Release the burdens of the past, clear your mind, and illuminate your path with newfound clarity and opportunity.
From
40
Deliverance
To
55
Abundance
Building one's reputation
One plans a stunt without anyone else being informed. taoscopy.com
Deliverance40
Release from tension and obstacles. Break free, adapt, and embrace change. Find relief in newfound clarity.
↓ Line 1
The situation is clear and straightforward. There is no fault in proceeding.
↓ Line 2
Success comes from eliminating negative influences. Persistence in this effort is rewarded.
↓ Line 3
Carrying unnecessary burdens while seeking progress invites trouble. It is wise to let go of what is not needed.
↓ 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: 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
Line 1
Legge: The first line, magnetic, shows that its subject will commit no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Without blame.
Blofeld: No error!
Liu: No blame. [If you receive this line you can expect success in your undertakings.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Without fault.
Shaughnessy: There is no trouble.
Cleary (1): No blame.
Wu: No error.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The dynamic fourth line and the magnetic first line are in correlation. We judge rightly in saying that its subject will commit no error. Wilhelm/Baynes: On the border between firm and yielding there should be no blame. Blofeld: the conjunction of yielding and firm (namely, lines one and two) (Sic) implies freedom from error. Ritsema/Karcher: Solid and supple's border. Righteous, without fault indeed. Cleary (2): At the border of hard and soft, etc. Wu: Where the strong-minded and the softhearted meet, there is on balance no error.
Legge: There is a magnetic line instead of a dynamic one in the first place, but this is compensated for by her dynamic fourth line correlate.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, the man is freed from obstacles and is recuperating in peace.
Wing: You have surmounted the difficulties in your current endeavor. The path has been cleared and progress will continue. Use this time to consolidate your position.
Editor: Blofeld's interpretation of the Confucian commentary is anomalous -- correctness is found in the tension between lines one and four (not one and two). To be magnetic in a dynamic place and dynamic in a magnetic place suggests a continuous adjustment to changing circumstances. Wilhelm's Confucian commentary provides a good image of this kind of adaptation: "On the border between firm and yielding there should be no blame." Sometimes this line can mean a confirmation of a hypothesis, speculation or attitude -- it is saying "affirmative" to your query.
Fortunate, indeed, is the man who takes exactly the right measure of himself, and holds a just balance between what he can acquire and what he can use, be it great or be it small. -- P.M. Latham
A. A position of dynamic (as opposed to static) balance between opposing forces is free of error.
Line 2
Legge: The second line, dynamic, shows its subject catch, in hunting, three foxes, and obtain the yellow (golden) arrows. With firm correctness there will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: One kills three foxes in the field and receives a yellow arrow. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Blofeld: With one yellow arrow, he killed three foxes in the field. [Three birds with one stone.] Righteous persistence will bring good fortune.
Liu: One catches three foxes in the field and gains a yellow (golden) arrow. To continue brings good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: The fields, catching three foxes. Acquiring a yellow arrow. Trial: significant.
Shaughnessy: In the fields bagging three foxes, and getting a yellow arrowhead; determination is auspicious.
Cleary (1): Catching three foxes on a hunt, having golden arrows, correctness brings good fortune.
Cleary (2): Catching the third fox on a hunt, finding a yellow arrow, etc.
Wu: The hunter bags three foxes and finds a yellow arrow. It will be auspicious with perseverance.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The good fortune is because he holds the due mean.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The good fortune is due to its attaining the middle way. Blofeld: The good fortune of being able to steer a middle course. Ritsema/ Karcher: Acquiring centering tao indeed. Cleary (2): Attaining the way of balance. Wu: Because he takes a middle road.
Legge: The second line is dynamic, but the place is magnetic, so his strength is tempered. As the correlate of the ruler in line five, he is an officer striving to bring about deliverance and pacify the subdued kingdom. He is compared to a hunter who disposes of inferior men, represented by the three foxes. He receives the yellow arrows, the instruments of war or hunting, whose color is correct and whose form is straight. The K'ang-hsi editors say that while straight-forwardness, symbolized by the arrows, is the first duty of an officer, if he doesn't temper that quality by pursuing the due mean, symbolized by their yellow color, and instead proceeds by main force to remove what is evil, he will provoke indignation and rebellion.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man proceeds at a proper pace and with moderation to remove the designing individuals, who influence the ruler through flattery and obstruct public progress.
Wing: The situation may be in the hands of inferior individuals who use unworthy methods to influence those in authority. You must now be particularly straightforward and virtuous while discrediting their efforts. Good fortune.
Editor: Arrow: The arrow has associations similar to the sword – the discriminating function. To shoot an arrow into the heart of the matter is to pierce its essence, to comprehend it completely. Yellow: Color of the mean, of the sun – suggests wisdom which comes from clarity: balanced perception. Fox: Common Asian symbol for evil, especially its wily or tricky aspects. Three: Symbol of dialectical synthesis or completion, as is the concept of the mean. The line images a situation in which careful discrimination perceives the elements of a problem.
Therefore, the doubts which have arisen in your heart out of ignorance should be slashed by the weapon of knowledge. Armed with yoga, O Bharata, stand and fight. Bhagavad-Gita
A. Balanced insight into the situation differentiates and eliminates harmful elements.
B. Bull’s-eye! – your suspicions are confirmed.
Line 3
Legge: The third line, magnetic, shows a porter with his burden, yet riding in a carriage. He will only tempt robbers to attack him. However firm and correct he may try to be, there will be cause for regret.
Wilhelm/Baynes: If a man carries a burden on his back and nonetheless rides in a carriage, he thereby encourages robbers to draw near. Perseverance leads to humiliation.
Blofeld: Traveling with both luggage-bearers and a carriage, he attracted the attention of robbers. To persist would bring misfortune. [This could mean that someone bearing luggage on his back rides in a carriage. In any case, the Chinese additional commentaries explain that the passage refers to those who usurp privileges to which they are not entitled by rank or merit.]
Liu: A man carries goods on his back and rides in a carriage – thus invites robbers to come. To continue brings humiliation.
Shaughnessy: Carrying on the back and riding in a cart brings robbers to arrive; determination is distressful.
Cleary (1): Riding bearing a burden causes enemies to arrive. Even being righteous one is humiliated.
Cleary (2): Carrying and riding brings on enemies. It is right to be humiliated.
Wu: A man bearing a load rides in a carriage. What he swaggers is conducive to robbery. Even though he does nothing wrong, he will be humiliated.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: For a porter with his burden to be riding in a carriage is a thing to be ashamed of. It is he himself that tempts the robbers to come. On whom besides can we lay the blame? Wilhelm/Baynes: He should really be ashamed of himself. When I myself thus attract robbers, on whom shall I lay the blame? Blofeld: Moreover, his using both of them was shameful. If I were to act thus and bring robbers down on me, who but myself would be to blame? Ritsema/Karcher: Truly permitting the demoniac indeed. Originating-from my involving arms. Furthermore whose fault indeed. Cleary (2): Carrying and riding are both disgraceful. One brings attack by oneself – who else is to blame? Wu: It is a shame for a bearer to ride in a carriage. He exposes himself to robbery. Who else is to be blamed?
The Master said:The makers of the I Ching may be said to have known the philosophy of robbery. The I Ching says, "He is a burden-bearer, and yet rides in a carriage, thereby exciting robbers to attack him." Burden- bearing is the business of an inferior man. A carriage is the vehicle of a gentleman. When an inferior man rides in the vehicle of a gentleman, robbers will think of taking it from him. When one is insolent to those above him, and oppressive to those below, robbers will wish to attack him. Careless laying up of things excites to robbery, as a woman's adorning of herself excites to lust. What the I Ching says about the burden-bearer's riding in a carriage, and exciting robbers to attack him shows how robbery is called out.
Legge: The third line is magnetic where it should be dynamic. In the top place of the lower trigram it suggests the idea of a porter riding in a carriage. People will say: "How did he get there? The things cannot be his own." Therefore robbers will attack and plunder him since he can't protect himself or accomplish anything good.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man has obtained material goods and comfort and seeks a life of ease which does not suit his nature. Like a woman's self-adornment which excites to lust, this way of life merely invites robbers and leads to humiliation.
Wing: You have been able to assume a somewhat powerful position, which you do not know how to control. You pretend to be something that you are not. This invites envy. If you continue in this way you will suffer humiliation at the hands of others who would usurp your position.
Editor: Receiving this line can be a reprimand for an unworthy attitude. It shows one who aspires beyond his station, or who incorrectly seeks an easy solution to his problems. If this is the only changing line, the hexagram becomes number thirty-two,Consistency, the corresponding line of which begins: "Shows one who does not constantly maintain his virtue..." The idea is that a desire to move ahead quickly tempts one into an improper response to the situation at hand. Sometimes the context of the question can suggest that the "vehicle" (carriage) is the oracle itself -- you want it to answer a question you can figure out for yourself. The porter's burden is an obvious responsibility or duty. The robbers are anything that would harm the Work.
The acceptance of the need to relate to a power or powers beyond our personal control and rational comprehension does not necessitate, indeed does not even permit, abandonment of our personal responsibility but rather requires of us that in the domain of the personal life assigned to us our own responsibility must be exerted to the limits. E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
A. "There's no such thing as a free lunch." Get your head out of the clouds and assume your responsibilities.
B. Did you expect a spiritual helicopter to take you to the top of the mountain?
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.