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

Great—Large—Harvest |or| Great Possession

Look for the chance to expand your spirituality. Avoid pretentious and duplicitous behavior, especially if you are the source. Above all, act with clarity and simplicity after thoroughly examining any given situation. (Bright-Fey 57)

Great possession is very successful.

Yang 1: Not associating with that is harmful. It is not faulty; realize the difficulty and so be impeccable.

Yang 2: Using a large vehicle for transport; it goes somewhere without error.

Yang 3: The work of the barons serves the emperor. Small people are incapable.

Yang 4: Repudiate aggrandizement, and there will be no fault.

Yin 5: The trust is mutual. Sternness bodes well.

Yang 6: The fortune of assistance from heaven is beneficial all around. (Cleary 76-81)

Fire rises to the peaks of heaven: rationality, intelligence, and conscious intention become the head of the creative drive. This is the hexagram for Great Possession, fire outside over heaven inside.

By “great possession,” the I Ching refers to the wealth produced from the prior association with others. As people come together, joined by universal principles, they “cross great rivers,” accomplishing much and producing in abundance. This is the coming of good times as a result of the actions of strong men born from times of obstruction.

However, all goodness is balanced with risk. Material excess is dangerous if not also paired with spiritual development. It is not that wealth or power corrupts; it is that a lack of moral cultivation leaves one too weak of will to responsibly manage the abundance. This is why “Great possession is very successful.”

A surplus of resources and opportunity are what they are, resources and opportunity. As long as one consciously avoids what he knows to be evil, vicious, and indulgent, then, as the first Yang says, there will not be fault. On the other side, if one voluntarily attends to the difficulties at hand which come part-and-parcel with success, then he will be prepared for the challenges. It is only the hedonists and the cowards who reveal their depravity upon achieving great possession.

That is why the second Yang compares the noble to a large vehicle. In this case, one should think of the cultivated character like a robust wagon. It is capable of withstanding the weather; its thick axels will not snap if the wheels roll over a rock or into a hole; and it can be pulled quickly by a large team of beasts of burden. All these elements make the large vehicle reliable. So to is the balanced individual. He is not swayed by temptation, but puts his resources where they ought to go.

The third Yang compares the noble individuals to small people. Where the former type can resist the difficulties and act responsibly, those of the latter variety will succumb to the changing winds and deviations in the road. Small people will get swept up by their own wealth and take things too far. They will become indulgent, frivolous, and prone to self-aggrandizement.

That is why the fourth Yang explains that such self-aggrandizement ought to be repudiated. Despite one’s prosperity, even if he is fabulously prosperous and powerful, he should conduct and present himself in a humble fashion. It is the outward practice that cultivates the inner spirit. And though it may feel—may even be—contrived at the beginning, it is the proper path to sincerity, humility, and benevolent relationships with those both more and less successful.

In the position of leadership rests the sole Yin of this hexagram. She is the flexible and compassionate heart guiding the stern action of the Yangs. This Yin represents the proper balance of consciousness in relation to the Way. Conscious intention and intellect are aspects of the masculine ego. Placed above heaven, the ego directs the creative impulse. This can be driven to excess and tyrannical despotism, to stultification and senile single-mindedness, without feminine adaptability and intuition. With it, trusting relationships can be established; sternness manifests as justice and benevolence instead of forceful impositions.

The final Yang suggest that there can be no excess of ego-consciousness so long as it is aimed at the universal. It seems, that the threat comes from the fire’s sputtering end. While noble souls rule and continue to not only produce but to rationally and justly allocate their resources, then good fortune will persist across all social classes. It is the loss of this nobility, the blinding of the eye and the dulling of the light, which will eventually bring the age of great possession to its finality.

In good times built on the shoulders of giants, it is the masculine principle which sustains the gold age for that time.

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.