Break through the barriers, persevere through challenges, and rise above limits to discover the strength within to transform and thrive under pressure.
From
21
Biting Through
To
28
Critical Mass
Getting one's hands on irrefutable evidence
One gets by mistake an overwhelming document. One then knows a feeling of doubt. taoscopy.com
Biting Through21
Face conflicts head-on to clear blockages; decisive action breaks through obstacles.
↓ Line 1
The situation is difficult, but it is necessary to endure it without complaint.
↓ Line 2
One must be firm and resolute to overcome obstacles, but should not be overly harsh.
↓ Line 3
Challenges are tough and may lead to minor setbacks, but persistence will lead to no lasting harm.
↓ Line 5
Success is possible through careful and persistent effort, despite the risks.
↓ Line 6
Being overly rigid or harsh can lead to misfortune and loss of understanding.
↓ Critical Mass28
Embrace resilience during times of overwhelming pressure. Acknowledge the burden, make necessary adjustments, and seek support to prevent collapse. Balance is crucial for enduring success.
Other titles: Biting Through, Gnawing, The Symbol of Mastication and Punishment by Pressing and Squeezing, Gnawing Bite, Severing, Chewing, Punishment, Reformation, Reform, Differentiation, Discrimination, Making a Distinction, Getting the message "Something which should be, or has to be bitten through. This is essentially the legal hexagram. When asking about a man's intentions, he is probably married." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Success is found in Discernment. The restrictions of the law bring advantage.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Biting Through has success. It is favorable to let justice be administered.
Blofeld: Gnawing. Success! The time is favorable for legal processes. [The concept of gnawing is suggested by the component trigrams, which are regarded (owing to the arrangement of their lines) as not commingling; they are as separate from each other as the upper and lower jaw when something tough is being gnawed.]
Liu: Chewing: Success. It benefits to administer justice. [Chewing indicates success through hard work. Those who get this hexagram will have trouble in the beginning.]
Ritsema/Karcher:Gnawing Bite, Growing. Harvesting: availing of litigating. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of confronting a tenacious obstacle. It emphasizes that biting through and picking things clean until the essential is revealed is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: gnaw and bite through!]
Shaughnessy: Biting and chewing: Receipt; beneficial to use a court case.
Cleary (1):Biting through is developmental. It is beneficial to administer justice.
Cleary (2): Biting through is successful. It is beneficial to apply justice.
Wu: Discernment is pervasive. It will be advantageous to exact punishments.
The Image
Legge: The images of thunder and lightning form Discernment. Thus the ancient kings promulgated their laws and framed their penalties with intelligence.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Thunder and lightning: The image of Biting Through. Thus the kings of former times made firm the laws through clearly defined penalties.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes lightning accompanied by thunder. The ancient rulers, after making their legal code perfectly clear to all, enforced the laws vigorously. [The firm and yielding lines more or less alternate; or the lower trigram can be regarded as filled with the power of thunderous force, while the upper trigram, representing beauty, is soft and yielding. (Li, the upper trigram, stands for lightning as well as for fire, beauty, etc.) I do not know what the ancient Chinese views on thunder and lightning were; it appears from this that they were regarded as two forces which, like steel and flint, emitted brilliance when brought into sharp contact with each other. A pair of trigrams both with yielding centers is not felt to be a good arrangement; that it nevertheless favors the process of the law may have been suggested to the writer of the Text by the fact that the weak lines (morally weak people?) are fully contained by the strong (prison walls, warders and so forth?)]
Liu: Thunder and lightning symbolize Chewing. The ancient kings made the laws and clarified the penalties.
Ritsema/Karcher: Thunder, lightning. Gnawing Bite. The Earlier Kings used brightening flogging to enforce the laws.
Cleary (1): Thunder and lightning, biting through. Thus did the kings of yore clarify penalties and proclaim laws. [Those who administer laws should emulate the ancient kings in first clarifying them before executing them, in order to avoid mistakenly injuring life.]
Wu: Thunder and lightning form Discernment. Thus the ancient kings made just punishments and upheld the law of the land.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The existence of something between the jaws gives rise to the name Discernment-- union by means of biting through the intervening article. The dynamic and magnetic lines are equally divided in the figure. Movement is denoted by the lower trigram, and Clarity by the upper -- thunder and lightning uniting in them, and having brilliant manifestation. The magnetic fifth line is in the center, and acts in her high position. Although she is not in her proper place, this is advantageous for the use of legal constraints.
Legge: Discernment means literally "union by gnawing." The figure consists of undivided lines in the top, bottom and fourth places -- giving the image of open jaws with something in them "being gnawed." When the object has been bitten through, the upper and lower jaws come together in union -- hence: " Union by gnawing." Remove the obstacles to union and high and low will meet together in understanding. The force exerted by gnawing suggests the idea of legal constraints.
The equal division of the dynamic and magnetic lines is seen by taking them in pairs, though the order of the first pair is different from the other two. The magnetic fifth line is the ruler of the hexagram, indicating that judgment is tempered by leniency.
Ch'eng-tzu says that thunder and lightning are always found together, and hence their trigrams go together to give the idea of union intended in Discernment: one trigram symbolizing majesty and the other intelligence.
Cleary (1): Practice of the Tao is like administering justice: Discerning true and false, right and wrong, is like the judge deciding good and bad; getting rid of falsehood and keeping truth, so as to preserve essence and life, is like the [just] administration rewarding the good and punishing the bad, so as to alleviate the burden of injustice.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Further the Work through careful Discernment between what is true and false, right and wrong, correct and incorrect.
The Image portrays the connection between cause and effect, where consequences are always based on the inexorable laws of nature.
To bite is to comprehend, and to bite through is to make distinctions. The top and bottom lines of the hexagram represent the upper and lower jaws, and both bear images of restriction and punishment. Each of the lines between them portrays some version of biting through flesh. Hence, the jaws define the general problem, and the teeth differentiate the details.
The symbol of losing teeth has the primitive meaning of losing one's grip because under primitive circumstances and in the animal kingdom, the teeth and mouth are the gripping organ. If one loses teeth, one loses the grip on something. Now this can mean a loss of self-control, etc. The English word grip is contained in the German word begriff (conception or notion). The Latin word conceptio means the same, i.e., catching hold of something, having a grip on something. Jung -- Letters
In I Ching symbolism, the "ancient kings” are always synonymous with spiritual authority. Analogous to gods or cosmic forces, their "laws" are like the laws of karma or of nature -- inexorable in their outcome. Therefore, the punishment theme in the hexagram warns us that a lack of Discernment in the matter at hand has built-in penalties: i.e., "Get the message or suffer the consequences.”
Behold, sin and punishment are one, and the fire of punishment is the fire that refines my works. Even in the sinner I am the actor, and I, too, am the sufferer in the experience of punishment. P.F. Case -- The Book of Tokens
To receive this hexagram without changing lines indicates a need to make some important distinctions in the matter at hand. “Figure it out” might make a good alternate title at such times. Cleary’s Taoist note on the image (“Those who administer laws should emulate the ancient kings in first clarifying them before executing them, in order to avoid mistakenly injuring life”) is a clear admonition to get all of your facts straight before proceeding with your inquiry. That you don’t know or understand something is implied.
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
The twenty-first hexagram turned upside down becomes the twenty-second. The message for the superior man in the Image of each concerns the enforcement of law. What is the relationship between Discernmentand Persona in such a context? The component trigrams of these two figures also make up hexagrams number fifty-five, Expansion of Awareness and number fifty-six, Transition.The messages for the superior man in each of these figures also relate to litigation. Why? What do the four hexagrams suggest about the nature of the Work?
Line 1
Legge: The first line, dynamic, shows one with his feet in the stocks and deprived of his toes. There will be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: His feet are fastened in the stocks so that his toes disappear. No blame.
Blofeld: The feet are shackled so that they may not walk -- no error is involved! [This line suggests that extreme firmness would not be culpable at this time.]
Liu: His feet are put in the stocks. It will injure his toes. No blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Shoes locked-up, submerging the feet. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: Wearing stocks on the feet and with cut off feet; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Wearing stocks stopping the feet, there is no blame.
Wu: He wears a pair of shackles, which covers his toes. There is no error.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: There is no walking to do evil. Wilhelm/Baynes: He cannot walk. Blofeld: This method is used to prevent evil-doers from progressing in their wickedness. Ritsema/Karcher: Not moving indeed. Cleary (2): Means not acting. Wu: The light punishment warns him not to walk the wrong path again.
The Master said:The inferior man is not ashamed of what is not benevolent, nor does he fear to do what is not righteous. Without the prospect of gain he does not stimulate himself to what is good, nor does he correct himself without being moved. Self-correction, however, in what is small will make him careful in what would be of greater consequence; and this is the happiness of the inferior man. It is said in the I Ching, "His feet are in the stocks, and he is disabled in his toes - there will be no further occasion for blame."
Legge: The first and last lines of the hexagram are undergoing punishment which is inflicted by the other lines. Line one's offense is minor, and he is confined to the stocks to prevent him from making it worse.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, the man receives a mild sentence as a warning for a small offense.
Wing: Since this is only your first departure from the right path, only a mild punishment is forthcoming. This should serve the purpose of early Reform.
Editor: To be deprived of one's toes is to be unable to move -- the toes (or feet in some translations) are found in seven hexagrams, and all but one appear in the first line which indicates the beginning of movement. The idea is to nip a bad choice in the bud before it gains momentum. Sometimes the line can refer to circumstances beyond one's control which prevent one from taking an ill-considered or harmful action.
Even the venerable Church Fathers had to admit that evil is not only unavoidable but actually necessary in order to avert a greater evil... Punishment is also an evil and just as much a transgression as crime. It is simply the crime of society against the crime of the individual. And this evil, too, is unavoidable and necessary. Jung --Letters
A. You are held fast to prevent mistakes. Comprehension or growth is effected through restricted circumstances.
B. Circumstances impede or prevent action.
Line 2
Legge: The second line, magnetic, shows one biting through soft flesh, and going on to bite off the nose. There will be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Bites through tender meat, so that his nose disappears. No blame.
Blofeld: Gnawing flesh so that the nose is hidden in it --no error! [The meaning of this line is not at all obvious. The Chinese additional commentaries take it to mean that we may do a little harm to our own interests but that we shall not deserve blame for what happens.]
Liu: Biting the skin, his nose is cut. No blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Gnawing flesh, submerging the nose. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: Biting flesh and cutting off the nose; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Biting skin, cutting off the nose, etc.
Cleary (2): Biting through the skin, destroying the nose, etc. [This is investigating principle and gradually penetrating.]
Wu: He bites through a skin burying his nose in it, etc. [This makes it easy for him to judge the case like biting through a soft skin …The judgment seems to have cautioned mildly not to over-judge an easy case.]
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She is mounted on the dynamic first line. Wilhelm/
Baynes: He rests upon a hard line. Blofeld: This is indicated by the position of the line (a yielding one) above a firm one. Ritsema/Karcher: Riding a solid indeed. Cleary (2): Riding on strength. Wu: He is riding on a yang.
Legge: Line two is appropriately magnetic in a central place, therefore her action should be effective. This is shown by her biting through the soft flesh -- an easy thing. Immediately below, however, is a strong offender represented by the first line. Before he will submit it is necessary to bite off his nose. Punishment is the rule, and it must be continued and increased until the end is secured. Ch'eng-Tzu says: "Being mounted on the dynamic first line means punishing a strong and vehement man, when severity is required, as is denoted by the central position of the line."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The hardened sinner must be punished severely to secure the desired ends. Although indignation often goes too far in meting out punishment, it may still be just.
Wing: Punishment and retribution come swiftly and thoroughly to the person who continues in wrong behavior. Even though it may seem overly severe, it will effectively bring about Reform. Finally, there is no mistake in this.
Editor: This is an interestingly ambiguous line which admits of more than one interpretation. I have always taken the hexagram as symbolic of the process of differentiation, so the following associations come from that perspective: Bite: To "get your teeth into" something is to get a grip on it, to comprehend it. Flesh: Meat, food, nourishment -- the raw material, data or experience of the situation at hand. Soft: Easily bitten and penetrated. An easy discrimination. Nose: Intuition, subtle discrimination, as: "I smell a rat.” The various translators indicate that the nose is either injured or buried in the meat, suggesting that the intuitive faculty is damaged or obscured by an overly easy act of mental discrimination. A simplistic comprehension goes too far, but since the idea of "No Blame" is attached to the line this seems to be a natural consequence of the situation. A syllogism might go like this: "Drunk drivers are bad. George is a drunken driver, therefore George is bad.” This is the easy discrimination. The subtlediscrimination is that George, normally a modest drinker, was required by his Embassy job to drink toasts with the Russian ambassador and he miscalculated his capacity to hold his liquor. The easy distinction over-rides the subtle one because the offense is serious enough to require a severe punishment. The line can sometimes suggest the squabbles of lawyers, and the differences between the spirit and letter of the law.
The world of the soul and the realms of the spirit can only be known to him whose inner senses are awakened to life. The things of the body are seen through the instrumentality of the body, but the things of the soul require the power of spiritual perception. F. Hartmann -- Paracelsus: Life and Prophecies
A. An oversimplification is better than a total illusion: half-true is better than totally false.
B. Suggests a conclusion based upon simplistic reasoning. You only see the obvious: seek the subtle hidden within the obvious.
C. “There is more to the subject than meets the eye.”
Line 3
Legge: The third line, magnetic, shows one gnawing dried flesh, and meeting with what is disagreeable. There will be occasion for some small regret, but no great error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Bites on old dried meat and strikes something poisonous. Slight humiliation. No blame.
Blofeld: Gnawing dried meat, he was poisoned, but not severely enough to indispose him for long -- no error! [This line presages trouble through no fault of ours which will not, however, incapacitate us for long.]
Liu: By chewing dried salt meat one gets poisoned. Small humiliation, but no blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Gnawing seasoned meat. Meeting poison. The small abashed. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: Biting dried meat and meeting with poison; small distress; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Biting on dried meat, running into poison. There is a little shame, but no blame.
Wu: He bites dried salted meat and gets an unpleasant aftertaste. There will be slight regret, but no error. [A yin in a yang position makes his judgment hard like biting on dried cured meat. The “unpleasant aftertaste” may suggest he is biting more than he can chew, he faces rowdy offenders, or he has a little rough time. But he makes no error.]
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She meets with what is disagreeable and hurtful -- her position is not the proper one for her. Wilhelm/Baynes: The place is not the appropriate one. Blofeld: His being poisoned is indicated by the unsuitable position of this line. Ritsema/Karcher: Situation not appropriate indeed. Wu: His position is improper.
Legge: Line three is magnetic in a dynamic place. Her action will be ineffective, and is symbolized by gnawing through tough meat only to taste something rancid. Since punishment is the rule in this hexagram, the auspice is not all bad.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man lacks sufficient power and authority and the culprit does not submit to him. It is like biting through old dried meat and coming upon something poisonous. Some humiliation results but no blame.
Wing: You lack sufficient power and authority to bring about Reform. Your attempts meet with indifference, and you may feel humiliated at your ineffective actions. Yet Reform is necessary, and therefore your endeavors are justified.
Editor: In his commentary Wilhelm emphasizes that "the matter at issue is
an old one.” A magnetic line in a dynamic place suggests weakness or passivity which is unable to deal very effectively with a long-standing problem. Implicit also is the idea of confronting something disagreeable within one's own psyche.
For there are very many kinds of evil which formed the delight of his former life, that is of the old life. These evils cannot all be subdued at once and together; for they cleave tenaciously, since they have been inrooted in the parents for many ages back, and are therefore innate in man, and are confirmed by actual evils from himself from infancy. Swedenborg -- Arcana Coelestia
A. You seem impotent in coming to grips with an old issue. Recognition and acceptance of this are the first steps toward initiating needed reforms.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, magnetic, shows one gnawing at dried flesh, and finding the yellow gold. Let her be firm and correct, realizing the peril of her position. There will be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Bites on dried lean meat. Receives yellow gold. Perseveringly aware of danger. No blame.
Blofeld: While gnawing dried meat, he encountered a piece of gold embedded in it -- unwavering determination now will bring down trouble, but no error is involved. [If we persist with our plans, trouble will arise; the only comfort we can take is that we shall not be to blame for it.]
Liu: By chewing the dried meat one gains gold. To continue is dangerous. No blame.
Shaughnessy: Biting dry meat and meeting with poison; determination is dangerous; there is no trouble.
Cleary (2): Biting dry meat, finding gold, if one is upright and diligent there will be no blame.
Wu: He bites dried meat and gets yellow gold. He will have no error if he remains perseverant in such a critical situation. [What he bites suggests he still has a hard time simply because he is not strong-minded. A softhearted person vested with the authority of a judge should be perseverant in impartiality.]
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She will possess every quality appropriate to her position and task. Wilhelm/Baynes: She has found what is appropriate. Blofeld: That we shall not be to blame for the trouble is indicated by the suitable position of this line. Ritsema/Karcher: Acquiring the appropriate indeed. Cleary (2): This is finding what is appropriate. Wu: Because he acts properly.
Legge: The fifth line represents the ruler and judge. As it is a magnetic line, she will be disposed to leniency, and her judgments will be correct. This is shown by her finding the "yellow metal." (Yellow is one of the five "correct" colors.) The position is in the center, but because the line is magnetic, a caution is given, as under the previous line.
Anthony: We would like to be lenient, but our job is to be impartial. To accept an alliance merely because the other person wants it, while they are not firmly committed to being correct, would be wrong. They must realize, through their own perception, that correctness is the only path to an alliance, and that spiritual growth is the source of unity that endures.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: A clear-cut case meets with difficulty because of a tendency to be lenient. The man must be as true as gold and as impartial as the mean.
Wing: Even though there are few alternatives, a decision is difficult to make. Once you choose the course you will take, do not waver from your decision. Remain aware of the dangers and in this way you will surmount them.
Editor: Flesh: Meat, food, nourishment -- the raw material, data or experience of the situation at hand. Dried: Tough, difficult to chew and digest -- difficult to sort out, comprehend or accept as true. Yellow:Color of the mean, of the sun -- suggests wisdom which comes from clarity, balanced perception. Gold: The supreme treasure, Divine Intelligence, truth.
When a man sins, good and evil are intermingled. A legal opinion is a clear separation between the permitted and the forbidden, the clean and the unclean. When you study religious law, good is once again separated from the evil and the sin is rectified. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov
A. Sorting out a complex issue involves difficulty, but success is possible -- you have the resources to comprehend the matter.
B. Success lies in making a hard choice.
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, dynamic, shows one wearing the cangue, and deprived of his ears. There will be evil.
Wilhelm/Baynes: His neck is fastened in the wooden cangue, so that his ears disappear. Misfortune.
Blofeld: He wears a wooden cangue which hides his ears -- misfortune!
Liu: His neck is put in the wooden collar. His ear is injured. Misfortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Wherefore locking-up submerging the ears? Pitfall.
Shaughnessy: Carrying a cangue on the shoulders and with a cut-off ear; inauspicious.
Cleary (2): Wearing a cangue destroying the ears is unfortunate.
Wu: He wears a cangue that covers his ears. There will be foreboding.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He wears the cangue and is deprived of his ears -- he hears, but will not understand. Wilhelm/Baynes: He does not hear clearly. Blofeld: This implies dullness of hearing or intellect. [This suggests that, for the present, we should not put much trust in our own judgment.] Ritsema/Karcher: Understanding not brightened indeed. Cleary (2): Means not listening clearly. Wu: Because he hears, but does not heed.
From the Great Treatise: If acts of goodness be not accumulated, they are not sufficient to give its finish to one's name; if acts of evil be not accumulated, they are not sufficient to destroy one's life. The inferior man thinks that small acts of goodness are of no benefit, and does not do them; and that small deeds of evil do no harm, and does not abstain from them. Hence his wickedness becomes great till it cannot be pardoned. This is what theI Ching says, "He wears the cangue and his ears are destroyed: there will be evil."
Legge: The action of the hexagram has passed, and here we have one still persisting in wrongdoing. He is a strong criminal, wearing the cangue and deaf to counsel. Of course the auspice is evil.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man is deaf to repeated warnings. Evil accumulates, as he thinks, "Small sins do no harm.” His guilt grows until it cannot be pardoned.
Wing: A person who cannot recognize his own shortcomings will drift farther and farther from the path. A person who is no longer on the path cannot understand the warnings of others. The original text states: "There will be evil.”
Editor: Webster's Third New International Dictionary defines "Cangue" as: "A wooden collar three or four feet square used in oriental countries for confining the neck and sometimes also the hands for punishment.” It is a more severe analogue of the stocks mentioned in the first line of the hexagram.
He who rejects discipline despises his own self; he who listens to correction wins discernment. Proverbs 15: 32
A. You haven't gotten the message and must suffer the consequences of your lack of comprehension.
B. "Deaf to counsel." Stubborn illusions prevent you from making a connection.
Other titles: Preponderance of the Great, The Symbol of Great Passing, Excess, Great Excess, The Passing of Greatness, Great Surpassing, Great Gains, Experience, Greater than Great, Greatness in Excess, Dominance by the Mighty, The Passing of Greatness, Excess of the Great, Law of Karma
Judgment
Legge:Critical Mass depicts a weak beam. Under such conditions it is advantageous to move in any direction whatever. Success is indicated.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Preponderance of the Great. The ridgepole sags to the breaking point. It furthers one to have somewhere to go. Success.
Blofeld:Excess! The ridgepole sags. It is favorable to have some goal (or destination) in view. Success! [A glance at the hexagram will show that it is too heavy in the middle and too weak at the ends. A number of firm lines is generally auspicious, but there can be too much of a good thing!]
Liu: Great Excess. The ridgepole is crooked. It benefits to go anywhere. Success.
Ritsema/Karcher:Great Exceeding, the ridgepole sagging. Harvesting; possessing directed going. Growing. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of your connection to a ruling principle. It emphasizes that pushing the guiding idea beyond ordinary limits and accepting the results is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Great Surpassing: The ridgepole bows upward; beneficial to have someplace to go; receipt.
Cleary (1): When the great is excessive, the ridgepole bends. It is good to go somewhere; that is developmental. [When the ridgepole snaps, the whole house falls down. In the same way, practitioners of the Tao who promote yang too much, who do not know when enough is enough, who can be great but cannot be small, suffer damage to their spiritual house.]
Cleary (2): When greatness passes, the ridgepole bends. It is beneficial to have somewhere to go, for you will succeed.
Wu:Excess of the Great indicates a beam that warps. It will be advantageous to have undertakings. It will be pervasive.
The Image
Legge: The image of trees beneath a marsh forms Critical Mass. The superior man, in accordance with this, fearlessly stands alone, and stays retired from the world without regret.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The lake rises above the trees: the image of Preponderance of the Great. Thus the superior man, when he stands alone, is unconcerned, and if he has to renounce the world, he is undaunted.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes a forest submerged in a great body of water. The Superior Man, though standing alone, is free from fear; he feels no discontent in withdrawing from the world. [This is suggested by the component trigrams. Water is necessary for the nourishment of the trees, but too much of it can cause serious damage.]
Liu: The lake rising over the trees symbolizes Great Excess. The superior man, when isolated, is undisturbed. If he has to retreat from society, he feels no regret.
Ritsema/Karcher: Marsh submerging wood. Great Exceeding. A chun tzu uses solitary establishing not to fear. (A chun tzu uses) retiring-from the age without melancholy.
Cleary (1): Moisture destroys wood in excess. Thus superior people stand alone without fear, and leave society without distress.
Cleary (2): Moisture destroys wood. Developed people, etc. [Only when sustained by the power to stand alone without fear and avoid society without distress can learning be firmly rooted and development have a proper basis; then it is possible to refine and support the mediocre.]
Wu: Marsh covers over wood; This is Excess of the Great. Thus the jun zi stands alone without fear and withdraws from the world without melancholy.
CONFUCIAN COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Excess is weakly supported at either end, with weakness in both the lowest and topmost lines. The dynamic lines are in excess, but two of them are in the central positions. The trigrams of Flexibility and Satisfaction indicate that there will be advantage in moving in any direction whatever -- there will be success. Great indeed is the work to be done during this extraordinary time.
Legge: Extraordinary times require extraordinary skill in their management. The figure shows two magnetic lines at top and bottom, with four dynamic lines between them -- giving the image of a great beam unable to sustain its own weight. Lines two and five are both dynamic and central however, and from this and the attributes of the component trigrams a good auspice is obtained.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: A stressful situation is best managed with a comprehensive strategy. (Or: in the chess game of life, one succeeds by planning several moves in advance.)
The Superior Man serves The Work by going his own way, regardless of public opinion.
Wilhelm titles this hexagram Preponderance of the Great. I prefer R.L. Wing's paraphrase of Critical Massas more evocative of the figure's meaning in modern terminology.
In Critical Mass four dynamic lines lurk inside of the hexagram, weakly contained at top and bottom by two magnetic lines. This energetic concentration could explode in an unpredictable release of force, and hence the Judgment tells us to move now (remember: non-action is also action) to avoid unwanted consequences. (Often the outcome is predictable – be prepared to just walk away if and when that is your best move.)
Legge’s translation of the Judgment is:
"...It is advantageous to move in any direction whatever. "
This is a different message than Wilhelm's:
"...It furthers one to have somewhere to go."
Legge’s version implies an almost hysterical flight from danger while Wilhelm's rendition suggests prior intention and planning. The latter interpretation is definitely what is meant here, as confirmed by Cleary’s Buddhist commentary:
When the transformative path is flourishing, contaminations easily arise; it is best to set up guidelines and regulations. When meditation work is advanced, ignorance is about to dissolve; it is best to exercise the mind skillfully.
Coupled with Cleary’s translation of the Image as: “Developed people stand alone without fear, avoid society without distress,” the idea is that one should follow one's best intuition and ignore popular illusions, political correctness or inner fears. (Psychologically: conventional thinking, socially conditioned reflexes, knee-jerk responses, etc.). During a time of Critical Mass, pay close attention to direction from the Self to preserve the Work. This is not the time to follow the crowd. Sometimes this can mean that you are obliged to go it alone – one of the Work’s frequent tests (Cf. line 6):
The Gulf is something that has to be leaped, and leaped alone, stripped of all hindering burdens, in faith ... It is thus one of the crisis points of spiritual progress because of the great temptation to turn back from the unknown to the apparent safety of known things, and to succumb to this temptation is to lose all the fruits of past endeavor. G. Knight -- A Practical Guide to Kabbalistic Symbolism
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Compare the Judgment and Image of this hexagram with those of hexagram number 32, Consistency.
Anthony: We must regain modesty through the effort to rid ourself of strong elements that cause us to press forward. The strong elements may exist in someone else, causing them to assault us with their fear, mistrust or doubt. Strong refers to impetuous movement to resolve what is ambiguous … We can meet the challenge by remaining detached and letting things go through their changes … To be truly rich is to remain modest; to be truly powerful is to remain reticent.