Cultivate harmony within your circle, let shared visions elevate your journey to abundance and brilliance.
From
37
The Family
To
55
Abundance
Neglecting nothing
One reminds others that they have a vested interest in doing their best. taoscopy.com
The Family37
Focus on nurturing harmony in your community or family. Cultivate stability and mutual support by fostering open communication and shared values.
↓ Line 4
A person who is a source of strength and support brings great benefit to the family.
↓ Line 5
Leadership and responsibility within the family bring about positive outcomes.
↓ Line 6
Diligence and dedication in one's duties lead to respect and eventual success.
↓ Abundance55
Abundance and prosperity surround you, but be mindful not to let them lead to arrogance or distraction. Stay focused and genuine in the present moment to make the most of your opportunities.
Other titles: Family Life, Clan, Home, Linkage, Dwelling People, The Psyche, "May indicate a situation where the family can and should help." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: For the regulation of The Family, what is most advantageous is that the wife be firm and correct.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The Family . The perseverance of the woman furthers.
Ritsema/Karcher: Dwelling People. Harvesting: woman Trial. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of living and working with others in a common space. It emphasizes that caring for your relation with those who share this space and for the space itself is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: dwell with people!]
Shaughnessy: Family members: Beneficial for the maiden to determine.
Cleary (1): For people in the home it is beneficial that the woman be chaste. [In the human body, the vitality, spirit, soul, psyche, and intent all belong to yin and all take orders from the human mentality … When you refine away the human mind, the mind of tao spontaneously becomes manifest.]
Wu:The Family indicates that it is advantageous for a woman to be persevering. [This is a hexagram with its emphasis on women. Both constituent trigrams are feminine … Hence those who endeavor to be firm and correct will have advantages.]
The Image
Legge: Wind rising out of fire -- the image of The Family. The superior man speaks the truth and is consistent in his behavior.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Wind comes forth from fire: The image of The Family. Thus the superior man has substance in his words and duration in his way of life.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes wind rising from fire. The Superior Man's speech is full of substance and he behaves with constancy.
Liu: The wind coming out of the fire symbolizes The Family. The speech of the superior man should have substance, and his conduct be enduring.
Ritsema/Karcher: Wind originating-from fire issuing-forth. Dwelling People. A chun tzu uses words to possess beings and-also movement to possess perseverance.
Cleary (1): Wind emerges from fire, members of a family. Thus is there factuality in the speech of superior people, consistency in their deeds.
Cleary (2): … Developed people are factual in speech, consistent in action.
Wu: Wind comes forth from fire; this is The Family. Thus the jun zi speaks with facts and acts with perseverance.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In Family the wife is in her correct place in the lower trigram, and the husband in his correct place in the upper. That spouses occupy their correct positions shows the correct relationship between heaven and earth. The parents rule the family: let the father indeed be father, and the son son; let the elder brother be indeed elder brother, and the younger brother younger; let the husband indeed be husband, and the wife wife -- then the family will be in its correct state. Bring the family to that state, and all under heaven will be established.
Legge: The written Chinese character for Family simply means "a household," or "the members of a family." The lesson of the hexagram is the regulation of the family, effected by the cooperation of the husband and wife in their several spheres, and only needing it to become universal to secure the good order of the kingdom. The important place accorded to the wife is seen in the short sentence in the Judgment -- that she be firm and correct, and do her part well is essential for the family's proper regulation.
The wife is represented by line two and the husband is her proper correlate in line five. The relationship between heaven and earth is analogous to the relationship between husband and wife.
The second sentence of the Confucian commentary, more closely rendered, would be: "That in the family there is an authoritative ruler is a way of naming father and mother." This means that the assertion of authority in a family should be a correct balance of force and gentleness.
Anthony: The Family symbolizes correct relationships between people – the family unit, the spiritual family (the Sage and the student), and human groups generally. When these most basic relationships are correct, the world is made correct through the force of inner truth, through cultivation of the feminine component of our nature, and through persevering in a virtually menial position (from our ego’s viewpoint) so that our work can come to fruition. All this means to forgo striving and self-assertion, and to allow ourself to be led, while persevering in gentleness and devotion to our path.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: For the correct regulation of the psyche, what is most important is that the ego must be firm and correct.
The Superior Man lives his allegiance to the ideals of the Work.
Applying the Hermetic Axiom: "as above, so below," the relationships within a family are analogous to the relationships within a city-state, or a kingdom, and vice- versa:
Society centuries before the time of Confucius had been organized on the basis of family. In the early days of the Chou dynasty fiefs had been allotted to the feudal lords in a system of planned colonization. These feudal lords, linked to one another and to the royal house by marriage ties, took their families, retainers, peasants, artisans and soldiers to form self-sufficient colonies based on an agricultural economy and governed from well-fortified walled cities. These large family groupings of the nobility were preserved only so long as the relationships of parents to children, brothers to brothers, and masters to servants were effectively controlled. D.H. Smith -- Confucius
If the ideal city is like a family, then the analogy also holds for an individual -- here the comparison goes directly from city to psyche:
Have we any greater evil for a city than what splits it and makes it many instead of one? Or a greater good than what binds it together and makes it one? ... Then is that city best governed which is most like a single human being? Plato -- The Republic
Psychologically interpreted, the hexagram of The Family symbolizes the psyche, and the Confucian commentary tells us that when its inner components all assume their proper roles and functions, then the Work will come into fruition. ("All under heaven will be established.") The identical idea has been stated in Gnostic thought:
Jesus said to them: "When you make eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in the place of a hand, and a foot in the place of a foot, and an image in the place of an image, then shall you enter the Kingdom. The Gnostic Gospel According to Thomas
The husband is the analogue of heaven or the Self, and the wife is the analogue of earth or the ego. When the ego assumes its correct role as the magnetic servant of the Work, then inner transformations can take place. I have paraphrased the Judgment in terms of the necessity of the ego to follow the dictates of the Work, but one could alternately phrase it in terms of keeping emotional responses under control. For the wife to be "firm and correct" is to ensure that emotions, drives and appetites are not allowed to make decisions -- they are servants, not masters. This is the essence of the Work, and arguably the most reiterated idea in theI Ching.
The patient should be encouraged to use his mind, through observation and discrimination, to bring clearly into his awareness the irrational aspect of his drives and emotions, and also the possible drawbacks and harmfulness to himself and others of their uncontrolled manifestation … To act on the spur of an impulse, a drive or an intense emotion can very often produce undesirable effects which one afterwards regrets … Therefore, he should learn – by repeated experiment and effort – to “insert” between impulse and action a stage of reflection, of mental consideration of a situation, and of critical analysis of his impulse, trying to realize its origin, its source. R. Assagioli – Psychosynthesis
The thirty-seventh hexagram teaches us that the way to manage the emotions is no different than the proper management of aFamily. No wise parent can teach a child self-discipline by adopting the child's point of view: permissiveness, either with our children or our own primitive drives and passions, is a sure formula for disintegration. The Work demands that the ego hold the line on this issue -- indeed, it is the ego's only legitimate function.
We are dominated by everything with which our [ego] becomes identified. We can dominate and control everything from which we disidentify ourselves. R. Assagioli -- Psychosynthesis
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, magnetic, shows its subject enriching the family. There will be great good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: She is the treasure of the house. Great good fortune.
Blofeld: A well-to-do household -- great good fortune!
Liu: One makes the family prosperous. Great good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Affluence Dwelling, the great significant.
Shaughnessy: A wealthy family; greatly auspicious.
Cleary (1): A rich home is very fortunate.
Wu: This is a wealthy family with great auspiciousness.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: This is due to her docility and because she is in her correct place. Wilhelm/Baynes: For she is devoted and in her place. Blofeld: This good fortune is indicated by the position of the line which symbolizes cheerful acceptance. Ritsema/Karcher: Yielding located-in the situation indeed. Cleary (2): Docilely occupying its position. Wu: Because its position is well taken.
Legge: Line four is magnetic and in her proper place. The wife is again suggested to us, and despite her confinement to the internal affairs of the household, she can do much to enrich the family. Yu Yen (Yuan Dynasty) observes that the riches of a family are not to be sought in its wealth, but in the affection and harmony of its members. Where these prevail the family is not likely to be poor, and whatever it has will be well preserved.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The woman of the family balances the income and expenditures, enriching the well-being and peace of the family. The faithful steward performs the same service for public welfare.
Wing: Attention to details pertaining to the economy of the situation brings good-fortune. Any attempts to further the well-being of others in a modest and humble way will be successful.
Editor: This line restates the message of the Judgment. Psychologically speaking, it re-affirms the idea that emotional energy under control and in its proper place is a great source of personal power. This is an image of the ideal role of the ego in relation to the Work.
Control of the emotions is a very important element of self-control in general. Often the concept of self-control conjures up the image of an emotionless, dry, rigid way of life. If a person is in complete control of his emotions, however, he can call forth any emotion he desires and is free to enhance it as he wills. Rather than be controlled by emotions such as love, yearning, or awe, he can control them. One can evoke these emotions and blend them together, painting every aspect of life with a rich palette of feelings. Control of the emotions can thus lead a person to experience a richer blend of feelings in his daily life than the average person generally experiences. Aryeh Kaplan --Jewish Meditation
A. Our emotions must serve us, not rule us.
B. The whole is enriched by the rectitude of one of its parts.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, dynamic, shows the influence of the king extending to his family. There need be no anxiety -- there will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: As a king he approaches his family. Fear not. Good fortune.
Blofeld: The King draws near to his family (i.e. the nation) -- no cause for worry; good fortune!
Liu: The King extends his love to the family (country) without worry. Good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: The king imagines possessing a Dwelling. Beings: care significant.
Shaughnessy: The king approaches his family; do not pity; going is auspicious.
Cleary (1): The king comes to have a home; no worry – it is fortunate.
Cleary (2): The king has a great home. Do not worry; it is auspicious.
Wu: The king succeeds in making the nation like a family. It is auspicious, without worries.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The relationship between them is that of mutual love. Wilhelm/Baynes: They associate with one another in love. Blofeld: This means that the ruler and his people meet together with love in their hearts. [This may be interpreted to mean that we enjoy the affection of our superiors or bestow affection on our juniors and those in our charge.] Ritsema/Karcher: Mingling mutual affection indeed. Cleary (2): With communication and mutual love. Wu: Because the people love and respect one another.
Legge: The subject of the dynamic fifth line appears as the king. This may be the husband spoken of as also a king, or the real king whose merit is revealed first in his family. The central place here tempers the display of strength and power. The mention of "mutual love" is unusual in Chinese writings, and must be considered remarkable here. "The husband," says Ch'eng-tzu, "loves his helpmate in the house; the wife loves him who is the pattern for the family."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The father is not feared by the family. Like a richly endowed king, he governs through mutual affection and tempers the display of his powers.
Wing: A magnanimous and loving relationship exists between the leader and his followers. There is no reason to fear openness in these kinds of relationships. Good fortune comes through a beneficial influence.
Editor: This line can be problematic and is occasionally received under less than lucid circumstances. The "influence of the king" can be interpreted psychologically as the action of the Self in the inner dimensions and hence a reassurance that things are going as they should, even if they don't appear that way to our limited viewpoint in Spacetime.
God is bound to act, to pour Himself into thee as soon as He shall find thee ready. Meister Eckhart
A. A superior element influences subordinate elements for the overall benefit of the whole.
B. Relax, don't worry -- "Someone up there likes you."
C. Proper influence comes from affectionate regard, not tyranny.
D. Nourish your inner harmony -- attend to your legitimate needs.
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, dynamic, shows its subject possessed of sincerity and arrayed in majesty. In the end there will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: His work commands respect. In the end good fortune comes.
Blofeld: His sincerity (and/or confidence) is such as to make him appear awe-inspiring -- good fortune in the end!
Shaughnessy: There is a return stooped-like; in the end auspicious.
Cleary (1): There is trustworthiness, dignified; it turns out well.
Cleary (2): There is truthfulness, which is impressive. The end is auspicious.
Wu: He is confident in his dignity and will have good fortune in the end.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: This is the result of the recovery of the true character. Wilhelm/Baynes: This indicates that one makes demands first of all upon oneself. Blofeld: He will enjoy good fortune because he subjects himself frequently to self-examination. Ritsema/Karcher: Reversing individuality's designating indeed. Cleary (2): What is auspicious about his impressiveness is that it calls for personal transformation. Wu: He often examines his own conduct.
Legge: Line six is also dynamic, and being in a magnetic place, he might degenerate into stern severity. But he is sincere and complete in himself. His majesty is not artificial: his character is remolded and perfected, hence his action will only lead to good fortune. The words of Mencius are aptly quoted in illustration of the lesson: "If a man himself does not walk in the right path, it will not be walked in even by his wife and children."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: It is the father's character which eventually determines order and unity in the family. He should be sincere and majestic.
Wing: Your character and its development will be enhanced. Your sense of responsibility toward yourself and others brings good fortune and success. You will be recognized and respected for your insights and virtuous works.
Editor: The concept rendered as "sincerity" in English is extremely important in Chinese thought, with connotations which transcend our ordinary definition of the word. Wing-Tsit Chan defines it: "This word means not only sincerity in the narrow sense, but also honesty, absence of fault, seriousness, being true to one's true self, being true to the nature of being, actuality, realness." The line can imply a compliment for good work, saying, in effect, that your attitude is in accordance with that which promotes integration and harmony in the family of the psyche.
When the Way of Heaven [or principle] and the nature of man [or desires] function separately, there cannot be sincerity. When there is a difference between the knowledge obtained by following the Way of Heaven and that obtained by following the nature of man, there cannot be perfect enlightenment. What is meant by enlightenment resulting from sincerity is that in which there is no distinction between the Way of Heaven as being great and the nature of man as being small. Chang Tsai -- Enlightenment Resulting from Sincerity
Other titles: Abundance, Fullness, The Symbol of Prosperity, Greatness, Abounding, Richness, Prolific, Fruitful, Luxuriant, Zenith, Affluence, Correct Action, Lucid Behavior, "Generally means that one will have enough for one's needs with a little over. Does not mean large wealth as a rule." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Expansion of Awareness means progress and development. When the king is enlightened there is no need to fear a change. Let him be as the sun at noon.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Abundance has success. The king attains abundance. Be not sad. Be like the sun at midday.
Blofeld:Abundance -- success! The King inspires them. Do not be sad; it is fitting to be like the sun at its zenith. [Abundance in itself is often good; but it is generally followed by the waning of what was abundant; moreover, as we shall see, there can be abundance of darkness, or anything else unpleasant. (The Judgment itself) may be taken as an auspicious omen.]
Liu: Greatness. Success. The king attains greatness, without sadness; he should be like the sun at midday.
Ritsema/Karcher:Abounding, Growing. The king imagining it. No grief. Properly sun centering. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of profusion and abundance reaching culmination. It emphasizes that exuberantly increasing things to their fullest is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Abundance: Receipt; the king approaches it; do not be sad. It is proper for the middle of the day.
Cleary (1): Richness is developmental. Freedom from worry when the king is great is suited to midday.
Cleary (2):Richness is success; a king attains this. Do not worry. Take advantage of the sun at noon.
Wu: A sage king will attain abundance. There is no need to worry, for he knows the expedience of observing the midday sun.
The Image
Legge: The superior man, in accordance with this, decides cases of litigation, and apportions punishments with exactness.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Both thunder and lightning come: the image of Abundance. Thus the superior man decides lawsuits and carries out punishments.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes thunder and lightning occurring simultaneously. The Superior Man decides law suits and inflicts the necessary penalties.
Liu: Thunder and lightning coming together symbolize Greatness. The superior man judges lawsuits and imposes punishments.
Ritsema/Karcher: Thunder, lightning, altogether culminating. Abounding. A chun tzu uses severing litigating to involve punishing.
Cleary (1): Thunder and lightning both arrive, abundant. Thus do superior people pass judgment and execute punishment.
Cleary (2): Thunder and lightning both come in richness. Thus do leaders pass judgments and execute punishments.
Wu: Thunder and lightning come together; this is Abundance. Thus the jun zi decides the verdicts and exacts the punishments.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The greatness of Expansion of Awareness is due to Movement directed by Clarity. Although the king has attained this state, he must still make it greater. But there is no need for anxiety -- let him be as the sun at noon: let his clarity shine on all under the sky. As soon as sun and moon reach zenith their light begins to wane. The intercourse of heaven and earth alternates between abundance and scarcity. It waxes and wanes according to the seasons. How much more so with men or spiritual forces! [Ritsema/Karcher translate "spiritual forces" [Kuei Shen] as: "The whole range of imaginal beings both inside and outside the individual; spiritual powers, gods, demons, ghosts, powers, fetishes." -- Ed.]
Legge: The written Chinese character denoting Expansion of Awarenessis the symbol of being large and abundant -- a condition of prosperity. In human affairs, prosperity often gives place to its opposite. The lesson of the hexagram is to show how the ruler may preserve the prosperity of his state and people. The component trigrams show Motive Force under the direction of Intelligence. A ruler with these attributes will not fail to maintain the progress and development of his kingdom. He is told not to be anxious, but to study how he may always be like the sun at its zenith, cheering and enlightening all.
It must be noted that a change has been introduced in this hexagram in explaining the symbolism of the lines. Normally, for two lines to have a correct relationship one must be female (magnetic) and the other male (dynamic). Here two dynamic male lines make a proper correlation in the first and fourth places.
In the Image, lightning appears as the natural phenomenon of which Clarity is the symbol in the lower trigram. The virtues of Clarity and Movement are required of the superior man in judging litigation.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Don't grieve when the truth hurts: a loss of illusion is a gain in awareness. Once truly attained, enlightenment cannot be lost, it can only be increased.
The Superior Man acts with clarity by accurately evaluating cause and effect. [Or: The objective assessment of any contradiction is the road to comprehending it.]
The fifty-fifth hexagram is very intriguing in that it appears to have a misleading title in the original Chinese, which is usually translated as Abundance,Fullness, Prosperity, etc. All of the internal clues, plus empirical experience with the figure have convinced me that the title Expansion of Awareness is a more accurate description of the forces operating in this hexagram. Here is my reasoning:
First, the component trigrams of Clarity and Movement portray action directed by clear comprehension, as well as awareness itself in motion or expansion. The title of Abundance seems misleading because it suggests a relatively static condition, whereas the combined trigrams in the figure symbolize Clear Movement. These trigrams appear in reverse sequence in hexagram number twenty-one, Discernment, which symbolizes the act of comprehending -- a dynamic function of consciousness described in the Image here as a quest for justice: "Thus the superior man decides lawsuits and carries out punishments." (Wilhelm) Notice also that the message for the superior man in this Image is almost identical with that in Discernment:"Thus the kings of former times made firm the laws through clearly defined penalties." (Wilhelm) The ancient kings can always be taken as symbolic of archetypal forces (the "gods"), so their laws are those of nature, not of humankind. Interpreted broadly, both messages counsel us to: "Comprehend the law of Tao, or suffer the penalties of ignorance." Which is to say: "expand your awareness."
Second, note the message in the Judgment. Most of the translators render this by comparing the king at the peak of his power with the sun at the peak of its illumination at noon. The sun is the symbol of clarity and enlightenment, and the sun at its zenith therefore symbolizes a high point of awareness.
Third, notice that lines two, three and four depict an eclipse of the sun through its waxing, full and waning phases. This suggests ignorance gradually evolving toward comprehension, which is finally attained in line five. The progression in the hexagram is from ignorance to clarity, and then in line six, ignorance within clarity -- i.e., an image of one who remains obtuse while surrounded by the light of illumination.
Fourth, the combined trigrams of shock and light (thunder and lightning) suggest a sudden and numinous illumination: the sort of en-light-enment (expansion of awareness) described by Yogis:
Suddenly, with a roar like that of a waterfall, I felt a stream of liquid light entering my brain through the spinal cord ... The illumination grew brighter and brighter, the roaring louder, I experienced a rocking sensation and then felt myself slipping out of my body, entirely enveloped in a halo of light ... I was no longer myself, or to be more accurate, no longer as I knew myself to be, a small point of awareness confined in a body, but instead was a vast circle of consciousness in which the body was but a point, bathed in light and in a state of exaltation and happiness impossible to describe. Gopi Krishna --Kundalini, the Evolutionary Energy in Man
It is possible that the written character translated into English as Abundance has these associations in Chinese. Unfortunately, the title of Abundance itself does not immediately suggest in the English language the ideas that are integral in the symbolism of the hexagram.