Other titles: The Taming Power of the Great, The Great Nourisher, Taming the Great Powers, Great Accumulating, Great Accumulation, Great Storage, Nurturance of the Great, Great Buildup, Restraint of the Great, Restraint by the Strong, Potential Energy, The Great Taming Force, Energy Under Control, Power Restrained, Sublimation, Latent Power
Judgment
Legge: Controlled Power means being firm and correct. If its subject doesn't enjoy his family revenues at the expense of public service, there will be good fortune. It will be advantageous to cross the great stream.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The Taming Power of the Great. Perseverance furthers. Not eating at home brings good fortune. It furthers one to cross the great water.
Blofeld: The Great Nourisher favors righteous persistence. Good fortune results from not eating at home. It is a favorable time for crossing the great river (sea). [I.e. going on a long journey, perhaps abroad.]
Liu: Taming the Great Powers. Persistence benefits. Not to eat at home is good fortune. It is of benefit to cross the great water.
Ritsema/Karcher: Great Accumulating. Harvesting Trial. Not dwelling, taking-in. Significant. Harvesting: wading the Great River. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of an overriding concern that defines what is valuable. It emphasizes that bringing the variety of things under the control of this central idea is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Great Storage: Beneficial to determine; not eating at home is auspicious; beneficial to ford the great river.
Cleary (1): In Nurturance of the Great it is beneficial to be chaste. It is good not to eat at home; it is beneficial to cross great rivers. [This hexagram represents incubation nurturing the spiritual embryo. On this path, it is beneficial to still strength, not to use strength. Therefore it says: “it is beneficial to be chaste.” Chastity here means quietude. Stilling strength is nurturing strength. It is good to be still, not active – if one is still, this preserves strength; if one is active, this damages strength. This is the work referred to as “nine years facing a wall.”]
Cleary (2): Great Buildup is beneficial if correct, etc.
Wu: Restraint of the Great indicates prosperity and perseverance. It will be auspicious not to have meals at home. It will be advantageous to cross the big river. [The character chu in the present context has two meanings: one is to accumulate and the other to restrain.]
The Image
Legge: Heaven in the midst of the mountain -- the image of Controlled Power. Thus, the superior man studies the words and deeds of ancient men in order to build his virtue.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Heaven within the mountain: the image of the Taming Power of the Great. Thus the superior man acquaints himself with many sayings of antiquity and many deeds of the past, in order to strengthen his character thereby.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes the sky visible amidst the mountain peaks. The Superior Man, acting from his profound knowledge of the words and conduct of the wise men of old, nourishes his virtue. [The arrangement of the component trigrams suggests glimpses of the sky among the peaks of the mountains. This points to something very far off and thereby indicates the advisability of setting out for some distant place. This is a time for going from home and giving concrete expression to our appreciation of what others have done for us or for the public good.]
Liu: Heaven within the mountain symbolizes Taming the Great Powers. The wise man studies ancient knowledge to improve his character.
Ritsema/Karcher: Heaven located-in mountain center. Great
Accumulating. A chun tzu uses the numerous recorded preceding words going to move. [A chun tzu] uses accumulating one's actualizing-tao. [Actualize-tao: ...ability to follow the course traced by the ongoing process of the cosmos... Linked with acquire, TE: acquiring that which makes a being become what it is meant to be.]
Cleary (1): Heaven is in the mountains, great accumulation. Thus do superior people become acquainted with many precedents of speech and action, in order to accumulate virtue.
Cleary (2): …Leaders build up their virtues by abundant knowledge of past words and deeds.
Wu: Heaven is within the mountain; this is Restraint of the Great. Thus the jun zi accumulates his virtue by remembering past words and deeds.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The trigrams that compose Controlled Power show the intelligence of Strength and Mass renewing their virtue every day. A dynamic line is in the highest place, displaying the worth of talent and virtue -- his is the power that keeps Strength in restraint and displays the will necessary to the hexagram. Talents and virtue are nourished because he refuses to confine his power within his immediate family. Heaven in the second line responds to the ruler in the fifth, thus it is favorable to cross the great stream.
Legge: Controlled Power symbolizes both restraint and the accumulation of virtue. What is restrained accumulates its strength and increases its volume to become a great reservoir of force. The Judgment teaches that if one is firm and correct in this endeavor he may then engage in public service and enjoy the king's grace.
The dynamic line in the highest place is line six who is above the ruler and has all of heaven in which to move. This, plus the power to suppress the strongest opposition, shows how he is supported by all that is correct.
Concerning the Image, Chu Hsi says: "Heaven is the greatest of all things, and its being in the midst of a mountain gives us the idea of a very large accumulation. This is analogous to the labor of the superior man in learning, acquiring and remembering, to accumulate his virtue."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment:Controlled Power is willpower. The ego renounces selfish indulgences to work for the good of the whole. With such a spirit, great transformations are possible.
The Superior Man studies the precepts of the Work to increase his comprehension and fortitude.
The essential image to remember in this hexagram is that of Mount Everest holding down Heaven itself: raw power is controlled by the sheer mass of Keeping Still. Thus we see that Controlled Power is Willpower -- arguably the most potentially creative force in the universe, because used correctly it can accomplish anything.
The will is, curiously, not recognized as the central and fundamental function of the ego. It has often been depreciated as being ineffective against the various drives and the power of the imagination, or it has been considered with suspicion as leading to self-assertion (will-to-power). But the latter is only a perverted use of the will, while the apparent futility of the will is due only to a faulty and unintelligent use. The will is ineffective only when it attempts to act in opposition to the imagination and to the other psychological functions, while its skilful and consequently successful use consists in regulating and directing all other functions toward a deliberately chosen and affirmed aim. Roberto Assagioli –Psychosynthesis
An extreme example of this is illustrated by Cleary’s commentary on the Judgment where he says: “This is the work referred to as “nine years facing a wall.” The reference is to Bodhidharma (the patriarch who brought Zen Buddhism to China), who meditated facing a wall for nine continuous years until he attained enlightenment.
"If its subject doesn't enjoy his family revenues at the expense of public service, there will be good fortune” is an image of the ego renouncing its illusions of free choice. Psychologically, inner complexes will drain energy from the situation unless the ego has the will to control their manifestation. Every line except the sixth depicts some kind of restraint of power -- only in the top line is the energy available for use. It is significant that the superior man is advised to study the ancient wisdom, for it is in the Mysteries, the Perennial Philosophy, that one discovers the secrets and applications of the will. In other contexts (for example, a question about business matters), this can refer to making connection with sound and established practices.
In the larger philosophical sense, we see that the evolving illusions of every age insure that the masses will remain attached to the wheel of birth and death -- continuously repeating endless variations of the same basic lessons. When each individual is finally ready to escape from these cycles, it is only within the ancient and eternal template of the Work that transcendence can be found.
The analogies between religious ideas in Jewish mysticism that are hundreds of years old and the scientific findings of modern psychology can be explained only by the archetypal structure of the psyche. Man's images and ideas concerning the mysteries of being fall into the timeless patterns arranged by the archetypes of the unconscious; his meditations are determined by them. Within the setting of his culture and his time, he creates new forms for the expression of age-old truths. A. Jaffe -- The Myth of Meaning
Through contact with the Self, negative cycles can be broken and positive cycles begun, but it always requires a mountain's worth of Controlled Powerto make it happen.
Line 2
Legge: The second line, dynamic, shows a carriage with the strap under it removed.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The axletrees are taken from the wagon.
Blofeld: A broken axle.
Liu: The axletree separates from the wagon.
Ritsema/Karcher: Carting, stimulating the axle-strap.
Shaughnessy: The cart throws off an axle-strut.
Cleary (1): A cart is divested of its axles.
Cleary (2): A cart has its axles removed.
Wu: The wooden pieces holding the axle firmly underneath a carriage come off.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He is like a carriage from which the strap under it has been removed -- being in the central place, he will incur no blame. Wilhelm/ Baynes: In the middle there is no blame. Blofeld: We are not to blame. [A relatively serious hindrance threatens, but we are not to blame for it.] Ritsema/Karcher: Centering without surpassing indeed. Cleary (2): But there is no resentment in the heart. Wu: The pieces come off, but the center is faultless.
Legge: Line two is subject to the repression of the fifth line, so he stops his advance voluntarily -- he has the wisdom to do so because of his central place. The strap below, when attached to the axle, made the carriage stop; he himself acts that part.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The opposition is decisively stronger. The man should wait while storing energy for his next move.
Wing: There is no opportunity for advancement. You are held back by forces that are beyond your reach. Stay where you are and continue to build the resources of your potential energy. Be content with the present situation. There should be no conflict.
Editor: A modern image might be an automobile up on blocks – a vehicle is immobilized. In a strange mixture of metaphors, from the ruler's perspective (see Legge's commentary on line five), this second line correlate is seen as a castrated boar -- a potentially dangerous force which has been transformed into a safe one. Usually the line simply means that no action is possible at this time.
Here I am speaking not of a power complex, or of an identification with the will to power, but rather of the feeling of ability to control oneself and one's actions, and of the power to choose a goal and to do what is necessary to achieve it. This is a positive factor leading to self-discipline and culture, and on its development civilization largely depends. M.E. Harding -- Psychic Energy
A. Stop striving -- nothing can be done now.
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, magnetic, shows the young bull, and yet having pieces of wood over his horns. There will be great good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The headboard of a young bull. Great good fortune.
Blofeld: The headboard of a young ox -- sublime good fortune! [The symbol is a piece of wood, not unlike a cangue, used for the same purpose as a rope and nose-ring. The suggestion is that one who has not yet attained his full strength benefits from being restrained.]
Liu: The headboard restrains the young bull. Great good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Youthful cattle's stable. Spring significant.
Shaughnessy: The young ox's restraint; prime auspiciousness.
Cleary (1): The horns of a young ox are very auspicious.
Cleary (2): The horn-guard of a young ox is very auspicious.
Wu: It is like putting a wooden crossbar over the horns of a young bull. There will be great fortune.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: There will be occasion for joy. Wilhelm/Baynes: It has joy. Blofeld: Good fortune in the form of happiness. Ritsema/Karcher: Possessing rejoicing indeed. Cleary (2): There is joy. Wu: It is a sign of joy.
Legge: The young bull doesn't have horns yet. Attaching a piece of wood to shape their growth and prevent goring is an instance of extraordinary precaution, and precaution is always good.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man retrains the wild force by timely preventive acts and extraordinary precautions, like fastening a headboard on the growing horns of a young bull.
Wing: That which has held you back has, in fact, aided in your growth. Instead of squandering your resources on premature advancements, you have built up a strong reserve of potential energy. Good fortune.
Editor: Blofeld, Shaughnessy and Cleary render "ox" instead of "bull" -- an unfortunate word choice. (Since an ox is a castrated bull, the meaning of the line is muddled.) The image is one of energy which grows -- i.e., matures and accumulates. To shape this accumulation within the structure of a higher ideal or intent (the "headboard") is to maintain control over it and prevent its autonomous release. Psychologically, the metaphor suggests a forming template, such as the precepts of the Work ("the words and deeds of ancient men” in the Image), which shapes consciousness in accordance with an archetypal ideal. This raises the issue of the difference between disciplined sublimation and repression:
In the face of a seemingly insoluble conflict, awareness and discipline are called for. Repression is something else; it is the act of shutting our eyes in order to avoid the suffering of discipline. E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
A. Channel your power, shape your impulses, structure your will, focus your intent. Impose restrictions now to prevent later lack of control.
B. "As the twig is bent..."
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, magnetic, shows the teeth of a castrated hog. There will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The tusk of a gelded boar. Good fortune.
Blofeld: A gelded boar's tusk -- good fortune! [This is an emblem of opportunity.]
Liu: The boar has a tusk but is gelded. Good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: A gelded pig's tusks. Significant.
Shaughnessy: The crying pig's teeth; auspicious.
Cleary (1): The tusks of a gelded boar are auspicious.
Wu: It is like the teeth of a castrated pig. There will be fortune.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: There is occasion for congratulation. Wilhelm/Baynes:
It has blessing. Blofeld: Good fortune in the form of blessings. [i.e. good fortune apparently unconnected with our efforts or deserts.] Ritsema/Karcher: Possessing reward indeed. Cleary (2): There is celebration. Wu: There is something to celebrate.
Legge: A boar is a powerful and dangerous animal. Let him be castrated, and though his tusks remain, he cares little to use them. Line five is the ruler of the hexagram whose duty it is to repress the advance of evil. An encounter with the strong second line would be dangerous, but the ruler has taken the early precaution of reducing line two to the condition of a castrated boar. Not only is there no evil, there is good fortune.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man dissipates the wild force by controlling its basic source.
Wing: By cutting off the roots of an uncontrolled great force, it can be restrained and redirected. This indirect approach is much better than direct combat or confrontation. Good fortune.
Editor: The idea here is one of sublimation. To sublimate is to "make sublime" -- that is, to transform a lower impulse into a higher one: to refashion that which is coarse into that which is fine. The difference between this line and the previous one is that line four shows the energy externally modified, whereas here it is internally transformed to a higher category. The image can sometimes suggest the idea of foresight -- "A stitch in time saves nine."
The animal elements, instincts, and desires existed before the Divine Spirit illuminated them and made them into man. The animal soul of man is derived from the cosmic animal elements, and the animal kingdom is therefore the father of the animal man. If man is like his animal father, he resembles an animal; if he is like the Divine Spirit that may illuminate his animal elements, he is like a god. If his reason is absorbed by his animal instincts, it becomes animal reason; if it rises above his animal desires, it becomes angelic. Paracelsus
A. Sublimate your impulses so that they won't overpower you in an unguarded moment.
B. "Nip it in the bud." A force is altered before it can cause harm.
C. Image of a transformation of energy from crude to sublime.
Other titles: Fellowship with Men, The Symbol of Companionship, Lovers, Beloved Friends, Like-minded persons, Concording People, Gathering Men, Sameness with People, Universal Brotherhood, Fellowship, Community, United, Human Association, Union of Men, Integration of Forces, Minor Synthesis, Cliques, Concordance, To Be In Accord With, Confirmation
Judgment
Legge: Union of Forces appears in the remote districts of the country, indicating progress and success. It will be advantageous to cross the great stream. It will be advantageous to maintain the firm correctness of the superior man.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Fellowship with Men in the open. Success. It furthers one to cross the great water. The perseverance of the superior man furthers.
Blofeld:Lovers (friends) in the open -- success! It is advantageous to cross the great river (or sea). [To make any kind of journey.] The Superior Man will benefit if he does not slacken his righteous persistence.
Liu: Fellowship of men in the open (countryside). Success. It benefits one to cross the great water. It benefits the superior man to continue his task.
Ritsema/Karcher: Concording People , tending-towards the countryside. Growing. Harvesting: wading the Great River. Harvesting: chun tzu, Trial. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of sharing a goal with others. It emphasizes that finding ways to cooperate with and harmonize people's efforts is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Gathering men in the wilds; receipt; beneficial to ford the great river; beneficial for the gentleman to determine.
Cleary (1):Sameness with people in the wilderness is developmental. It is beneficial to cross great rivers. It is beneficial for a superior person to be upright.
Cleary (1): … Beneficial for a leader to be correct.
Wu: Fellowship in the open is pervasive, etc. … It will be advantageous to the jun zi who perseveres.
The Image
Legge: The images of heaven and fire form Union of Forces. The superior man, in accordance with this, distinguishes things according to their kinds and classes.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Heaven together with fire: the image of Fellowship with Men. Thus the superior man organizes the clans and makes distinctions between things.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes heaven (the sun) and fire representing a pair of lovers. The Superior Man treats everything in a manner proper to his kind. [an analogy (based on the component trigrams) between the sun and fire, which to some extent are of a kind.]
Liu: Fire goes up to heaven, symbolizing Fellowship with Men. The superior man organizes his kinship group (party), and sorts them out.
Ritsema/Karcher: Heaven associating-with fire. Concording People. A chun tzu uses sorting the clans to mark-off the beings.
Cleary (1): Heaven with fire, sameness with others; superior people distinguish things in terms of categories and groups.
Cleary (2): … Leaders distinguish beings in terms of classes and families.
Wu: Heaven above and fire below form Fellowship. The jun zi distinguishes things by their kinds.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In Union of Forces the magnetic line has the central place of influence and responds to her correlate line in the upper trigram of Strength. The hexagram takes its name from the upper trigram of Strength lending its power to the lower trigram of Clarity and Intelligence. This represents the correct course of the superior man. It is only the superior man who can comprehend and affect the minds of all under the sky.
Legge: Union of Forces describes a condition which is the opposite of the preceding hexagram of Divorcement. What was there distress and obstruction is here a union of forces. But it must be based entirely on the good of the whole, without any taint of selfishness.
The dynamic line correctly in the fifth place occupies the most important position, and has for his correlate the magnetic second line, also in her correct place. The one female line is naturally sought after by all the male lines. The editors of the K'ang-hsi edition would make the second line respond to all of the lines of the upper trigram, as being more agreeable to the idea of union.
The upper trigram is that of Heaven, the lower is of Fire, whose tendency is to mount upwards. This image suggests the fire ascending, blazing to the sky and uniting with it. All these ideas are in harmony with the notion of union, but it must be free of all factionalism, and this is indicated by its being in the remote districts of the country, where people are unsophisticated and free from the corrupting effects of urban intrigue. Although a union from such motives can cope with the greatest difficulties, yet a word of caution is added.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Connections are being made. If you are able to maintain your will, it is advisable to push for a synthesis .
The Superior Man differentiates and prioritizes; he sorts and evaluates his options.
This is another image of union -- not the supreme union of hexagram number eleven, Harmony, but a subordinate union of forces within the psyche which builds toward an eventual grand alliance. The component trigrams show the union of Strength and Clarity, suggesting that a certain level of mental comprehension is involved. To receive the hexagram without changing lines is often a confirmation of your particular thought -- saying, in effect: "You've made the connection."
Comprehension (synthesis) involves making distinctions (analysis) -- a paradoxical process in which one must divide before one can (re)unite. (This is the solve et coagula of alchemy.) Thus we see the superior man in the Image creating categories to bring about union -- this is discrimination directed toward reclassification or rectification. For example, a heterogeneous mixture of vegetable and flower seeds is made meaningful when one sorts them into their separate categories. The disparate elements then become coherently "united" -- in I Chingterms, each line obtains its proper correlate as in Hexagram number 63.
(Dialectic) alternates between synthesis and analysis until it has gone through the entire domain of the intelligible and has arrived at the principle. Stopping there, for it is only there that it can stop, no longer busying itself with a multitude of objects since it has arrived at unity, it contemplates. Plotinus -- The Enneads
The Chinese name of this hexagram includes the word Jen, which is apparently a difficult concept, since many philosophers have spent a good deal of energy in trying to define it:
Jen has been variously translated as benevolence, perfect virtue, goodness, human-heartedness, love, altruism, etc. None of these expresses all the meanings of the term. It means a particular virtue, benevolence, and also the general virtue, the basis of all goodness. ...Neo-Confucianists interpreted it as impartiality, the character of production and reproduction, consciousness, seeds that generate, the will to grow, one who forms one body with Heaven and Earth, or "the character of love and the principle of mind." In modern times, it has even been equated with ether and electricity... Wing-Tsit Chan -- A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy
Chu Hsi defines Jen as the "character of the mind" (psyche) and "the principle of love" (union). Interpreted in this way we are enabled to apprehend the essence of the word "love," which is union -- becoming one with its object. I have chosen the title of Union of Forces to emphasize intra-psychic dynamics which are not immediately obvious in Wilhelm's title of Fellowship with Men. For example in dealing with questions pertaining to the Work, the concept of "ego states" or "subpersonalities" is often relevant to the symbolism of this hexagram:
The human self has been described here as composed of different ego states separated by boundaries. It has been likened to the structure of political principalities. From clinical observation we find that ego states can cooperate for mutual well-being, like allied nations against a common enemy. An ego state may become split, like East and West Germany, or fracture into many segments, like the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Ego states may become cognitively dissonant and hostile to each other, like Syria and Israel. In fact, the behavior of ego states within an individual is not unlike that between individuals, and between those groups of individuals called countries. Why should the behavior of human "stuff" not be substantially similar at all levels of its organizations? ...The evidence of self division into ego states is significant, and an equally tenable hypothesis might be that the states and boundaries of political entities have been imposed by men on each other because these represent an externalization of the internal divisions in their own selves. J.G. Watkins -- The Therapeutic Self
This hexagram's "shadow side" reveals circumstances preventing the union of entities or forces, more than those conditions promoting fruitful affiliation. Note that only the first and fifth lines of the figure depict a positive synthesis; the first one is minor, and in the case of line 5, union is attained only after much struggle. Line 2 reveals a clique or faction situation opposed to the general welfare, and lines 3 and 4 are images of recalcitrant forces unable to either join or attack the alliance. The sixth line depicts a partial union (probably the most common outcome in general experience), which the Confucian commentary nevertheless minimizes. Out of six lines then, only two describe anything like complete fellowship. I have received this hexagram without changing lines when the context of the question revealed an “incestuous,” clique-type situation, so not all "fellowship" or Union of Forcesis necessarily an ideal configuration.