Giving an example of one's mastery
One impresses the gallery by improvising as a challenge. taoscopy.com
Modesty15
Embrace humility and balance; let modesty guide your actions for harmonious progress.
↓ Line 1
True modesty is not self-conscious. It allows one to undertake great tasks with confidence and success.
↓ Line 3
A person who combines modesty with ability can achieve great things and bring projects to successful completion.
↓ Line 6
When modesty is evident, it is appropriate to take decisive action to correct internal issues and improve the community.
↓ Nourishment27
Focus on sustenance and nourishment, both physical and spiritual. Evaluate the sources from which you draw energy and wisdom. Guard against meaningless indulgence and seek genuine fulfillment.
Original Readings
15 Modesty
Other titles: Modesty, The Symbol of Humility, Moderation, Humbling, Respectful/Humble, Yielding/Retiring. 1. Obtaining this hexagram implies that modesty is needed in our attitude, meaning, to allow ourself to be led without resistance. – C.K. Anthony. 2. A Humble or modest person is thought of as having an “empty or unoccupied” mind, meaning a mind without prejudice. – Chung Wu. 3. Only superior people who practice Tao know where to stop, disregard what they have and appear to have nothing. – T. Cleary.
Judgment
Legge:Temperance indicates successful progress. Temperancebrings a good issue to the superior man's undertakings.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Modesty creates success. The superior man carries things through.
Blofeld:Modesty brings success. The Superior Man is able to carry affairs through to completion.
Liu: Modesty: success. The superior man can continue to work to the end.
Ritsema/Karcher: Humbling, Growing. A chun tzu possesses completing. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of the necessity to cut through pride and complication. It emphasizes that keeping your words unpretentious is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Modesty: Receipt; the gentleman has an end.
Cleary (1):Humility is developmental. The superior person has a conclusion.
Cleary (2):Humility gets through. A leader has a conclusion.
Wu:Humility is pervasive. The jun zi will have grace in death.
The Image
Legge: A mountain hidden within the earth -- the image of Temperance. The superior man, in accordance with this, diminishes his excesses to augment his insufficiencies, thus creating a just balance.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Within the earth, a mountain: the image of Modesty. Thus the superior man reduces that which is too much, and augments that which is too little. He weighs things and makes them equal.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes a mountain in the centre of the earth. The Superior Man takes from where there is too much in order to augment what is too little. He weighs things and apportions them fairly. [The component trigrams symbolize a mountain surrounded by flat earth, thus suggesting too much in one place and too little in others.]
Liu: The mountain within the earth symbolizes modesty. The superior man reduces the excess and increases the lacking; he weighs and then equalizes all things.
Ritsema/Karcher: Earth center possessing mountain. Humbling. A chun tzu uses reducing the numerous to augment the few. A chun tzu uses evaluating beings to even spreading-out.
Cleary (1): There are mountains in the earth; modesty. Thus does the superior person decrease the abundant and add to the scarce, assessing things and dealing impartially.
Cleary (2): … Leaders assess people and give impartially, by taking from the abundant and adding to the scarce.
Wu: There is a mountain inside earth; this is Humility. Thus the jun zi takes excess from the more to enrich the less and measures goods to ensure fair distribution. [To prepare oneself to accept what is fair among all his fellow men is the essence of humility.]
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: It is the way of heaven to dispense its blessings downwards, and the way of earth to radiate its influence upwards. Both heaven and earth diminish the full to augment the lowly. Spiritual beings inflict calamity on the proud and bless the meek, and men resent ostentation and love temperance. Temperanceenlightens an honorable office, and neither will men ignore it in lowly positions. Thus does the superior man attain his ends. [Emphasis editor's -- Ritsema/Karcher translate "spiritual beings" [Kuei Shen] as: "The whole range of imaginal beings both inside and outside the individual; spiritual powers, gods, demons, ghosts, powers, fetishes.”]
Legge: An essay on temperance rightly follows that on abundant possessions. The third line, dynamic among five magnetic lines, in the topmost place of the trigram of Keeping Still, is the ruler of the hexagram. He is the representative of Temperance -- strong, but self-effacing. The idea is that temperance is the way to permanent success.
The Confucian commentary deals generally with the subject of temperance, showing how it is valued by heaven and earth, by spirits and by men. The descent of the heavenly influences, and the low position of the earth are both symbolic of temperance. The heavenly influences are seen in the daily fluctuations of the sun and moon, and the fertility of the earth correspondingly waxes and wanes with the seasons.
The Daily Lecture says:"The five yin lines above and below symbolize the earth; the one yang line in the center is the mountain in the midst of the earth. The many yin lines represent men's desires; the one yang line represents the heavenly principle. The superior man, looking at this symbolism, diminishes the multitude of human desires within him, and increases the single shoot of the heavenly principle; so does he become grandly just, and can deal with all things evenly according to the nature of each. In whatever circumstances or place he is, he will do what is right.”
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment:Temperance means maintaining a dynamic/magnetic balance of forces to attain success.
The Superior Man maintains equilibrium in all that he does.
The most common translation of the title for this hexagram is Modesty, but I have chosen Temperance as a title more expressive of the ideas in the Image and Confucian commentary. The words “modesty” and “humility” often carry a connotation of weakness in western usage, and “temperance,” meaning to temper or regulate, is more expressive of the dynamic strength of will required to restrain and modulate the drive to dominate every situation.
The Image shows a mountain hidden beneath the earth--the quiet, invincible power of sheer will is hidden from view, yet it influences everything. Who observing such a level surface would know that the bulk of Mt. Everest was buried beneath it? Temperance means that one's power is hidden, that the fluctuations of heaven and earth are kept in such dynamic/magnetic balance as to be invisible to ordinary vision. The temperate person is strong enough to bear the weight of the world when that is necessary for the Work.
Marcus Aurelius, the Stoic Roman Emperor, was arguably the most powerful man of his time, yet his temperance and modesty showed him to fulfill the ideal of the superior man. Only the truly strong can be truly modest.
And let this truth be present to thee in the excitement of anger, that to be moved by passion is not manly, but that mildness and gentleness, as they are more agreeable to human nature, so also are they more manly; and he who possesses these qualities possesses strength, nerves and courage, and not the man who is subject to fits of passion and discontent. For in the same degree in which a man's mind is nearer to freedom from all passion, in the same degree also is it nearer to strength. Marcus Aurelius
Line 1
Legge: The first line, magnetic, shows us the superior man who adds temperance to his temperance. Even the great stream may be crossed with this, and there will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: A superior man modest about his modesty may cross the great water. Good fortune.
Blofeld: The Superior Man, ever modest and retiring, fords the great river -- good fortune! [Any journey undertaken at this time will bring good fortune.]
Liu: The superior man is modest in his modesty. It is favorable to cross the great water. Good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Humbling, Humbling: chun tzu. Availing-of wading the Great River. Significant.
Shaughnessy: So modest is the gentleman; herewith ford the great river; auspicious.
Cleary (1): Humble about humility, the superior person thereby crosses great rivers. This is auspicious.
Cleary (2): Extreme humility. It is fortunate if leaders use this to cross great rivers.
Wu: Being humble about his humility, the jun zi can make use of this virtue to cross the big river. It will be auspicious.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The superior man who adds temperance to his temperance is one who nourishes his virtue in lowliness. Wilhelm/Baynes: The superior man is lowly in order to guard himself well. Blofeld: He shows humility in disciplining himself. Ritsema/Karcher: Lowliness uses originating-from herding indeed. Cleary (2): In extreme humility, leaders manage themselves with lowliness. Wu: The jun zi uses humility for self-discipline.
Legge: A magnetic line at the lowest place in the figure is the fitting symbol of the superior man adding temperance to his temperance. The phrase "nourishes his virtue” in the Confucian commentary is literally: "pastures himself.” He is all temperance -- that is what makes him who he is.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, the man retains his humility and does not press any claims. As a result he is free from challenges and does not encounter resistance. Difficult enterprises can be undertaken successfully.
Wing: If you can carry out your proposed endeavor quietly, competently, and thoroughly, without obvious announcements of your intentions, you can achieve even significant aims. With a modest and disciplined attitude, you do not create resistance or invite challenge.
Editor: Wilhelm translates the Confucian commentary in terms of lowliness as a technique of self-protection. Blofeld renders it as showing humility in one's self-discipline. Ritsema/Karcher render the verb MU, Herd, as: “tend cattle; watch over, superintend; ruler, teacher;” which recalls Legge's rendering of: "pastures himself.” The idea is to use the discipline of will to keep oneself under control. The line is conceptually a kind of "shadow” to line one of the following hexagram of Enthusiasm, which see. Sometimes it can have the meaning of "reserve” or "reservations,” as in "taking something with a grain of salt.”
The signs of one who is making progress are these: he censures no man, he praises no man, he blames no man, he accuses no man, he says nothing about himself as if he were somebody or knew something: when he is impeded at all or hindered, he blames himself ... he removes all desire from himself, and transfers aversion only to those things within his power which are contrary to nature: he employs a moderate movement towards every thing: whether he is considered foolish or ignorant, he cares not: and in a word he watches himself as if he were an enemy and lying in ambush. Epictetus
A. If you can maintain perspective, an advance is warranted.
B. A double portion of temperance: preserve your reserve, or your reservations about the matter at hand.
C. The ego undertakes responsibility for the Work with the full awareness that it is only the instrument of a higher intelligence within the psyche. This requires a servant's sense of reserve.
Line 3
Legge: The third line, dynamic, shows the superior man of acknowledged merit. He will maintain his success to the end, and have good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: A superior man of modesty and merit carries things to conclusion. Good fortune.
Blofeld: The Superior Man, exceedingly hard-working yet modest, brings his affairs to fruition -- good fortune!
Liu: The superior man works in a modest way to conclusion. Good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Toiling Humbling: chun tzu. Possessing completing significant.
Shaughnessy: Toiling modesty; the gentleman has an end; auspicious.
Cleary (1): Working with humility, the superior person has a conclusion. This bodes well.
Cleary (2): Leaders who work and achieve yet are humble have an auspicious conclusion.
Wu: Working hard toward humility, the jun zi will have grace in death. This will be auspicious.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The myriads of the people will submit to him. Wilhelm/ Baynes: All the people obey him. Blofeld: The people most willingly submit to him. Ritsema/Karcher: The myriad commoners submitting indeed. Cleary (2): The people submit to leaders who work and achieve yet are humble. Wu: Because he has the support of all the people.
The Master said:"He toils with success, but does not boast of it; he achieves merit, but takes no virtue to himself from it; this is the height of generous goodness, and speaks of the man who with great merit yet places himself below others. He wishes his virtue to be more and more respectful, he who is so modest, carrying his respectfulness to the utmost, will be able to preserve himself in his position.”
Legge: Line three is dynamic, and occupies his proper place. He is the lord of the hexagram, to whom all represented by the lines above and below turn.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man disregards his fame and acknowledged merit but toils on laboriously and unpretentiously. He is supported by all the people in bringing his works to a successful conclusion.
Wing: With an unwavering commitment and hard work, you gain honor and fame. Do not allow such recognition to lead you astray or put you in a compromising position. Maintaining the perseverance that brought you prominence will win you continued support. You can then bring your work to completion.
Editor: The key idea here is the notion of inferior elements submitting to a calmly devoted superior element. The inferior elements acknowledge their superior and willingly submit to him.
Plans for control of the evil forces that have been loosed in the world, attempts to compensate the evil- doing by good works or sympathy for the victims, efforts to safeguard the peace or to effect ideal solutions of all the material problems involved, can do little to change the nature of the situation. The real problem, namely, the question of what can be done for civilization in face of the nonhuman forces arising from the collective unconscious in thousands or rather millions of individual persons, will remain untouched. However, if only one human being has met and solved the problem in himself, he will be a living demonstration of a solution. Such an individual carries with him the germ of a renaissance of the spiritual values of mankind. M.E. Harding -- Psychic Energy
A. The ego fulfills its role by bringing disparate elements (emotions, desires, appetites, etc.) into willing compliance with the goals of the Work.
B. A strong stance inspires obedience.
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, magnetic, shows us temperance that has made itself recognized. The subject of it will with advantage put her army in motion, but she will only punish her own towns and state.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Modesty that comes to expression. It is favorable to set armies marching to chastise one's own city and one's country.
Blofeld: Modestly crows the cock. Now is the time to set armies marching to subdue the cities and the countries of the empire.
Liu: Modesty is expressed. It is favorable to use the army to chastise the city and country.
Ritsema/Karcher: Calling Humbling. Harvesting: availing-of moving legions. Chastising the capital city.
Shaughnessy: Calling modesty; beneficial herewith to move troops to campaign against city and state.
Cleary (1): Trumpeting humility, it is profitable to use the army to conquer one’s land.
Cleary (2): Expressing humility, one profits from military operations attacking the country.
Wu: The subject rolls about humility. It will be advantageous to use the armies to chasten the seditious state.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: All her aims have not yet been attained. She may employ the force of arms only to correct her own towns and state. Wilhelm/ Baynes: The purpose is not yet attained. Blofeld: Because the ruler's will has yet to be carried out, it is proper to do so. [This omen can be taken to indicate that we can afford to go forward boldly with our plans, but only if their fruition will tally with the general good. "The ruler's will” in this case is roughly synonymous with the public good.] Ritsema/Karcher: Purpose not-yet acquired indeed. Permitting availing-of moving legions. Chastising the capital city indeed. Cleary (2): The aspiration has not been attained. Wu: His aspirations have not been fulfilled … The purpose is to chasten the seditious state.
Legge: The subject of the magnetic sixth line is outside a game that has been played out. She will use force, but only within her own sphere and to assert what is right. She will not be aggressive. Chu Hsi bases all that is said under line six on its being a magnetic line, so that the temperate ruler is unable even at the close of the action to accomplish all her objects, and must limit her field even in appealing to arms.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Even though the man's probity is recognized, his aims are not yet achieved. True modesty begins by disciplining one's own ego and the character of one's immediate circle, without being aggressive beyond.
Wing: Your inner development is not yet complete. The time calls for self-discipline. When difficulties arise, do not place the blame upon others. Once you begin to take responsibility for your own destiny you can bring order to your environment.
Editor: The ruler uses force to attain order in both this and the previous line, but here her influence is confined to immediate objectives. Temperance in this instance is expressed in her awareness of a lack of wholeness in the matter at hand, and of her own limitations in being able to effect completion. Psychologically, to "punish your own towns and state:” is to confine your action to the proper discipline of inner responses: emotions, drives, temptations, etc.
Better an equable man than a hero, a man master of himself than one who takes a city. Proverbs 16: 32
A. Recognize the limitations inherent in the situation and confine your action to objectives within your own sphere of control.
B. A modest, although incomplete, achievement. Confine your activity to controlling personal responses.
C. Don't get carried away with a modest achievement.
D. Set your house in order one step at a time.
27 Nourishment
Other titles: The Corners of the Mouth, Providing Nourishment, The Symbol of the Cheek and of Nourishment, Jaws, Lower Jaw, Nurturing, Swallowing, Sagacious Counsel, Nourishing, To Feed, "Can mean money, usually as the result of effort." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge:Nourishmentindicates good fortune through firm correctness. Make sure you know what you are feeding, and determine your proper diet.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The Corners of the Mouth . Perseverance brings good fortune. Pay heed to the providing of nourishment and to what a man seeks to fill his own mouth with.
Blofeld: Nourishing. (Nourishment -- literally Jaws) [The form of this hexagram readily brings to mind the concept of wide open jaws, but the word nourishment must not be taken only in a literal sense; for we are concerned here with all those things which men seek both for their own advantage and for giving succor or assistance to others.] Righteous persistence brings good fortune. Watch people nourishing others and observe with what manner of things they seek to nourish themselves. [For this will teach us a lot about their characters.]
Liu: Nourishment. Continuing leads to good fortune. Observe the providing of nourishment and the food someone seeks for himself.
Ritsema/Karcher: Jaws, Trial: significant. Viewing Jaws. Originating-from seeking mouth substance. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of nourishing and being nourished. It emphasizes that opening in order to take things in as well as providing to others is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy:Jaws: Determination is auspicious. View the jaw; oneself seeking the mouth's fullness.
Cleary (1): In nourishment, it is good to be correct. Observe nourishment, and seek fulfillment for the mouth by yourself.
Cleary (2): Nourishment is good if correct. Observe nourishment, and seek food by yourself.
Wu: Nurturing indicates that with perseverance there will be auspiciousness. People should observe the principle of nurturing and find proper foods for nourishment.
Hua-Ching Ni: In nourishment, one should seek the right nutrition and not be tempted by what others enjoy.
The Image
Legge: The image of thunder under a mountain forms Nourishment. The superior man, in accordance with this, controls his speech and regulates his eating and drinking.
Wilhelm/Baynes: At the foot of the mountain, thunder: the image of The Corners of the Mouth. Thus the superior man is careful in his words and temperate in eating and drinking.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes thunder rumbling at the foot of a mountain. The Superior Man is thoughtful in speech and frugal in his eating and drinking. [The lower trigram, thunder, also represents the power of quickening growth; hence its place in a hexagram concerned with nourishment.]
Liu: Thunder rolling around the foot of the mountain is the symbol of Nourishment. The superior man is cautious in his speech; he restrains and regulates his eating and drinking.
Ritsema/Karcher: Below mountain possessing thunder. Jaws. A chun tzu uses considering words to inform. [A chun tzu uses] articulating to drink and take-in.
Cleary (1): There is thunder beneath the mountain. Superior people are careful about what they say, and moderate in eating and drinking.
Cleary (2): … Leaders are prudent in speech, moderate in consumption.
Wu: There is thunder below the mountain; this is Nurturing. Thus the jun zi speaks with caution and drinks and eats with moderation.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: When the nourishing is correct, there will be good fortune. We must examine those whom we wish to nourish, and we must also examine our own nourishing of ourselves. Heaven and earth nourish all things. The sages nourish men of talent and virtue in order to reach the masses. Great is the work intended in the time of nourishing.
Legge: The character ofNourishment is the symbol of the upper jaw, but the image of the hexagram suggests a whole mouth with undivided lines at top and bottom, and divided lines between them. The bottom line is in the trigram of Movement, and the top line is in the trigram of Keeping Still -- giving the image of a mobile lower jaw and a fixed upper jaw. The divided lines represent the mouth cavity. The hexagram denotes nourishing of body or mind, of one's self or others, and the proper nourishment in each case must necessarily vary according to circumstances. Thus, judgment must be exercised to determine which nourishment is in harmony with correctness and virtue.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment:Nourishment asks you to examine your motives in the allocation of your energy. Willpower creates a well- balanced apportionment.
The Superior Man controls his expression and monitors his appetites.
The lines in the lower trigram of Movement are all rendered unfavorably to one degree or another, while the lines of the upper trigram of Keeping Still are all generally correct. The implication is that non-action is almost always preferable to movement. This idea is fundamental to the philosophy of the I Ching, and in the hexagram of Nourishmentthe lesson is that non-action feeds and strengthens the psyche.
All actions are the expression of psychic energy through a physical body to create an effect in spacetime. Each effect creates consequences which usually demand further action. It is easy to see that action which is not initiated by the Self can only result in unexpected consequences, and that action which conforms to the will of the Self is motivated by and directed toward a transcendent goal. Although correct non-action generally creates no negative consequences in spacetime, it does have nourishing consequences in the psyche as autonomous forces are gathered, digested, assimilated and renewed in ascending configurations of growth.
As this Path represents the structure of the [ego], the attribution of the Mouth reminds us that the purpose of incarnation is the seeking of the food of experience in Form for the benefit of the [Self] and the Spirit. Gareth Knight -- Qabalistic Symbolism
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Compare the Image of Nourishment in this hexagram with those in hexagram number five, Waiting; number forty-eight, The Well; and number fifty, The Sacrificial Vessel.