such a man is destined
- to gain great influence and
- to set the world in order.
Therefore it is favorable to see him.
Nine in the fifth place means:
Flying dragon in the heavens.
It furthers one to see the great man.
Here the great man has attained the sphere of the heavenly beings.
His influence spreads and becomes visible throughout the whole world.
Everyone who sees him may count himself blessed.
Confucius says about this line:
Things that accord in tone vibrate together.
Things that have affinity in their inmost natures seek one another.
Water flows to what is wet, fire turns to what is dry.
Clouds (the breath of heaven) follow the dragon; wind (the breath of earth) follows the tiger.
Thus the sage arises, and all creatures follow him with their eyes.
What is born of heaven feels related to what is above.
What is born of earth feels related to what is below.
Each follows its kind.
MOVING HEXAGRAM
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.
