MEDITATIONS: I CHING; THE BOOK OF CHANGES, CANTO FIFTEEN

Look for opportunities to remain still and quiet in meditation or thoughtful contemplation. Take advantage of any opportunity to grow and better yourself. Be wary of starting any project that you cannot finish and complete current projects by exercising self-control. Be disciplined, forthright, and modest in all things. (Bright-Fey 59)

Getting through by humility, the enlightened have an end.

Yin 1: Being extremely humble, leaders use this to cross great rivers auspiciously.

Yin 2: Expressing humility is correct and auspicious.

Yang 3: Hardworking yet humble, leaders have a conclusion that is auspicious.

Yin 4: None do not benefit from extending humility.

Yin 5: Not dealing with the neighbors on the basis of wealth, it is advantageous to invade and conquer to the benefit of all.

Yin 6: Expressing humility, it is beneficial to mobilize the army to conquer one’s land. (Cleary 81-6)

Those who arrive at great possession through the proper association with others can only sustain their good fortune by the virtue of humility—that is, inside one is still and stable as a mountain in his beliefs, while outside he is receptive and adaptable as fertile soil: earth above, mountain below. This is a turning inward.

When things are prosperous without, it is tempting to become proud. Wealth and status seem to be objective markers of one’s value, and so one begins to identify with them. This is the opposite of being humble. It is the mistake of the benighted, and it leads to a straying from the way. That is why the I Ching say that the enlightened have an end—a telos or purpose—which is gotten through to by the path of humility.

Those who are humble view themselves as vacant vessels. They are ready to receive, ready to learn. On the other hand, those who succumb to arrogance believe they already know. Thus being so complete, according to their assumptions, what need do they have to develop or grow? They feel no such needs and inevitably begin more ventures than they can complete. Biting off more than they can chew, they choke.

If only they cultivated humility, they could save themselves from themselves: for bowing low and subduing the ego’s need for aggrandizement encompasses the first two Yins and steps of securing what has heretofore been won.

The man most fit for leadership is he who is willing to see himself as no better than any other man. He realizes that he is not the Way, the Truth, or God. He is a human being who shall inevitably err and who has arrived at his position, not merely by his own merits, but also because of chance—after all, had he been born in an age of obstruction, he’d been waiting on the strand rather than maintaining the institutions built by those sages who came before him.

With a foundation of humility can man rest assured in his sense of moral being. This is represented by the third Yang. Having admitted to the possibility of fault and weakness, one knows he is being sincere with himself when he remains firm in his beliefs. In this way, the mountain stands immobile despite the yielding femininity supporting it, because such femininity is flexible. It adapts to the true foundations of the objective circumstances rather than being stultified, rigid, and ill-fit.

Outwardly, one’s actions should reflect the nurturing nature of the earth. That is the meaning of the fourth Yin—a humble attitude when dealing with others engenders respect regardless of social station. When those above are respectful to those below, and vice versa, they work in harmony, minimizing conflict and counterproductive contention. It is the height of voluntary cooperation.

The fifth Yin rests in the position of leadership, and in such a position, the leader has garnered loyalty out of love and respect as opposed to material self-interest. In such a case, the leader can wield power with great effect. His soldiers are not mere mercenaries then, but devotees to the country to which they belong. It becomes an honor to fight and serve a beloved leader who treats his men as he would his own children—and what virtue makes such a noble leader? To reiterate, it is humility. The man who does not see himself as above his subjects despite the difference in their social station is the one who values them, respects them, and sees it as his duty to lead in their best interest.

But humility can be taken too far. Unlike the mountain trigram, the top trigram of earth does not possess a Yang to mitigate against excessive Yin. That is why the final Yin advises that it is good to mobilize the army to secure one’s own lands. This is true literally, but it is also a metaphor. Defending one’s borders is like holding to one’s morals. While humility protects one from the downfall of arrogant pride, too much can cause one to be gulled or bullied into doing what one knows isn’t right.

So one ought to be humble and be willing to consider that he is wrong. But upon completing such self-reflection, one should be firm in his morals. Or better said, the stability of one’s moral beliefs rests on the willingness to continually re-evaluate the assumptions underneath.

I Ching; The Book of Changes, with commentaries by Cheng Yi, translated by Thomas Cleary, Shambala Library, 2003.

I Ching: The Book of Changes; An authentic Taoist translation, translated by John Bright-Fey, Sweetwater Press, 2006.