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

Welling Up—Restore—Release
|OR| The Well

Now is the time for replenishing and renewal. Conserve your resources and calmly gather your strengths. Avoid those who want to forcefully press forward. In fact, be cautious of all your dealings with others. Don’t worry; success is coming. (Bright-Fey 125)

The well: you change the town, not the well. There is no loss, no gain. Those who come and go use the well as a well.
To be close to attainment is still like not having lowered the rope into the well. Breaking the bucket is unfortunate.

Yin 1: When the well is muddy, it is not drunk from. There are no birds around an old well.

Yang 2: The well is like a valley, pouring on little fish. The jar, broken, leaks.

Yang 3: When the well is purified but not drunk from, it is a sorrow to one’s heart. It is to be drawn. If the ruler is enlightened, everyone receives the blessings.

Yin 4: If the well is tiled, there is no fault.

Yang 5: The well is pure, the cold spring is drunk from.

Yin 6: The well is being drawn from—do not cover it. It is very auspicious to have sincerity. (Cleary 301-307)

He who has risen beyond the point of exhaustion is doomed to fall. Thus has Rising given way to Exhaustion, leaving only a dried up lake in the wake of once rejuvenated society. The cycle continues, the wheel turns, and the next stage takes us beneath the earth where the water hides in the depths of The Well.

The hexagram for this canto is composed of wind inside and water outside. Wind is penetration by way of obedience with the Way, and water is the danger of the passions. Here, wind is the lifting spirit which brings water from where it is hidden to where it can nourish culture and nature universally.

That is the meaning of changing the town and not the well. The well is the means by which people tap into an accordance with the way. Water is a symbol of the Way. Both are formless substances of infinite potential forms; both are necessary for life; both are found only in the place of equilibrium. That is why the well does not change. The well holds the universal principles around which the town might be erected such that it accords with the Way—and not the other way around.

The infinite and eternal nature of the Way is likewise described in analogy to the well being used to no loss and no gain. It is a source of conservation of being. It is itself, that-is-which-is, the object to which we are all subject—that is the meaning behind the warnings against attempts at forcing being to accord with our individual desires. To do so is like abusing the bucket used to draw water. No matter how close one is to fetching the pail, if the bucket breaks or the rope snaps, too laden with weight, it is the same as having not drawn any water at all. Enlightenment isn’t something that is known, it is something which is practiced.

And one must practice patience. The first Yin, weak and in a low position, with no correspondent, cannot hope to change her life conditions. She has no helpers and is likened to the mud water at the bottom of a dry well. Not even the birds can drink from a well like this.

The second Yang does not fair better. Though he rests in a balanced position and is strong, he does not possess a correspondent either. All his strength has done is cracked the jar meant to hold water drawn from the well. In this state, he can do nothing but wait patiently with the first Yin in the muddy base. That is the only place still nourished, where only the tiniest of fish can swim.

Beyond the mud, the third Yang takes the form of clean and clear water at the midpoint of the well. Strength in a high position rises toward its correspondent. Though one’s living conditions may still be tragic, the Way forward is clear and likely to be facilitated by a strong leadership which draws the potential up from the masses in a time of misfortune.

Even the officials benefit in the priorly described way. Though the fourth Yin is weak in a low position, if she can cultivate her of conduct—tiling the walls of the well to prevent leaks—the she can due her personal duty and carry out the will of the strong leadership. This is the embodiment of obedience in accordance with the Way overcoming the danger of being tempted astray by the passions.

But the aforementioned overcoming can only come when there are examples toward which to aspire. The leader must be strong, upright, sincere, and virtuous—like pure, cold water—refreshing and resistant to contamination. The fifth Yang is like this: honest and honorable in the face of danger. The people become inspired by his example. Drinking from the well, the obey his law, follow his lead, and travel with him along the Path through and out of the valley of darkness.

The sixth Yin rests at the top of the well, exposed and vulnerable. There will be the impulse to cover the well, that is to hide ones means of success so that it cannot be attacked, but this is a mistake. It is transparency which is proper. No one can drink from a well that’s been covered. Thus, even at the extreme end of danger, the strong and virtuous leader must stick out his neck. There is no other way for those below to learn to emulate him; and there is no other way to allure the third yang to rise in emulation but for his proper correspondent, the sixth Yin, to be on full display where he can see her.

Motivation to rise to the occasion comes only by way of clarity of vision—that is the virtue of sincerity, of pure water drawn from an uncovered well.

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.