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

Rest—Ease—Lighten
|or| Solution

Now is the time to take a break, relax, and recharge. The energy of problem solving is easily accessible. Above all, stay peaceful and calm while looking within for clues to improving yourself. But remember to employ a light hand and be gentle with your life and personal sensibilities. Extend a helping hand to a friend today. (Bright-Fey 109)

For solution, the southwest is beneficial. When there is nowhere to go, coming back is auspicious. When there is somewhere to go, it bodes well to be early.

Yin 1: No blame.

Yang 2: Catching three foxes on the hunt, getting yellow arrows, is correct and bodes well.

Yin 3: Carrying baggage and riding, causing brigands to come, is shameful even if correct.

Yang 4: Separate from your big toe and friends will come in sincerity.

Yin 5: The leadership has a solution here, fortunately. There is truthfulness toward small people.

Yin 6: An officer shoots at a hawk on a high fence, getting it, to the benefit of all. (Cleary 239-246) 

Obstruction and great difficulty cause us to halt in our tracks. We are stopped, faced with a problem, which is itself the fertile ground for a solution—hence why Solution naturally follows Halting. Likewise, the hexagram water under thunder symbolizes desire and danger inward departing through initiation and movement outward.

Neo-Confucian Philosopher, Cheng Yi tells us that “The southwest” is the direction of the earth, also the receptive. When we are halted, with nowhere to go, it is best to accept our circumstances and cultivate virtue within. We do not have the solutions now, but we will find them eventually, so long as we keep faith in the Way. There are two warnings here: we ought not stray from the Path in an attempt to force our desire into being; and we ought not be overly critical of ourselves for our lack of progress.

The first Yin says that those with no power and in low positions at the beginning of a time of solutions harbor “no blame.” This is because they are not responsible for the conditions in which they find themselves. They are only capable of holding to the Way as best they can manage until the culture and institutions change from punishing virtue and rewarding vice to the reverse.

The meaning of the second Yang is just that: to catch the criminal element corrupting the culture and causing problems. Foxes are deceitful animals, and yellow arrows are straight-flying objects which bear the color of nobility and centeredness. This, along with the balanced position which the second Yang resides in, forms the meaning of removing evil by way of upright and virtuous action. The danger does not just leaving of its own accord. Strong men set and enforce unyielding standards which get accepted and endorsed by the corresponding and complementary fifth Yin in the position of leadership.

But beware. Not everyone who claims to be a paladin of moral virtue is one. There will be those who are in spirit weak but who put themselves at the front of those proposing solutions. These fools do a disservice to themselves as well as everybody else. Not only are they not up to the task, but they will attract all manner of scrupulous psychopaths who will take advantage of the vulnerabilities due to their Yin weakness. Even if they suggest the right thing by chance, in hardly any time at all the ne’er-do-wells will infect and infest their ranks.

This is why the fourth Yang corresponds well with the first Yin. There is strength and uprightness in the administrative levels, and there is weakness and receptivity below. The two types do not mingle directly but instead remain in their proper positions, which allows for wise people to collect together among the higher ranking members of society.

Following on the example of the virtuous second Yang, the fifth Yin implements a solution under wise council of the fourth Yang. This is a collective effort in which the varying levels of society all player their proper roles. There is no deception here. The leader does not try to trick the lower classes with false promises or ego stroking. And as a consequence of this honestly, people generally accept their lot in life and trust their leaders. This trust permeates society, and solutions can implemented collectively again.

The final Yin is the deathblow to whatever problem was halting society. The officer, under good guidance, aiming with yellow arrows, shoots the predatory bird off the fence—the border between inside and outside. The hawk falls outside, finally purged, all because the people above and below share in common a faith in the Way of things. Through virtue, we fly straight, hit the mark, eliminate sin, and become a benefit to ourselves as much as one another. Only then can we continue forward.

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.