Illuminate your path with clarity and perseverance, for liberation is the reward of courage.
From
35
Progress
To
40
Deliverance
Federating energies
One hangs one's portrait to show others who is the leader. taoscopy.com
Progress35
Progress and clarity emerge. With effort and clarity, advancement is possible. Keep honesty and integrity at the forefront.
↓ Line 2
Progress may come with challenges, but perseverance leads to joy and support from family or tradition.
↓ Line 6
Aggressive progress is justified only for self-correction. Awareness of risks leads to good fortune, but persistence in aggression may lead to disgrace.
↓ Deliverance40
Release from tension and obstacles. Break free, adapt, and embrace change. Find relief in newfound clarity.
Other titles: Progress, Prospering, The Symbol of Forwardness, To Advance, Advancement, Making Headway, Getting the Idea, “Comes the Dawn”
Judgment
Legge: In Advance of Consciousness we see a prince who secures the tranquility of the people presented on that account with numerous horses by the king, and three times in a day received at interviews.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Progress . The powerful prince is honored with horses in large numbers. In a single day he is granted audience three times.
Blofeld: Progress. The richly endowed prince receives royal favors in the form of numerous steeds and is granted audience three times in a single day. [This passage indicates great merit richly rewarded.]
Liu: The Marquis K'ang (rich, powerful, healthy) is bestowed with many horses by the king, who receives him three times in a single day.
Ritsema/Karcher: Prospering , the calm feudatory avails-of bestowing horses to multiply the multitudes. Day-time sun three-times reflected. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of thriving in the full light of the sun. It emphasizes that contributing to this increase by helping things to flourish is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: The Lord of Kang is herewith awarded horses in luxuriant number, during daylight thrice connecting.
Cleary (1):Advancing, a securely established lord presents many horses, and grants audience three times a day.
Cleary (2): Advancing , a securely established lord is presented with, etc.
Wu: Advancement indicates that the prince who has secured peace and prosperity of the state is conferred with many fine horses. The king grants him an audience three times in one day.
The Image
Legge: The image of the earth and that of the bright sun coming forth above it form Advance of Consciousness. The superior man, in accordance with this, gives himself to make more brilliant his bright virtue.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The sun rises over the earth: the image of Progress. Thus the superior man himself brightens his bright virtue.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes fire blazing from the earth. The Superior Man reflects in his person the glory of heaven's virtue.
Liu: The sun rising above the earth is the symbol of Progress. Thus the superior man brightens his character.
Ritsema/Karcher: Brightness issuing-forth above earth. Prospering. A chun tzu uses originating enlightening to brighten 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): Light emerges over the earth, advancing. Thus do superior people by themselves illumine the quality of enlightenment.
Cleary (2): Light emerges over the ground, advancing. Developed people illumine the quality of enlightenment by themselves.
Wu: Brightness rises above the earth; this is Advancement. Thus the jun zi keeps his bright virtue shining.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In Advance of Consciousnesswe have the bright sun appearing above the earth; the symbol of Docile Submission cleaving to that of the Great Brightness; and the magnetic line advanced and moving above: all these things give us the idea of a prince who secures the tranquility of the people.
Legge: The subject of the Judgment is a feudal prince whose services to his country have made him acceptable to his king. The King's favor has been shown to him by gifts and personal attentions. The symbolism of the lines indicates the situations encountered by the prince. The written character for this hexagram means "to advance," a quality it shares with hexagrams number forty-six, Pushing Upward, and number fifty-three, Gradual Progress. In the present case the sun ascending from the earth to the meridian readily suggests the idea of advancing.
Hu Ping-wen (Yuan dynasty) says: "Of the strong things there is none so strong as Heaven, and hence the superior man patterns himself on its strength. Of bright things there is none so bright as the sun, and he patterns himself on its brightness."
Anthony: This hexagram concerns self-development which yields progress in our external life situation. If we are not making progress, we should review our attitude. Some widely accepted ideas may be decadent from the viewpoint of the Sage, hence obstruct progress. [Anthony’s “Sage” is conceptually identical to the “Self. -- Ed.]
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: When the autonomous manifestations of our inner drives are channeled, their energy becomes the ego's own. (Psychologically interpreted: Ego and Self are in accord.)
The Superior Man focuses his awareness on perfecting the Work. (Sometimes this can take the meaning of: "Wise up!")
The trigram of Clarity in progression over that of Docility gives the formula for an Advance of Consciousness. The submission of the ego to the restrictions of the Work, and the consequent tranquil subjugation of one's restless drives, appetites and impulses, eventually results in a focused flow of energy from within. (After years of effort, this is sometimes felt physically as a radiating sensation emanating from the chest, or heart region.) To receive this figure without changing lines does not necessarily mean that one has reached this phase of the Work, but it suggests progress in that direction. The traditional name for this hexagram is, in fact: Progress.
The king presenting horses to the prince in reward for pacifying the kingdom is analogous to the Self rewarding the ego for controlling the autonomous forces within the psyche. This is a quintessentially shamanic discipline: the "horses" symbolize tamed drives and emotions. Such circumstances indicate an Advance of Consciousness or progression toward the goal of "en-light-enment" or psychic integration, symbolized by the sun traversing the earth.
That state of life dynamism in which consciousness realizes itself as a split and separated personality that yearns and strives toward union with its unknown and unknowable partner, the Self, Jung has called the individuation process. It is a conscious striving for becoming what one "is" or rather "is meant to be." E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
The last sentence of the above quotation is exactly analogous to the Ritsema/Karcher translation of the Image of this hexagram, wherein the superior man (chun tzu) "uses originating enlightening to brighten actualizing-tao."
"Actualizing-tao" is the "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."
Psychologically interpreted then, this hexagram addresses various themes encountered during the progress of the individuation process, which is nothing if not an Advance of Consciousness.
The key phrase in Legge's Judgment is "tranquility of the people." It is relatively easy to sublimate one's drives, yet still feel resentful about it -- indeed, that is the form that the process normally takes at the beginning of the Work. Our inner forces are like children or animals who must learn to accept the restrictions of discipline. Once they have accepted it and have ceased to resent it (i.e. once they have become "tranquil"), they are ready to be useful to the Self's intentions.
For example: an untrained dog will instinctively chase and kill sheep if it gets the chance to do so; on the other hand, a properly trained dog will herd and control a flock of sheep even in its master's absence. Anyone who has observed a trained sheep dog in action knows what amazing feats they accomplish with great joy in the performance. They are "tranquil" in their role, and will even protect the sheep from untrained dogs that would kill them. When our instincts have learned how to tranquilly accept discipline they are ready to assist us in the higher levels of the Work. Until that time, the Work consists largely of "dog training." The analogy is apt, because just as an untrained dog is never as happy in its willfulness as a well-trained dog is in its purposefulness, so undisciplined permissiveness cannot compare with the joys of controlled power and focused intent.
Line 2
Legge: The second line, magnetic, shows its subject with the appearance of advancing, and yet of being sorrowful. If she can be firm and correct, there will be good fortune. She will receive great blessing from her grandmother. [Compare this line and its situation with line two of Hexagram 62. – Ed.]
Wilhelm/Baynes: Progressing, but in sorrow. Perseverance brings good fortune. Then one obtains great happiness from one's ancestress.
Blofeld: Where progress is being made sorrowfully, righteous persistence brings good fortune. A little happiness is received, thanks to the Queen Mother.
Liu: When progress comes with sadness, persistence brings good fortune.
Shaughnessy: Aquatically, gloomily; determination is auspicious. Receiving this strong good fortune from his royal mother.
Cleary (1): Advancing, grieving, rectitude is good; this great blessing is received from the grandmother.
Wu: It is like advancing and it is like having concerns. Perseverance will bring good fortune. He will receive a big fortune from his grandmother.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She will receive this great blessing because she is in the central place and the correct position for her. Wilhelm/Baynes: Because of the central and correct position. Blofeld: Happiness is implied by the position of this line which is central to the lower trigram. Ritsema/Karcher: Using centering correcting indeed. Cleary (2): Because of balance and rectitude. Wu:“He will receive a big fortune,” because he is central and correct.
Legge: Line two is magnetic, as is her correlate line five; therefore she has to mourn in obscurity. But her position is central and correct and she maintains the momentum until eventual success is achieved. The Symbolism says she receives it from her grandmother, and readers will be startled by the extraordinary statement as I was when I first read it. Literally the text says "the king's mother," but "king's father" and "king's mother" are well-known Chinese appellations for "grandfather" and "grandmother." This is the view given on the passage by Ch'eng-tzu, Chu Hsi and the K'ang-hsi editors. They all agree that the name points us to line five, the correlate of two, and the ruler of the hexagram. Line five is the sovereign who at length acknowledges the worth of the feudal ruler, and gives her the great blessing. I am not sure that "motherly king" would not be the best and fairest translation of the phrase. Canon McClatchie renders it as "Imperial Mother" -- that is, the wife of Imperial Heaven (Juno) who occupies the "throne" of the diagram, viz. the fifth line, which is soft and therefore feminine. She is the Great Ancestress of the human race.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man appears to be advancing but is grieving because he is prevented from making contacts with men in authority. His perseverance in adhering to correct principles will be rewarded by blessings from the mild ruler.
Wing: Your Progress is not as fulfilling as it might be because you are prevented from experiencing significant communication with someone in authority. Yet, unexpected good fortune will come to you if you persevere in your efforts and remain virtuous in your principles.
Editor: There is puzzlement about the symbolism of the "grandmother" even among the Chinese commentaries on this line. Our hypothesis is that, although the symbolism emerging from the objective psyche takes different forms in different cultures, it always describes the same general archetypes. We are justified therefore in comparing this line with an analogous concept from the Kabbalah: the sphere of awareness called Binah. Binah corresponds to the Chinese notion of the primordial Yin -- the essence of the Feminine. Canon McClatchie's association of "Juno, the wife of Imperial Heaven," to this line could as well apply to Binah. In the Kabbalah, Binah is closely associated with sorrow -- identical with "Our Lady of Sorrows" in Catholic Christian symbolism. What is being conveyed in this line then, is the growth potential inherent in adversity. Kabbalists may note similarities here with the symbolism of the 17th Path of the Tree of Life.
Grief is a purgative and strongly disruptive force, and when the essential work of breaking down adhesions and dispersing poisons has been done by it, it gives place to a deep lassitude and feeling of emptiness which can act as a purified basis for new growth. People are so made that they will not or cannot realize a thing fully unless they are hit in the most vital part in some deep emotional sense. And so only by sorrow, and by going from sorrow to sorrow can an individual's evolution proceed. The man who cannot or will not feel sorrow or face it in others cannot proceed at all. G. Knight -- Qabalistic Symbolism
A. A trail of tears leads to understanding.
B. Through adversity we acquire strength.
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, dynamic, shows one advancing his horns. But he only uses them to punish the rebellious people in his own city. The position is perilous, but there will be good fortune. Yet, however firm and correct he may be, there will be occasion for regret.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Making progress with the horns is permissible only for the purpose of punishing one's own city. To be conscious of danger brings good fortune. No blame. Perseverance brings humiliation.
Blofeld: He advances as with lowered horns, intent solely upon subduing the cities of his enemies. Whether his affairs go awry or prosper, he is not in error, but for him to persist thus would involve him in ignominy
Liu: Progressing to the horns. It is only in order to chastise his own city. Awareness of danger brings fortune and no blame. To continue brings humiliation.
Ritsema/Karcher: Prospering: one's horns. Holding-fast avails-of subjugating the capital. Adversity significant, without fault. Trial: abashment.
Shaughnessy: Aquatic his horns; it is only to be used to attack the city; danger; auspicious; there is no trouble; determination is distressful.
Cleary (1): Advancing the horns; this requires conquering one’s domain.
There is danger, but it bodes well, so there will be no blame. But even though correct it is humiliating.
Cleary (2): … Hard work leads to good results, without blame; but even though correct, one is humiliated. [Since one was unable to govern oneself early on, and only now has been capable of self-mastery, even though it is correct, it is still humiliating.]
Wu: He advances with his horns to quell disturbances of his town. Although he makes a risky move, he is not in error. His insistence is nevertheless regrettable.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: His course of procedure is not yet brilliant. Wilhelm/ Baynes: The way is not yet in the light. Blofeld: Solely to subdue the cities? The way is not yet clear! Ritsema/Karcher: Tao not-yet shining indeed. Cleary (2): The way is not yet illumined. Wu: His administration is not beyond reproach. [If he had done things right, there would have been no disturbances.]
Legge: Line six is dynamic, and suggests the idea of its subject relentlessly pushing his advance with both firm correctness and exceptional force. The horns are an emblem of threatening strength, and though he uses them only against the rebels in his own state, the fact that a prince should have any occasion to use force is regrettable. This aggressiveness exceeds King Wen's concept of firm correctness for a ruler, and therefore his light is not yet that of the full-orbed sun.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man uses force in punishing the rebellious people of his own city. This is permissible. Continuation of the offensive, especially against strangers, however, will bring occasion for regret.
Wing: Take aggressive and offensive measures only when you seek to discipline yourself. Such severe precautions will help you to avoid regretful errors. Do not, however, make the mistake of using the same force on others or you will suffer the humiliation of alienation and failure.
Editor: Psychologically interpreted, the City symbolizes the psyche, and the rebels symbolize any undisciplined emotions, drives, desires, appetites, thoughts, etc. The Judgment specifically mentions the importance of gaining the tranquility of the people; here they are obviously not tranquil, so the idea of the hexagram has not been accomplished. Although force is required to stabilize the situation, martial law can hardly be regarded as anything but a temporary expedient: however necessary it may be at times, it is still humiliating for a ruler (ego) to have to resort to it. The line often refers to backsliding on some issue.
The possibility of choice and relationship depends fundamentally upon getting out of this state of identity. As long as this unconscious identity with a drive or impulse persists there is no possibility of choice, for we act like helpless puppets and we never know what strings have pulled us. There is no possibility for any personal conscious relatedness because neither of two people who are identical with their impulses knows what is moving him or what, if anything, this has to do with the other person. Separation from the original state of identity is fundamental for any psychological development and for personal differentiation. E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
A. Control yourself. Discipline must be applied to the restless aspects within your own psyche. Do nothing to try to influence others.
Other titles: Deliverance, The Symbol of Loosening, Release, Eliminating Obstacles, Taking-apart, Untangled, Solution, Dissolution, Relief, Unloose, Release of Tension
Judgment
Legge:Liberation finds advantage in the southwest. When the operation is completed, a return to stability brings good fortune. If operations are incomplete, it is best to finish them quickly.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Deliverance. The southwest furthers. If there is no longer anything (Sic) where one has to go, return brings good fortune. If there is still something (Sic) where one has to go, hastening brings good fortune.
Blofeld: Release. The west and south are favorable. Those with nothing to gain from going forward will find good fortune by turning back; those who do have much to gain from going forward must hasten to be sure of doing well. [This is not a time to stay where we are. If we have no good reason to advance, it is best to retreat.]
Liu: Liberation. The southwest benefits. If there is nothing for one where one has to go, then returning brings good fortune. If there is something in a place where one can go, then going quickly leads to good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Taking-apart. Harvesting: Western South. Without a place to go: one's coming return significant. Possessing directed going: Daybreak significant. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of reflection and release from tension. It emphasizes that analyzing and understanding things in order to be delivered from compulsion is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Untangled: Beneficial to the southwest; there is nowhere to go; his coming in return is auspicious; there is someplace to go to spend the night; auspicious.
Cleary (1): For liberation, the southwest is beneficial. When going nowhere, the return brings good fortune; when going somewhere, promptness brings good fortune.
Cleary (2): For solution, the southwest is beneficial. Going nowhere, coming back is fortunate, etc.
Wu: Relief indicates advantage in the southwest. If he undertakes to do something without a cause, it will be auspicious for him to return to his former station. If he undertakes to do something with a cause, it will be auspicious for him to do it early.
The Image
Legge: Liberation shows a thunderstorm clearing the atmosphere. The superior man, in accordance with this, forgives errors and deals gently with crimes.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Thunder and rain set in: the image of Deliverance. Thus the superior man pardons mistakes and forgives misdeeds.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes thunder and rain bringing release. The Superior Man tends to forgive wrongs and deals leniently with crimes. [The component trigrams suggest that a certain amount of forceful action is required.]
Liu: Thunder and rain come, symbolizing Liberation. The superior man forgives errors and pardons criminals.
Ritsema/Karcher: Thunder, rain, arousing. Taking-apart. A chun tzu uses forgiving excess to pardon offenses.
Cleary (1): Thunder and rain act, dissolving. Thus do superior people forgive faults and pardon crimes.
Cleary (2): Thunder and rain – solution. Etc.
Wu: There come thunder and rain; this is Relief. Thus the jun zi pardons inadvertent transgressors and extenuates (Sic) criminal offenders.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Liberation shows the trigram of Movement above the trigram of Danger -- through movement there is an escape from peril. An early movement to the southwest wins the allegiance of the masses and returns the state to normalcy and equilibrium. When heaven and earth are freed from the grasp of winter, we have thunder and rain. When these come, the buds of the fruit-producing vegetation begin to open. Great indeed are the phenomena in the time ofLiberation.
Legge: The written Chinese character for Liberation is the symbol of unloosing -- untying a knot or unraveling a complication. This hexagram denotes a condition in which the obstruction and difficulty of the preceding figure have been removed. The lesson is how this new and better state of the kingdom should be dealt with. If no tasks remain to be completed, the sooner things resume their normal course the better. If further operations are necessary, let them be accomplished without delay. The K'ang-hsi editors say that moving to the south and west is the same as returning to normality.
Thunder and rain clear the atmosphere, and a feeling of oppression is relieved. The images of springtime in the Confucian commentary refer to the gentle policy of a conquering ruler who forgives the opposition of those who cease to offer resistance.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Do what obviously needs to be done and return to stability as soon as possible.
The Superior Man forgives, forgets, and bears no grudges. (i.e., Stability is more important than fixing blame or haggling over who is right.)
If the thirty-ninth hexagram of Impasse is turned upside down it becomes the fortieth hexagram of Liberation or Deliverance. The two figures represent opposite situations: if Impasse creates tension, then Liberation releases it. The upper trigram of Movement ascends to escape from the lower trigram of Danger, giving us an unambiguous image of freedom and relief.
Apart from all personification, the whole of space in which life finds itself has a malevolently spiritual character, and the "demons" themselves are as much spatial realms as they are persons. To overcome them is the same thing as to pass through them, and in breaking through their boundaries this passage at the same time breaks their power and achieves the liberation from the magic of their sphere. H. Jonas --The Gnostic Religion
Legge's commentary in the preceding hexagram explains that the "southwest" is the direction of "earth," the fertile lowland where life is natural and uncontrived. Confucius tells us here that an early move in this direction will win the "allegiance of the masses." Psychologically interpreted, this refers to the inner kingdom of the psyche, where “the masses” are the drives, emotions and archetypal complexes which make up our being. The symbolism suggests a conscious freeing up of inner tension.
These forces, therefore, must not be left to run wild, but should be disposed of in harmless ways or, better still, used for constructive purposes: creative activities of various kinds; the rebuilding of our personality, contributing to our Psychosynthesis. Roberto Assagioli -- Psychosynthesis