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

Cauldron—Foothold—Offering
|or| The Cauldron

Give a gift of art or beauty to someone close to you. Now is the time to devise new plans born out of the desire for elegant solutions. This is a good time to clean house both emotionally and intellectually. Listen to your intuition and use your imagination to shape your intent and actions. (Bright-Fey 129)

The cauldron is very auspiciously successful.

Yin 1: The cauldron overturns its base; it is beneficial to eject what is wrong. Getting a concubine, the husband is thereby blameless.

Yang 2: The cauldron has substance. One’s opponent has an affliction; if it cannot come to one, that is auspicious.

Yang 3: The knobs of the cauldron changed, the activity is obstructed. Pheasant fat is not eaten. It is about to rain. If there is regret over deficiency, there is good fortune in the end.

Yang 4: The cauldron break its legs, spilling the food of the leader. The body is wet. Misfortune.

Yin 5: The cauldron has yellow knobs and a gold handle. It is beneficial to be steadfast.

Yang 6: The cauldron’s jade handle is very auspicious, beneficial all around. (Cleary 316-323)

The change brought about by a revolution requires the proper vessel to contain it. That is why The Cauldron follows after Revolution. It is also symbolic of wind—also wood—beneath fire. The wind/wood below is the fuel and animating spirit which gives rise to the upward aims of transformative fire. Even the form of the hexagram is taken to resemble a cauldron: the first Yin is the feet; the following three Yangs are the solid body; the fifth Yin is the knobs which hold the handle; and the sixth Yang is that solid handle above.

Wind is obedience, but it is also penetration. Together, it is forward movement in accordance with the Way. Below, this represents yielding mind and emotions, changing inside in a kind of transvaluation such that ones new values better conform to higher, more enlightened aims. Fire above is ego, attention, and enlightenment. The prior revolution will have brought ingenuities up from the depths of the well. This is like the philosopher stone being found only in the darkest depths of the ocean. Once it is brought to the surface, its light shines bright as the fiery sun, and it imbues upon the discoverer the powers of transmutation.

The cauldron is this, a transformative vessel. And insofar as the aim is truly enlightened—meaning that the light of ego shines with the purpose of revealing the Way (revealing the objective, the “Will of God,” the point being that the ego sees reality; it does not invent it whole cloth)—the what is transformed is lead into gold, evil into good, denial into affirmation.

The first Yin and her messy relationship with the fourth Yang describes the aforementioned constraint symbolically. The cauldron is spilling. This is an embarrassment, as is admitted in the fourth Yang, and it is one caused by the initial employment of incompetent people at the outset of the founding of new institutions. The first Yin is too weak and in a weak position. These are the moral slaves and lazy human-parasites who embed themselves into social systems only to infect it with their diseases of lethargy and vice. Fortunately, their painful failure to uphold their duties does result into their “spilling out” of the cauldron. Evil will reveal itself at the outset, and once gotten rid of, the Second Yang will be free to seek the fifth Yin and prosper.

The Second Yang and the fifth Yin are likewise correspondents. The former is the thick base of the cauldron, the part which interfaces with the fire. Being strong in a balanced position, it does not fall toward temptation. Lethargic lice like the first Yin are abandoned, and refusing to consummate with such ilk means the second Yang is free to join with the fifth Yin leadership above. Said Yin is described like yellow knobs bearing a golden handle. Yellow is the color of nobility, and the knobs are the part of the cauldron by which it can be controlled. Gold is a pure metal, one which does not tarnish. Combined, we see that the enlightened aims of the leadership are brought about through the employment of people of steadfast moral character—the successful transformation of cultural and society requires a virtuous citizenry and an intellectual elite who is equally uncorrupted.

The Third Yang has no correspondent above. He represents the stubborn laggers who refuse to change with the times. They are those who are excessively rigid inside. By their lack of adaptability, they become unemployable. Though they have talents, because they do not get along with others, they cannot be made of any use. However, such people, still being virtuous, will in large part learn from their mistake. Pain will be their teacher. From poverty, they will see that the only changeless state is change, and they will realign themselves with the shift in the river—the Great Course that is the Way.

Lastly, beyond the recognition of societal institutions, are those described as like a jade handle. These are the cultural influencers born out of the revolution sprung from the well. They are a strong force at the extremes of conscious aim. In most cases, the I Ching would forewarn of such excess. Here, on the other hand, such extremity is construed as genuineness and sincerity. These are the people who live with integrity, in accord with their conscious beliefs. They are like jade, a balanced material combining hardness and softness, and their direction supersedes even that of the golden handle of leadership. And atop of all this, it is in the nature of a cauldron—as it was with the well—for the transformed substance to boil up. The food within can only be seen and eaten once it is brought out of the pot.

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.