Opposing paths spark insight, leading to a powerful transformation that refines your purpose and ignites meaningful change.
From
38
Opposition
To
50
The Cauldron
Pressuring
One is confused because the others thought that one would give them blows in case of refusal. taoscopy.com
Opposition38
Conflict arises from differences. Seek common ground and understanding to overcome separations and oppositions. Mutual respect paves the way for harmony.
↓ Line 1
Initial opposition can be overcome by patience and self-restraint. Avoid hasty actions.
↓ Line 3
Initial setbacks may occur, but perseverance leads to eventual success.
↓ The Cauldron50
Transformation and nourishment lead to inner and outer change. Embrace renewal by discarding the old and refining the new.
Other titles: Opposition, The Symbol of Strangeness and Disunion, The Estranged, Opposites, Polarizing, Alienation, Distant From, Perversion, Disharmony, Separated, Contradiction, Estrangement, Incongruity
Judgment
Legge: Despite Mutual Alienation there will be success in small matters.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Opposition. in small matters, good fortune.
Blofeld: The Estranged -- good fortune in small matters.
Liu: Opposition. In small things, good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher:Polarizing, Small Affairs significant. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of things that are connected but should not join. It emphasizes that putting things in opposition while acknowledging their essential link is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Perversion: Little affairs are auspicious.
Cleary (1): Disharmony. A small matter will turn out all right.
Cleary (2): Opposition, Etc.
Wu: Incongruity indicates auspiciousness for doing small things.
The Image
Legge: The image of fire over a marsh forms Mutual Alienation. The superior man, in accordance with this, accepts the diversities which make up the whole.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Above fire; below the lake: the image of Opposition. Thus amid all fellowship the superior man retains his individuality.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes fire above and a marshy lake below. The Superior Man achieves difference through unity.
Liu: Fire above the lake symbolizes Opposition. Living with the people, the superior man distinguishes among them.
Ritsema/Karcher: Fire above, marsh below. Polarizing. A chun tzu uses concording and-also dividing. [Cf. Solve et Coagula—Ed.]
Cleary (1): Above is fire, below is a lake, disparate. Thus are superior people the same yet different.
Cleary (2): Above is fire, below is a lake – opposite. Developed people, etc.
Wu: Fire above and marsh below form Incongruity. Thus the Jun zi take separate paths, but arrive at the same goal.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In Mutual Alienation we see fire ascending and water descending. We see two sisters living together whose wills move in opposite directions. However, the lower trigram of Cheerfulness is attached to the upper trigram of Clarity, and the magnetic fifth line is responded to by the dynamic second line; these are signs that there can still be good fortune in small matters. Heaven and earth are separate and apart, but the work which they do is the same. Male and female are separate and apart, but with a common will they seek the same object. There is a diversity between the myriad classes of beings, but there is an analogy between their several operations. Great indeed are the phenomena and the results of this condition of disunion and separation.
Legge: Mutual Alienationshows a condition in which disunion and mistrust prevail. The hexagram teaches how this state of affairs may be overcome in small matters and the way prepared for the cure of the whole system. The commentators suggest that the condition symbolized here is a necessary sequel to the regulation of the family in the preceding hexagram.
The K'ang-hsi editors observe that in many hexagrams we have two daughters dwelling together, but that only in this and number forty-nine is attention called to it. The reason is that in these two diagrams the sisters are the second and third daughters, while in the others one of them is the eldest, whose place and superiority are fixed, so that between her and either of the others there can be no division or collision. The lesson in the Confucian commentary is not unity in diversity, but union with diversity.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: In resolving disputes, begin with their least controversial aspects.
The Superior Man respects alternative points of view.
Turn the hexagram of Familyupside-down and you get the hexagram ofMutual Alienation. The opposite of family unity is estrangement, which combined with the idea of polarity, suggests the kind of energetic "pushing away" one feels when two horseshoe magnets are matched to the same poles. Despite this opposition however, every line deals positively with the situation -- there is not one image in the hexagram that doesn't intimate an eventual resolution.
The thirty-eighth hexagram lays even more emphasis than usual on the relationships (polarities) existing between its correlate lines. This suggests that inner connections outrank any superficial estrangement. The Mutual Alienationthen, is not a permanent condition -- it represents more of a challenge than a disaster. All polarity is potential energy to accomplish useful work, and in this hexagram the polarities are more than usually available for this purpose. This doesn't mean that the work here is necessarily easy, just that it offers a major opportunity for growth.
A crisis develops when some pressure or event creates a state of uncomfortable disequilibrium which fails to respond to usual defenses and coping mechanisms. It involves danger with both a considerable risk for worsening and opportunity for growth (with enhancement of insight, mastery, and self-esteem) ... The patient should be educated to understand his situation and helped to see that painful episodes may prove to be part of a constructive process, and are not proof of a dire outcome. R.P. Kluft -- Hypnotherapeutic Crisis Intervention in Multiple Personality
Line 1
Legge: The first line, dynamic, shows that to its subject occasion for repentance will disappear. He has lost his horses, but let him not seek for them -- they will return of themselves. Should he meet with bad men, he will not err in communicating with them.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Remorse disappears. If you lose your horse, do not run after it; it will come back of its own accord. When you see evil people, guard yourself against mistakes.
Blofeld: Regret vanishes! Do not follow the straying horse, for it will return of its own accord. Though he allows evil men to visit him, he remains without error.
Liu: Remorse vanishes. If one loses a horse, one should not look for it; it will return by itself. Even if one sees evil men, no blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Repenting extinguished. Losing the horse, no pursuit, originating-from returning. Visualizing hateful people. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: Regret is gone; Losing a horse, do not pursue; it will of itself return. Seeing an ugly man; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Regret disappears: When you lose the horse, don’t chase it – it will return on its own. Seeing an evil person, there is no blame.
Cleary (2): Regret vanishes. Having lost the horse, do not chase after it – it will come back by itself. Seeing evil people, there is no blame. [Whenever thoughts of gain and loss become serious, or the idea of good and bad is too defined, then what is the same will be differentiated, and what is different cannot be made the same. Only when we follow firm and upright celestial virtue do gain and loss disappear, good and bad merge. Then even if we are in a time of oppositions, we can be free of regret.]
Wu: There will be no regret. He need not look for a lost horse, as it will come back by itself. If he meets with a disagreeable man, there will be no error.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He communicates with the bad men to avoid the evil of their condemnation. Wilhelm/Baynes: When you see evil people, avoid mistakes. Blofeld: That is to say, his very purpose in receiving them is to avoid error. [We must expect to encounter unlikable people whom it would be impolitic or dangerous to ignore.] Ritsema/Karcher: Using casting-out fault indeed. Cleary (2): Seeing evil people, one avoids blame. Wu: He meets with a disagreeable man to avoid getting into troubles.
Legge: The first line is dynamic in a dynamic place, but his correlate in line four is also dynamic, so disappointment and repentance are likely to ensue. However, through the good services of line four the first line won't have to repent. His condition may be symbolized by a traveler’s loss of his horses, which return to him of themselves.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, the man slips into avoidable mistakes during times of opposition. When members of his own fold are estranged, he should not run after them; he should let them come back of their own accord. On the other hand, those who do not belong to this group but force their evil presence into the company must be endured. This silences their slanderous tongues; they will withdraw of their own accord.
Wing: There is an estrangement present between elements that naturally belong together. Do not try to reunify the situation with force. Allow things to return to a state of accord naturally, as they will. Do not worry about it. Things will work themselves out. If something inferior is being forced upon you, a cold shoulder will work wonders.
Editor: Psychologically, to lose one's horses is to lose one's power, or to have emotion "run away with itself." The image suggests a temporary loss which one need not worry about. To "communicate with bad men" means to consciously monitor your negative feelings -- to be aware of resentments, fears, hostility, or whatever the situation has called forth, without acting on them. In other words, maintain your will in the face of unstable impulses. The unusual beneficial correlation between two dynamic lines in one and four recalls a similar configuration in hexagram number fifty-five.
Analytic experience has shown that there seems to be a general law which decides between psychic health and psychopathology. The balance is tipped by the ego's strength, capacity and willingness to unbar the doors and windows to the unconscious and to receive the stranger; that is, to confront and channel the inner world of images and affects while, at the same time, retaining its own grasp upon external reality. E.C. Whitmont --The Symbolic Quest
A. A temporary conflict will soon resolve itself. Endure the inferior elements in the situation without polarizing them to action.
B. For the moment your emotions have run away with you. Confront a harmful or severely limiting attitude or belief.
Line 3
Legge: In the third line, magnetic, we see one whose carriage is dragged back, while the oxen in it are pushed back, and she is herself subjected to the shaving of her head and the cutting off of her nose. There is no good beginning, but there will be a good end.
Wilhelm/Baynes: One sees the wagon dragged back, the oxen halted, a man's hair and nose cut off. Not a good beginning, but a good end.
Blofeld: He watched them dragging at his axle and striking his oxen. As for himself, his topknot and nose were sliced off -- not much of a beginning, but there was an end to his troubles. [This is a frighteningly inauspicious line. We must expect severe trouble; the only comfort we can take is the knowledge that it will not be permanent.]
Liu: When the ox stopped, the cart moved back. He sees a man whose hair and nose have been cut off. Misfortune in the beginning, good fortune later.
Ritsema/Karcher: Visualizing the cart pulled-back. One's cattle hampered.
One's person stricken, moreover nose-cut. Without initially possessing completion.
Shaughnessy: Seeing the cart with one horn upturned, its cow dragging, its man branded on the forehead and with his nose cut off; there is no beginning, there is an end.
Cleary (1): One sees the vehicle dragged back, the ox halted; the person’s hair and nose are cut off. There is no beginning, but there is an end.
Cleary (2): Having the vehicle dragged back, the ox halted, the person is punished by heaven. There is no beginning, but there is an end.
Wu: He sees a cart pulled back, its ox led away, and its carter’s forehead tattooed and his nose cut off. He has a bad beginning that ends well.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The carriage is drawn back because of the inappropriateness of the line's position. The good end arises from her meeting with the strong topmost line. Wilhelm/Baynes: The place is not the right one. This happens through meeting one that is firm. Blofeld: The first part of this passage is indicated by the unsuitable position of the line. That, despite this poor beginning, there is an end to his troubles -- or ours -- can be deduced from this line's meeting with a firm one immediately above it. Ritsema/Karcher: Situation not appropriate indeed. Meeting a solid indeed. Cleary (2): Out of place. Having firmness. Wu: His place is out of order. He engages in strength.
Legge: Line three is magnetic where it ought to be dynamic. Her correlate line six is dynamic, and the relation between them might be correct if the magnetic three wasn't sandwiched between the dynamic second and fourth lines. Because it is a time of disunion, these two check and repulse her. At the same time, line six inflicts upon three the punishments mentioned. It is thus bad for three at first, but in the end it will go well with her, and this will be due to the strength of the sixth line. What is right and good is destined to triumph over what is wrong and bad. Disorder shall eventually give place to order, and disunion to union.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Things look completely hopeless. The man is opposed and dishonored. But if he clings to what he believes to be right, the ending will be good.
Wing: Difficulties will pile on difficulties and you will be opposed at every turn. Although this is a bad beginning, there is a possibility of a good ending. Cling to what you know is right or align yourself with a strong helper and the matter will end well.
Wilhelm (from Lectures on the I Ching): A complete change is taking place. This, however, is connected with utmost difficulty... This is the time of battles. Often, just after receiving the call, one makes no progress. And even if one succeeds for a short time, obstructions soon develop. One's own person is seen as weak among so many strong persons, and the movement, which is still governed by opposition that must be overcome, has at every step internal as well as external obstructions.
Editor: This is a very difficult line. Carriage: Vehicle, forward motion, ability to advance. Oxen: Castrated bulls used as draft animals: an image of inexorable power or motive force. Hair: Energy, power, (Samson lost his strength when his hair was cut off.) Nose: Subtle discrimination, intuition. The line is an image of (usually undeserved) interference that impedes development. Sometimes it can be a reminder that humiliation and impotence in the service of the Work do not last forever.
The news from France is very bad, and I grieve for the gallant French people who have fallen into this terrible misfortune. We shall defend our island, and, with the British Empire around us, we shall fight on unconquerable until the curse of Hitler is lifted from the brows of men. We are sure that in the end all will be well. Winston Churchill, June 17, 1940
A. It seems all but impossible to succeed now. However, if you keep the faith, the prognosis is for victory.
Other titles: The Cauldron, The Vessel, Rejuvenation, Cosmic Order, The Alchemical Vessel, "A complete transformation of a person or circumstance." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: The Sacrificial Vessel means great progress and success.
Wilhelm/Baynes:The Cauldron. Supreme good fortune. Success.
Blofeld: A Sacrificial Vessel -- supreme success!
Liu:The Cauldron. Great good fortune. Success.
Ritsema/Karcher:The Vessel, Spring significant. Growing. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of the imaginative capacity of a sacred vessel. It emphasizes that securing and imaginatively transforming the material at hand is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: hold and transform things in the vessel!]
Shaughnessy:The Cauldron: Prime auspiciousness; receipt.
Cleary (1): The cauldron is basically good; it is developmental.
Cleary (2): The Cauldron is very auspiciously developmental.
Wu: The Cauldron indicates great auspiciousness and pervasiveness.
The Image
Legge: Wood under a fire -- the image of a Sacrificial Vessel. The superior man maintains his correctness in every situation to secure the appointment of heaven.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Fire over wood: the image of The Cauldron. Thus the superior man consolidates his fate by making his position correct.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes fire upon wood. The Superior Man, taking his stance as righteousness requires, adheres firmly to heaven's decrees.
Liu: Fire above wood symbolizes the Caldron. The superior man makes his destiny firm with a correct position.
Ritsema/Karcher: Above wood possessing fire. The Vessel. A chun tzu uses correcting the situation to solidify fate.
Cleary (1): There is fire on top of wood; a cauldron. Thus do superior people stabilize life in the proper position.
Cleary (2): Fire over wood -- The Cauldron . Leaders stabilize their mandate by correcting their position.
Wu: There is fire on wood; this is The Cauldron . Thus the jun zi rectifies his position and consecrates the mandate.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The image of the Sacrificial Vessel shows us wood entering a fire, which suggests the idea of cooking. The sages cooked their sacrifices to God and nourished their able ministers with feasts. We have the trigrams of Flexible Obedience and Quick Intelligence, with the magnetic line advanced to the ruler's place and responded to by her dynamic correlate below. All these things give the auspice of successful progress.
Legge: The written Chinese character for Sacrificial Vessel represents a cauldron with three feet and two "ears" used for cooking and preparing food for both the table and the altar. The hexagram pictures this vessel -- the divided first line represents the feet, the three undivided lines above represent the body, the divided fifth line shows the ears (or carrying rings), and the top line is the handle by which the container is carried or suspended from a hook.
The lesson of the hexagram is that the nourishing of men of talent and virtue intimates great progress and success. The K'ang-hsi editors point out that the distinction between hexagram number forty-eight, The Well, and this one is the difference between the nourishment of the people in general and the specific nourishing of worthy men. They add that the reality of sacrifice is nourishing in this regard.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: You are the Sacrificial Vessel.
The Superior Man holds to the principles of the Work to attain transcendence.
The usual name for this hexagram is The Cauldron -- specifically, a type of food-containing vessel which was used in ancient China for religious sacrifices. I prefer Blofeld’s title of the Sacrificial Vessel as more evocative of the ideas presented in the figure.
When the forty-ninth hexagram of Transformation is turned upside down, it becomes the fiftieth hexagram of the Sacrificial Vessel, thus giving us some valuable insights into the nuances of meaning in each of the figures. The combined ideas of transformation and a cauldron used for sacrifices remind us of the alchemical vessel or retort which "cooked" its contents and transformed them into a higher state of matter -- turned lead into gold in the popular conception. Of course, the true esoteric purpose of the alchemist was psychological, not physical.
The vessel of the alchemists, like the circle of the psyche and the mandala, must be closed if the transformation process is to proceed satisfactorily. For the alchemists, the process took place in the material substances collected in the retort. For us, this is a symbol representing a similar process taking place within the psyche. Thus it is said that a wall must be securely built about the psyche before the reconciliation of the opposites can take place within it, and before the new center of the individual can be created. ... For if anything is lost the process is nullified and the final product will be incomplete, imperfect. So long, for instance, as the individual continues to project his deficiencies, or his values, upon circumstances or upon another, he does not have an impervious vessel ... Thus the contents essentially involved in the transformation are seen to be the irrational, instinctual, not yet human factors of the psyche, the nonego. The human and civilized factors, those subject to the will, make up the wall of the vessel. M.E. Harding -- Psychic Energy
Now an ancient Chinese cauldron used to contain food intended for religious sacrifices is not the same thing as a hermetically sealed alchemical retort made to withstand extreme pressures, but symbolically they are identical images. The ego sacrifices its autonomy for the good of the Work in the same way that the alchemist devotes his entire life to the transformation of base metal into gold -- i.e., to transform his psyche by following the extreme discipline of the Work. Thomas Cleary’s Taoist I-Ching explicitly tells us that this is the meaning intended here:
The work of refinement is the means by which to sublimate earthly energy and stabilize celestial energy, causing the raw to ripen and the old to be renewed, whereby it is possible to illumine the mind and to solidify life. Therefore the cauldron is basically good and it has a developmental path. The basis is the potential of everlasting life of goodness; the cooking of the great medicine in the cauldron is the firing of this living potential to make it incorruptible and permanent. But in this path there is process and procedure; even the slightest deviation and the gold elixir will not form. Therefore people must first thoroughly investigate the true principle. Liu I-ming
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
In his commentary Legge mentions that the Chinese see an analogy between this figure and hexagram number forty-eight, The Well. Compare the two figures, noting the similarities between the first, third, fifth and sixth lines. The component trigrams of the Sacrificial Vessel appear in reverse sequence in hexagram number thirty-seven, Family. What other similarities are there in the two figures? How is the idea of a family analogous to the idea of a sacrificial vessel?