Nourish your beginnings wisely, and watch as barriers dissolve into flowing opportunities.
From
27
Nourishment
To
59
Dispersion
Applying for a course
One will be able to say what one wants to learn to do if others allow it. taoscopy.com
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 1
Misfortune. You are neglecting your own resources and looking to others for sustenance.
↓ Line 2
Seeking nourishment from the wrong sources leads to trouble. Stay true to your path.
↓ Line 5
Staying true to your principles brings good fortune. Avoid taking unnecessary risks.
↓ Dispersion59
Adapt to situations by letting go of rigidity; dissolve obstacles through openness and flexibility.
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 1
Legge: The first line, dynamic, seems to be thus addressed: "You leave your efficacious tortoise, and look at me till your lower jaw hangs down.” There will be evil.
Wilhelm/Baynes: You let your magic tortoise go, and look at me with the corners of your mouth drooping. Misfortune.
Blofeld: You released your sacred tortoise and stared at me with mouth agape -- misfortune! [The shells of tortoises were used for divination. Here, the implication seems to be that someone abandons his sacred duty in his greed (symbolized by ‘mouth agape') to obtain what he wants from the person to whom “me” refers. It may be that contemporaries of the authors of the I Ching were familiar with a story to which this sentence pertains.]
Liu: If you leave your divine tortoise and look at me with mouth drooling, there will be misfortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Stowing-away simply the psyche tortoise. Viewing my pendant jaws. Pitfall.
Shaughnessy: Dispensing with your numinous turtle, and viewing our shortened jaw; inauspicious.
Cleary (1): Abandoning your spiritual tortoise, you watch my moving jaw – this is unfortunate.
Cleary(2): To give up your sacred tortoise and watch me greedily leads to misfortune.
Wu: “Abandon your spiritual tortoise and watch me with your mouth watering.” Foreboding.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He thus shows himself unfit to be thought noble. Wilhelm/ Baynes: This is really not to be respected. Blofeld: Looking at me like that is hardly to be regarded as admirable behavior. Ritsema/Karcher: Truly not the stand to value indeed. Cleary(2): To watch me greedily is not worthy of respect. Wu: He who watches with his mouth watering is also unworthy of respect.
Legge: The first line is dynamic and in his proper place. He might suffice for the nourishing of himself like a tortoise, which is said to live on air. But he is drawn out of himself by desire for the magnetic line four, his proper correlate, at whom he looks till his jaw hangs down, or, as we say, his mouth waters. Hence the auspice is bad. The symbolism takes the form of a reprimand addressed by the fourth line to the first. As Mencius said, "He who attends his smaller self becomes an inferior man, and he who attends to his greater self becomes a superior man."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, the man is envious of the prosperity of others.
Wing: You are so actively aware of the prosperity of others that you lose control of your own destiny. This is deplorable behavior and will result in misfortune.
Editor: This line is a reprimand for an unworthy attitude. Since in China the tortoise was associated with divination, it refers to a higher realm of perception. The other translations render Legge's "efficacious" as "magic,""sacred," "divine," "psyche," and "numinous." The line tells you that you are out of touch with what is best in you and suggests a “victim,” a self-made loser, who has repudiated his source of power or nourishment and then begs for sympathy because he “has nothing.” Often the line can suggest that you have misread a previous oracle: i.e., "I already told you, but you paid no attention.”
So it will be seen that spiritual growth is best attained by getting fully to grips with life in the world. It is a common pathology with esoterically inclined students that they want to find the easiest way out of it. This accounts for many of the "muzzy mystical" societies which give such a bad name to occultism. In a genuine occult school the student should be rammed good and hard into the maelstrom of life; and until he can cope efficiently with the physical plane the higher planes of experience should be barred to him -- for his own sake as well as others. Gareth Knight -- Qabalistic Symbolism
A. You've lost touch with your spiritual Self.
B. Image of a "needy” victim. Grow up!
Line 2
Legge: The second line, magnetic, shows one looking downwards for nourishment, which is contrary to what is proper; or seeking it from the height above, advance towards which will lead to evil.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Turning to the summit for nourishment, deviating from the path to seek nourishment from the hill. Continuing to do this brings misfortune.
Blofeld: Nourishment on the mountain peak; he abandons normal ways to seek nourishment in the hills -- misfortune! [From ancient times, there has been a large body of opinion in China that Taoists and other mystics leading the life of a recluse are odd people who have abandoned their duties to family, state and mankind. However, the Book of Change, revered by both Taoists and Confucians, is not likely to be guilty of bias; indeed, in the fourth place, “nourishment on the mountain” brings good fortune. Perhaps the implication is that those who withdraw from ordinary life more on account of their oddity than because of any genuine desire for spiritual guidance waste their talents and their time.]
Liu: Seeking nourishment from the top, one strays from the path to the hill. To set forth leads to misfortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Toppling jaws. Rejecting the canons, tending-toward the hill-top. Jaws chastising: pitfall.
Shaughnessy: Say upside-down jaw; threshing the warp at the northern jaw; to be upright is inauspicious.
Cleary (1): Perverting nourishment goes against the constant. Feeding on high ground – to go brings misfortune.
Cleary(2): Perverting nourishment brushes aside the constant. Feeding on high ground, an expedition bodes ill. [For those above to nourish those below is the rational constant. Here one in a higher position is recessive and weak, and relies on strength from below for nourishment; so this “brushes aside the constant.]
Wu: There is reversed nurturing. It violates the normal order of offering nurture to the one above. The action is foreboding. [The second (line) has the responsibility of offering nurture to its correlate, the fifth (line). On the contrary, it nurtures the one below, i.e., the first (line). Hence the judgment calls the action a misplaced reversed nurturing.]
Hua-Ching Ni: One neglects the constancy and stability which can benefit life and seeks nourishment from the wrong source. Misfortune.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The evil of her advance is because her movements abandon her proper associates. Wilhelm/Baynes: In going it loses its place among its kind. Blofeld: The misfortune is due to his having separated himself from his own kind. Ritsema/Karcher: Movement letting-go sorting indeed. Cleary(2): The action loses companionship. Wu: It is out of order.
Legge: The magnetic second line, insufficient for herself, seeks nourishment first from the dynamic first line below, which is improper, and then from the dynamic sixth line above, which is too far removed and also not her proper correlate. In either case the thing is evil because neither of the dynamic lines is her proper associate.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man does not provide for his own support. He improperly takes what he needs from below and also cravenly begs for it from above. Such unworthiness leads to misfortune.
Wing: Although you are able to properly nourish yourself in this situation, you rely upon inappropriate methods or persons to fulfill your needs. If this continues, it will rob you of your independence and create an unhealthy state of mind. Difficulties will follow.
Editor: Thereseems to be disagreement among the translators about which “order of nourishment” (above or below), is appropriate. Legge’s commentary and Siu’s paraphrase offer the most coherent interpretations. The line usually symbolizes one who doesn't know her proper place, who tries to exceed her authority or go beyond herself. Issues pertaining to self-righteousness, spiritual materialism and “wannabe gurus” are sometimes addressed here. The line can also refer to shirking one's responsibility. For example, begging the oracle for information one can easily decide for oneself.
If a man sleeps in a damp place, his back aches and he ends up half paralyzed, but is this true of a loach? If he lives in a tree, he is terrified and shakes with fright, but is this true of a monkey? Of these three creatures, then, which one knows the proper place to live? Chuang Tzu
A. You are seeking nourishment from inappropriate sources -- get back where you belong.
B. Seeking that which is beneath you is base; seeking that which is beyond your grasp is futile. Don’t strive above your proper station.
C. Take responsibility for yourself.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, magnetic, shows one acting contrary to what is regular and proper; but if she abides in firmness, there will be good fortune. She should not, however, try to cross the great stream.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Turning away from the path. To remain persevering brings good fortune. One should not cross the great water.
Blofeld: Normal ways are abandoned. Righteous persistence will bring good fortune to those who stay where they are. The great river (or sea) must not be crossed. [In such abnormal times, it is best to stay at home.]
Liu: One strays from the path. Remaining in the correct way brings good fortune. Don't cross the great water. [With another's help, one will...achieve his goals.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Rejecting the canons. Residing-in Trial significant. Not permitting wading the Great River.
Shaughnessy: Threshing the warp; determination about dwelling is auspicious; one may not ford the great river.
Cleary (1): Going against the constant. It is good to abide in rectitude. It will not do to cross great rivers.
Cleary (2): Brushing aside the constant, it is good to remain upright, but it will not do to cross a great river.
Wu: It violates normal way of doing things. Should he stay firm, there will be good fortune. He may not cross the big river.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The good fortune from abiding in firmness is due to her docility in following the line above. Wilhelm/Baynes: The good fortune comes from following the one above devotedly. Blofeld: The good fortune attainable by such people consists in being able to obey their superiors most willingly. Ritsema/Karcher: Residing in Trial's significance. Yielding uses adhering-to the above indeed. Cleary (2): What is good about remaining upright is following those above docilely. Wu: The docility of following the one above.
Legge: Line five is not equal to the requirements of her position, but with a firm reliance on the dynamic sixth line there will be good fortune. However, she shouldn't engage in the most difficult undertakings.
Anthony: The Sage cannot make us strong. Although we are dependent on his guidance, we must do the work of disciplining our inferiors.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man realizes his personal deficiencies in strength and knowledge to discharge his assigned responsibilities. He seeks and follows the advice of a spiritual superior, who is unknown to the public. Persevering under such guidance will bring success. But he must recognize his dependency and not assume great undertakings alone.
Wing: Although you are aware of the need to nourish and affect others, you lack sufficient strength to do so unaided. You must take an indirect approach and depend upon a strong superior to accomplish the deed. Don't try it on your own.
Editor: This line can suggest that an unconventional ("improper”) action is justifiable under the prevailing conditions. Blofeld interprets the line in terms of correctly abandoning normal procedures; Wilhelm and Liu render images of getting off of a "proper” path, but still retaining appropriateness. Because this fifth line ruler seeks help from the sixth line above, the image suggests an ego obeying the higher laws of the Self. The implication is that some form of unconventional action may be valid under the prevailing circumstances as long as one doesn't attempt too much. In other words, the expected, conventional (or your usual) response may be inappropriate in the current situation. Meditate to obtain intuitive guidance.
The greatness of historical personalities has never lain in their abject submission to convention, but, on the contrary, in their deliverance from convention. They towered up like mountain peaks above the mass that still clung to its collective fears, its beliefs, laws, and systems, and boldly chose their own way. To the man in the street it has always seemed miraculous that anyone should turn aside from the beaten track with its known destinations, and strike out on the steep and narrow path leading into the unknown. Jung -- The Development of Personality
A. The ego looks to the Self for guidance and takes no action which is not so inspired, even if this means that one appears unconventional.
Other titles: Dispersion, Dissolution, Disintegration, Dispersal, Overcoming Dissension, Scattering,Dispersing, Unintegrated, Reuniting, Evaporation, Reorganization, New Deal, Re-Shuffle, Course Correction, Catharsis
Judgment
Legge: Expansion intimates that there will be progress and success. The king goes to his ancestral temple. It will be advantageous to cross the great stream. It will be advantageous to be firm and correct.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Dispersion. Success. The king approaches his temple. It furthers one to cross the great water. Perseverance furthers.
Blofeld:Scattering -- success! The King has approached his temple. [An omen of safety.] It is advantageous to cross the great river (or sea). [I.e., to go on a long journey.] Persistence in a righteous course brings reward.
Liu: Dispersion. Success. The king approaches the temple. It is of benefit to cross the great water. It benefits to continue.
Ritsema/Karcher: Dispersing , Growing. The king imagines possessing a temple. Harvesting: wading the Great River. Harvesting Trial. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of confronting obstacles, illusions and misunderstandings. It emphasizes that clearing away what is blocking the light is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: disperse what obstructs awareness!]
Shaughnessy: Dispersal: Receipt; the king approaches into the temple; beneficial to ford the great river; beneficial to determine.
Cleary (1): In Dispersal there is development. The king comes to have a shrine. It is beneficial to cross great rivers . It is beneficial to be correct.
Cleary (2):Dispersal is successful. The king goes to his ancestral temple. The benefit crosses great rivers. It is beneficial if correct.
Wu: Dispersion indicates pervasiveness. The king does homage to his ancestral temple. It will be advantageous to cross the big river, but only with perseverance.
The Image
Legge: The image of wind moving over water forms Expansion. The ancient kings, in accordance with this, presented offerings to God and established the ancestral temple.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The wind drives over the water: the image of Dispersion. Thus the kings of old sacrificed to the Lord and built temples.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes wind blowing across the face of the waters. The kings of old built temples in which to sacrifice to the Supreme Lord of Heaven. [A temple is a place of safety from the ills of the world. The symbolism here is that the upper trigram forms a temple in which people are safe from the pit (the lower trigram); its middle line (five) signifies the King. The implication is that we should employ spiritual or moral means to preserve ourselves from the danger threatened by the lower trigram.]
Liu: Wind blowing over water symbolizes Dispersion. The ancient kings offered sacrifices to the Deity, then built temples.
Ritsema/Karcher: Wind moves above stream. Dispersing. The Earlier Kings used presenting tending-towards the supreme to establish the temples.
Cleary (1): Wind blows above water, Unintegrated. Thus ancient kings honored god and set up shrines.
Cleary (2): Wind travels over the water, dispersing. Ancient kings honored God and set up shrines.
Wu: The wind moves above water; this is Dispersion. Thus, the ancient kings made offerings to the Supreme Being and consecrated their ancestral temple.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The dynamic line is central in the lower trigram, and the magnetic fourth line is correct in the upper trigram, uniting with the dynamic ruler above her. The king's mind is without any deflection as he goes to his ancestral temple. He rides over water in a vessel of wood, and will cross the great stream with success.
Legge: The hexagram of Expansion denotes a state of dissipation or dispersion. It shows men's minds alienated from correctness and sure to go on to disorder. Here an attempt is made to show how the situation should be remedied.
The lower trigram represents Water, and the upper, Wind. Wind moving over water evaporates it, and suggests the idea of dispersion. Success is intimated because there are dynamic lines occupying the central places in the trigrams. The king's piety moves the spirits by its sincerity -- when the religious spirit rules men's minds, there will be no alienation from what is right and good. Under such conditions even hazardous enterprises may be undertaken.
The second sentence of the Confucian commentary literally begins: "The king is indeed in the middle..." This means that his heart and mind are set on the central truth of what is right and good. The ancestral temple signifies the recognition that sincere religious practices counteracted the tendency to mutual alienation and selfishness among men. The wooden vessel refers to one of the attributes of the upper trigram, which is Wood. It suggests a boat riding on water (the lower trigram), hence: crossing the great water.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Focus on the ideals of the Work and maintain your will. A major synthesis is possible.
The Superior Man subdues his ego to attain his latent potential.
Because of the intimate relationship between this figure and hexagram number 45, Contraction, I have chosen the title of Expansionto best emphasize their polarity.
The "ancient kings and sages" are more mythical than historical, so we can assume that they symbolize archetypal forces ("gods") within the psyche -- of whom the ego is only the current spacetime representative (i.e., servant- facilitator). The Self is the focal point, the center of this multidimensional awareness complex.
In both timeless and spaceless experiences, the mundane world is virtually excluded. Of course, the converse is true of the mundane state of daily routine, in which the oceanic unity with the universe, in ecstasy and Samadhi, is virtually absent. Thus, the mutual exclusiveness of the "normal" and the exalted states, both ecstasy and Samadhi, allows us to postulate that man, the self- referential system, exists on two levels: as "Self" in the mental dimension of exalted states; and as "I" in the objective world, where he is able and willing to change the physical dimension "out there.” R. Fischer -- "A Cartography of the Ecstatic and Meditative States," Science:174, 1971
The symbol of a temple, where one worships one's ancestors may be taken as the perfect gestalt of the Work as it exists outside of spacetime, as well as the karmic repository of all previous incarnations. It represents both the completed Work and the Work in progress. That the family temple was regarded in China as symbolic of an ideal standard of perfection such as this, is implied in the following passage:
Diplomatic negotiations were carried on in the ancestral temple, in the veritable presence, it was believed, of the ancestors; diplomatic banquets were given there, also. Even a proposal of marriage was received by the father of the prospective bride in his ancestral temple, in the presence of the spirits ... (The world of Confucius), we must remember, was one in which there was a nearly complete breakdown of moral standards ... Only in the performance of religious ceremonies could there still be found, consistently, a type of conduct regulated by a socially accepted norm of behavior, in which men's actions were motivated by a pattern of cooperative action, rather than swayed by the greed and passions of the moment. H.G. Creel -- Confucius and the Chinese Way
Psychologically, Expansion depicts a state of inner pressure capable of fruitful resolution if it can be properly guided. The king in the Image (in this case, the ego) sacrifices for a high ideal: the good of the Work. Legge's commentary tells us that the "second sentence of the Confucian commentary literally begins: `The king is indeed in the middle...'" This suggests a combination of his second and third sentences into the paraphrase: "The king steers a middle course when crossing the water to the ancestral temple." This gives the image of a vessel and the proper way to guide it toward a destination. Anyone who has ever steered a boat with a rudder knows that to over-correct on either side is a mark of poor seamanship: the goal is to maintain a dynamic balance in our guidance of the Work. Lines two and five represent proper course-correction because they are both in the middle of their respective trigrams.
Expansionis the inverse of the following hexagram of Restrictive Regulations. What is there confined and hoarded is here dispensed -- but this dispensation must conform with the ultimate good of the Work. Not just any release of tension will do -- it must recombine itself into a new and better organization, as imaged in the fourth line. If this new order is a proper one, the released tension precipitates a catharsis, as imaged in line five.
The form, then, in which our complexes confront us is the form in which the fundamental materials of our human structure come into our here-and-now existence. Like crystals they are always imperfect to some extent and often unrecognizable or grossly disfigured in comparison with the “ideal” shape, the shape that would represent the “pure” incorporation of the crystal scheme. But we have to meet them in this more or less imperfect or distorted form and out of this form we have to transform them into something that may be more akin to the aboriginal “intent” inherent in their archetypal cores. This undertaking, this process, is what Jung calls individuation. E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
The Judgment of hexagram number forty-five, Contraction, also mentions the king going to his ancestral temple. A close comparison of this figure with Expansion will reveal much about the dynamics of the Work.