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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.
↓ Line 3
Avoiding nourishment and neglecting needs leads to long-term misfortune. Correct your course.
↓ Line 4
Seeking nourishment from a higher source brings good fortune. Be vigilant and discerning.
↓ Clarity30
Clarity and adaptability. Embrace the light to illuminate your path. Recognize patterns in life, align with them, and nurture personal growth.
Original Readings
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.
Line 3
Legge: The third line, magnetic, shows one acting contrary to the method of nourishing. However firm she may be, there will be evil. For ten years let her not take any action, for it will not be advantageous in any way.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Turning away from nourishment. Perseverance brings misfortune. Do not act thus for ten years. Nothing serves to further.
Blofeld: He is determined to relinquish nourishment -- misfortune! For ten years he performs no useful function and there is nowhere favorable for him to go. [Such extreme eccentricity can only end in barrenness. Those familiar with Buddhism will recollect that the Lord Buddha abandoned nourishment on the advice of his teachers and then came to regret this fruitless method of self-discipline.]
Liu: One turns away from nourishment. Continuing in this way brings misfortune: no action for ten years, no benefit or advantage. [Owing to misconduct there is a danger of encountering disaster, misfortune, or poor health.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Rejecting Jaws. Trial: pitfall. Ten years-revolved, no availing-of. Without direction: Harvesting.
Shaughnessy: Threshing the jaw; determination is inauspicious; for ten years do not use it; there is no place beneficial.
Cleary (1): Going against nourishment, even with rectitude this is inauspicious. Don’t act on this for ten years; there is no benefit.
Cleary (2): Going against nourishment is inauspicious even if there is rectitude. Do not act on this for ten years; there is nothing to be gained. [The weak cannot nourish themselves; if they are also not balanced correctly and dwell on the climax of action in this state, this is going against nourishment. Even though there is a correct correspondence with the top yang, this cannot save them, and they wind up useless . In Buddhism, it is like the senses deranging people so that they lose their standards.]
Wu: It violates the principle of nurturing. Even if correct it is foreboding. It loses its usefulness for ten years. There is nothing to be gained.
Hua-Ching Ni: The wrong kind of nourishment. This kind of nourishment may look good for ten years, but in the end has no real benefit. Misfortune.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Her course is greatly opposed to what is right. Wilhelm/
Baynes: It is all too contrary to the right way. Blofeld: Ten years because his ways are utterly perverse. Ritsema/Karcher: Ten years-revolved, no availing-of. Tao, the great rebelling indeed. Cleary(2): For the way is greatly confused. Wu: Because it has violated the principle.
Legge: Line three is magnetic in a dynamic place, and because she is the last line in the trigram of Movement, that quality culminates in her. She considers herself self-sufficient, needing no help. The issue is bad.
Anthony: Only by firmly mastering our inferiors [i.e. our attitudes, complexes, limiting beliefs] do we nourish ourself correctly.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Instead of solid accomplishments, the man pursues pleasures and self-gratification. He will never achieve anything so long as he is surrounded by dissipating temptations.
Wing: You cannot be fully nourished because you are too busy looking for nourishment in the wrong places. In doing this, you turn away from others who might help you, and therefore you achieve nothing. This is eccentric and dangerous behavior.
Editor: The idea here is one of ignoring or repudiating what is necessary for growth. Compare this line with the sixth line of hexagram 24: Return, which Wilhelm translates as: “Missing the return. Misfortune. Misfortune from within and without. If armies are set marching in this way, one will in the end suffer a great defeat, disastrous for the ruler of the country. For ten years it will not be possible to attack again.” Carefully examine the situation at hand to determine where the source of error lies. This line can sometimes refer to “attitude” problems – depression or pessimism that you cannot throw off despite knowing that the Work transcends such illusions.
The difficulty in realizing this permanence of the essential self is, of course, due to the fact that a person becomes so attached to the physical vehicle and so connected with its activities, that the divine self is seldom contacted. G. Barborka -- The Pearl of the Orient
A. You have just made an egregious blunder.
B. Consider yourself reprimanded for getting off the path.
C. Your assumptions in the matter at hand are totally incorrect.
D. You have an attitude problem.
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, magnetic, shows one looking downwards for the power to nourish. (Sic.) There will be good fortune. Looking with the downward unwavering glare of a tiger, and with her desire that impels her to spring after spring, she will fall into no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Turning to the summit for provision of nourishment brings good fortune. Spying about with sharp eyes like a tiger with insatiable craving. No blame.
Blofeld: Nourishment on the mountain peak -- good fortune! He glares like a tiger stalking its prey so ardent is his look -- no error! [This line, like the second line, suggests a recluse; but in this case he is well qualified for the spiritual life and obviously gains the fruit of his endeavor. His tigerish glance calls to mind a Master of Zen or, rather, a Taoist sage who has reached a similar stage of enlightenment.]
Liu: Seeking nourishment from the top of the mountain brings good fortune. One stares like a starving tiger stalking its prey. No blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Toppling jaws. Significant. Tiger observing: glaring, glaring. His appetites: pursuing, pursuing. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: Upside-down jaw; auspicious. The tiger looks with eyes downcast, his appearance is so sad; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Reverse nourishment is auspicious. The tiger watches intently, about to give chase. No fault.
Wu: There is reversed nurture. Auspicious. Like the attentive gazing of a tiger, he chases after his desires. There will be no error.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: This shows how brilliant will be the diffusion of the power from her superior position. Wilhelm/Baynes: The one above spreads light. Blofeld: The good fortune is due to light shed from above. Ritsema/Karcher: Spreading-out shining above indeed. Cleary (2): Giving out light from above. Wu: The favors from above are illustrious.
Legge: With line four we pass into the upper trigram. She is next to the ruler's place in line five, and bent on nourishing and training all below. Her proper correlate is the dynamic first line, and although she is weak in herself, she looks with intense desire to the first line for help (Sic.), and there is no error.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man in a high position recognizes the need for able helpers to pursue his lofty aims for the good of the people. He looks for the required talent with the searching glare of a hungry tiger.
Wing: Any desire to energetically nourish others will meet with success. You are in a position to be supportive and influential, although you may need to enlist help. Look for clever people to aid you. There is no mistake in this.
Editor: Wilhelm, Blofeld and Liu all show this line turning upward to a summit or mountain peak for her source of nourishment, and the Confucian commentaries are rendered in terms of light shining down from above. Legge's translation and commentary are not in accordance with this, and hence misleading. The image is one of turning upward for the inspiration to nourish those below. It suggests an ego gaining its power from the Self in order to correctly nourish subordinate complexes within the psyche. The fourth line represents the minister: symbolically, the ego as facilitator of the Work in spacetime. The image of the tiger suggests the fervor of dedication to a higher idea.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Matthew 5: 6
A. A higher alliance creates the strength to manage inferior forces.
B. Turn toward your inner light, then reflect it into the world.
C. The ego follows higher principles to effect changes in subordinate entities.
30 Clarity
Other titles: The Clinging, The Symbol of Brightness and of Separateness, Flaming Beauty, Radiance, Fire, The Net, Allegiance, The Cosmic Mean, Synergy, Sunlight, Perception, Pertaining to Comprehension, The Light, Consciousness, Lucidity
Judgment
Legge: The free course and success of Clarity comes from firm correctness. The nourishment of bovine docility creates good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The Clinging. Perseverance furthers. It brings success. Care of the cow brings good fortune.
Blofeld:Flaming beauty. Righteous persistence brings reward. Success! Rearing cows -- good fortune! [Cows are gentle creatures which require looking after; hence this sentence means that good fortune can be gained by looking after those in need of help.]
Liu: Fire. It is of benefit to continue. Success. To take care of the cow leads to good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Radiance, Harvesting Trial. Growing. Accumulating female cattle. Significant. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of expanding light, warmth and awareness. It emphasizes that joining with and depending on what spreads this light, the action of Radiance, is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy:The Net: Beneficial to determine; receipt; raising a cow is auspicious.
Cleary(1):Fire is beneficial for correctness and development. Raising a cow brings good fortune.
Cleary (2): Fire is beneficial if correct; then there is success, etc. [In Buddhism, when demons cause disturbance, it is necessary to cleave to true teaching to get rid of aberrations.]
Wu: Allegiance indicates that it will be advantageous to be persevering and pervasion will follow. It will be auspicious to raise the cow.
The Image
Legge: The image of brightness repeated forms Clarity. The great man, in accordance with this, cultivates more and more his brilliant virtue, and diffuses its brightness over the four quarters of the land.
Wilhelm/Baynes: That which is bright rises twice: the image of Fire. Thus the great man, by perpetuating this brightness, illuminates the four quarters of the world.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes fire rising in two tongues of brilliant flame. The Superior Man, by perpetuating the brilliance of the ancients, illuminates every quarter of the earth. [In other words, we should make ourselves as completely dependent on the principle of righteousness as natural objects are dependent upon nature; in this way, we are sure to be successful.]
Liu: Doubled brightness symbolizes Fire. A great man perpetuates the light and illuminates the four corners of the universe.
Ritsema/Karcher: Brightness doubled arousing Radiance. Great People use consecutive brightening to illuminate tending- towards the four sides.
Cleary (1):Light has dual function. Thus do great people illumine the four quarters with continuing light. [The sun goes in at night and comes out in the daytime; this pattern represents inner illumination and outer illumination, one light having dual function…Outer illumination has to be based on inner illumination… Illumination must reach inside and outside, so that both are illumined and both are correct.]
Cleary (2): Illumination doubled makes fire. Great people illumine the four quarters with continuing illumination.
Wu: Brightness doubled makes Allegiance. Thus the great man carries on the brightness to shine the four corners of the earth.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge:Clarity means clinging attachment. The sun and moon have their roots in heaven, and all the growing things have their roots in the earth. The double brightness of the two trigrams is rooted in correctness, and all under heaven are thereby transformed. The magnetic second line is central and correct, indicating a free and successful course. Nourishing a passive docility will lead to good fortune.
Legge:Clarity is the trigram of fire and light, and the sun is the source of both of these. Its attribute is brightness, and by a natural metaphor: intelligence. But this trigram also means inhering or in adhering to -- being attached to. In the hexagram we have a double brightness -- a phrase which denotes the ruler. If we take the two central lines as emblematic of the situation, we have the magnetic dwelling with the dynamic above and below -- a condition requiring a docile humility and strict adherence to what is correct. Ch'eng-tzu says: "The nature of the ox is docile, and that of the cow is much more so. The subject of the hexagram adhering closely to what is correct must be able to act in obedience to it, as docile as a cow, and then there will be good fortune."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Willed persistence gets results. Be receptive to your inner light, and reflect it in your life.
The Superior Man cultivates his capacity to manifest his comprehension of the Work in his everyday choices.
Light is a symbol of both normal consciousness and super- consciousness. Probably every religion in the world uses it in the latter sense -- from the "Let there be light" in the first chapter of Genesis, to The Lord of Light (Ahura Mazda), the supreme being of Zoroastrianism. The TibetanBook of the Dead speaks of the "clear white light" which is the first thing encountered after bodily death -- a phenomenon reported as the experiential perception of those who have had near-death experiences. Light means Truth, it means Reality, and the "double brightness" of this hexagram tells us that Clarity is manifested both above and below.
Meditation on light is one of the most important exercises in the various schools of Tibetan Yoga. The more these psychic and spiritual powers can be achieved during life, the stronger is the ability to penetrate and overcome the bardo. D. I. Lauf, Secret Doctrines Of The Tibetan Book Of The Dead
The Confucian commentary gives the examples of the sun and moon in the heavens, and of growing things on the earth as emblems of Clarity. Sun and moon are certainly luminous, but growing things are not, and when we meditate on the reason for this strange juxtaposition we are led to the idea of the Self and the ego. The Self is the sun, the source of illumination which causes the ego to grow. Sun is to growing things as Self is to ego. This idea is repeated in the relationship between the sun and the moon -- the moon is not self-luminous, it can only reflect the light of the sun. Therefore, sun is to moon as Self is to ego.
The idea is that despite our illusions to the contrary, all of our power originates somewhere else. When we allow the power to work through us without interference, we become "docile" like the cow in the judgment. Clarity, therefore, is attained through docility -- the ability to subdue and restrain the autonomous components of the psyche, which left to their own devices would prefer to go around pontificating their brilliant illusions rather than quietly reflecting the truth. It is not easy to reflect the truth, and the superior man is counseled to constantly perfect his capacity to do so. It is only when Self and ego come together in a fusion reaction that the energy released attains the true "double brightness" imaged in the hexagram. The identical idea is found in the Kabbalah:
Said Rabbi Simeon: "When the Holy One arrays himself, it is in the ornaments from both the celestial and terrestrial worlds; from the former with that heavenly light on high that no human being can approach unto; from the latter with the souls of the righteous who the more they approximate themselves to this divine light the more receptive and filled with it do they become, so that through them it expands in all directions and the world like a cistern or ocean is filled with it." The Zohar
Wilhelm mentions that the hexagram "divided within and closed without, is an image of the meshes of a net in which animals remain snared." This gives us the image of Clarity as Comprehension -- a net which captures and encloses insights. To receive the figure without changing lines is often a confirmation of an idea or action -- it is saying: "You have comprehended," or "Your proposed action is lucid, intelligent, etc."