Other titles: The Symbol of Rising and Advancing, Ascending, Ascension, Rising, Promotion, Advancement, Sprouting from the Earth, Organic Growth
Judgment
Legge:Pushing Upward means successful progress. Have no anxiety about meeting with the great man. An advance to the south is fortunate.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Pushing Upward has supreme success. One must see the great man. Fear not. Departure toward the south brings good fortune.
Blofeld: Ascending. Supreme success! It is essential to see a great man, so as to banish anxiety. Progressing towards the south brings good fortune.
Liu: Ascending. Great Success. One should see a great man. Without fear. An expedition to the south leads to good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher:Ascending, Spring Growing. Availing-of visualizing Great People. No cares. The South, chastising significant. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of rising to a higher level. It emphasizes that setting a higher goal and working toward it step by step is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: ascend!]
Shaughnessy:Ascending: Prime receipt; beneficial to see the great man. Do not pity. For the southern campaign, auspicious.
Cleary(1): Rising is greatly developmental; it calls for seeing a great person, so there will be no grief. An expedition south brings good fortune.
Cleary (2):Rising is very successful, etc.
Wu:Ascension indicates great pervasion. It will be useful to see the great man. No anxiety. It will be auspicious to go south.
The Image
Legge: Wood growing in the earth -- the image of Pushing Upward. The superior man accumulates small increments of virtue until it becomes high and great.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Within the earth, wood grows: the image of Pushing Upward. Thus the superior man of devoted character heaps up small things in order to achieve something high and great.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes tress growing upwards from the earth. The Superior Man most willingly accords with virtuous ways; starting from small things, he accumulates a great heap of merit.
Liu: The wood grows in the earth, symbolizing Ascending. The superior man devotes his virtue to building things up from the small to the high and great.
Ritsema/Karcher: Earth center giving-birth-to wood. Ascending. A chun tzu uses yielding to actualize-tao. A chun tzu uses amassing the small to use the high great.
[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): Trees grow on the earth, rising. Thus do superior people follow virtue, accumulating the small to lofty greatness.
Wu: Trees grow from earth; this is Ascension. Thus the Jun zi diligently cultivates his virtues little by little to become tall and large like trees growing.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The magnetic line ascends as opportunity permits. We have Flexibility, Obedience and a dynamic line below with his magnetic correlate above: this means successful progress. See the great man -- his will is accomplished in the south.
Legge: The character for this hexagram means advancing in an upward direction, or ascending. The figure symbolizes the promotion of an able officer to the highest pinnacle of distinction. The action of the dynamic second line is tempered by being in the magnetic central position of the lower trigram. As the representative of Pushing Upward he is forceful, yet modest and the magnetic fifth line ruler welcomes his advance. The officer therefore has the qualities that fit him to ascend as well as a favorable opportunity to do so.
After he has met with the "great man" in line five, advance to the south will be fortunate. Chu Hsi says that this is equivalent to "advancing forwards.” Since the south is the region of brightness and warmth, the progress will be easy and agreeable.
The lower trigram symbolizes Wood, and its weak first line is the root of a tree buried in the earth of the upper trigram. The gradual growth of this root pushes the trunk upward as the circumstances of time permit.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Ascend in accordance with the will of the Self. Turn toward clarity.
The Superior Man grows a little every day.
The image of the 46th hexagram is of a plant growing in the earth, gradually pushing upward toward the sun. That "an advance to the south is fortunate" means that as all plants turn southward toward the sun, their source of nourishment, so should we turn toward the light and clarity of the "great man" or Self within us.
The upward advancement of the Work is an organic process. There is no such thing as "instant enlightenment." The many stories and parables of instant Satori which are common in the Zen Buddhist tradition are actually just dramatic accounts of the final few moments' resolution that come after a lifetime of slow and patient devotion. The Work progresses at the pace of a tree -- what started out as an acorn eventually becomes a forest giant, but it doesn't happen overnight.
Remember ever that Mind in its entirety is ever the Builder. For it is step by step, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little, that the attaining is accomplished in the mental, the spiritual, the material applications of an entity in this material world. Edgar Cayce – Book of Changes
This slow growth is an accumulation of countless "gathering togethers" as depicted in the preceding hexagram, of whichPushing Upward is the upside-down image. It is estimated that an adult human being grows from a single cell to about one-hundred billion cells through a process of fifty-billion mitotic divisions. It is interesting to observe that "one-hundred-billion" is the scientific estimate of the number of stars in any given galaxy. If we apply the Hermetic Axiom: "As above, so below" to this relationship of macrocosm to microcosm we get the image of our solar system as a single atom in the "body" of a galactic entity.
That should put the Work into perspective!
Understand that thou art a second little world and that the sun and the moon are within thee, and also the stars. Origen --Homiliae in Leviticum
Line 3
Legge: The third line, dynamic, shows its subject ascending upwards as into an empty city.
Wilhelm/Baynes: One pushes upward into an empty city.
Blofeld: He was promoted to office in a larger city.
Liu: Ascending to a deserted city.
Ritsema/Karcher: Ascending: an empty capital.
Shaughnessy: Ascending the empty city.
Cleary (1): Rising in an empty domain.
Wu: He ascends to the vacant city.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He advances upwards as into an empty city -- he has no doubts or hesitation. Wilhelm/Baynes: There is no reason to hesitate. Blofeld: We cause no doubts to arise in the minds of others. Ritsema/Karcher: Without a place do doubt indeed. Cleary (2): There is no hesitation. Wu: He has no doubt.
Legge: Line three describes the bold and fearless advance of its subject. According to the K'ang-hsi editors, there is a shade of condemnation here. He is too bold, "he has no doubt or hesitation," but is presuming rather on his strength.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: No impediments retard the man's bold advance.
Wing: You may now advance with complete ease -- perhaps too much ease. This sudden lack of constraint may cause you misgivings. A little caution is a good thing now if you do not allow it to halt your progress completely.
Editor: Whenever one receives an oracle without the value judgment of "good fortune" or "there will be evil," it is wise to be especially heedful. This line describes easy progress -- which may or may not be a good thing, depending on the situation. Sometimes it can refer to making an assumption -- without, however, a clue as to whether the assumption is accurate! The line can also alert one to something new or unknown: the fact that no value judgment is appended suggests that a test may be involved.
Many times when I was concentrating on my work and thinking about nothing else, I suddenly recognized a truth which had no relationship whatever with my work...At such moments I felt as if my head had just poked up through the ceiling of one room and emerged above the floor in an upper room. It was a wonderful feeling to look around with my inward eye in this newly discovered upper room, inspecting all the hidden treasure lying there. Elisabeth Haich -- Initiation
A. A sudden upward rush.
B. An image of rapid and easy progress -- don't let it carry you away. Maintain discipline.
C. You are moving too fast.
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, magnetic, shows its subject advancing upwards blindly. Advantage will be found in a ceaseless maintenance of firm correctness.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Pushing upward in darkness. It furthers one to be unremittingly persevering.
Blofeld: A night ascent -- advantage lies in unremitting persistence.
Liu: Ascending in ignorance, it is still beneficial to continue unceasingly.
Ritsema/Karcher: Dim ascending. Harvesting: tending-towards not pausing's Trial.
Shaughnessy: Dark ascent; beneficial for unceasing determination.
Cleary (1): Rising in the dark. Benefit lies in unceasing rectitude.
Cleary (2): Rising into the unknown, it is beneficial to be unceasingly correct.
Wu: This is a blind ascension. It will be good to be ever persevering.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She blindly advances upwards, and is in the highest place -- but there is decay in store for her, and she will not preserve her riches. Wilhelm/ Baynes: At the top is decrease and not wealth. Blofeld: But the night ascent will lead to loss, not to wealth. [Taking the text and commentary of this line together, we may assume that righteous persistence will win some advantage for us as a result of rather blind progress, even though we are bound to suffer materially.]Ritsema/ Karcher: Dim Ascending located above. Dissolving, not affluence indeed. Cleary (2): Rising into the unknown on high dissolves poverty.Wu: A blind ascension at the top means a loss, not a gain.
Legge: What can the subject of the hexagram want more? She has gained all her riches, and still she is for going onwards. Her advance is blind and foolish, and only the most exact correctness will save her from the consequences. When one has reached the greatest height, she should think of retiring. Ambition otherwise may overleap itself.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man advances blindly. Only the most exacting correctness will save him from unfortunate consequences.
Wing: Advancement without constant re-evaluation and discrimination can easily become blind impulse. Such behavior will surely lead you into dangerous mistakes. Only the most careful and exacting conduct can save you from certain damage.
Editor: This line is a clear warning to be extremely careful in whatever endeavor prompted your question.Legge's translation of the Confucian commentary is quite literal here: "there is decay in store for her" refers to hexagram number eighteen: Decay (or Repair), which is the hexagram created if this is the only changing line. Cleary’s version of the Confucian commentary reads: “Rising into the unknown on high dissolves poverty.” This seems to be the exact opposite of all the other translations. (Wilhelm’s rendering is the most succinct:“At the top is decrease and not wealth.”) Cleary’s rendition is based on Chi-hsu Ou-I’s Buddhist commentary, which states: “When one rises into the unknown, then one can stop; but if one is unceasingly correct, then one should rise yet further into the unknown. This is what is called spiritual rank. If they cultivate spiritual rank, people of low social status are not really poor and lowly – their poverty can disappear.” Since Chi-hsu Ou-i was not a translator, but reading and writing in his own language, one wonders how such a seemingly anomalous interpretation of Confucius could occur. Nevertheless, from the Buddhist perspective the concepts of poverty and wealth are reversed: “poverty” is wealth, “wealth” is poverty in terms of spiritual value at the top of the hexagram of Ascending.
I go the way that Providence dictates with the assurance of a sleepwalker. Adolph Hitler
When you got nothin,’ you got nothin’ to lose. Bob Dylan
A. Blind advance leads to loss.
B. Proceed with caution in an uncertain situation.
C. Don't jump to conclusions when you don't understand what is going on.
D. Keep your wits about you during an opportunity for transcendence.
Other Titles: Youthful Folly, The Symbol of Covering, Immaturity, Uncultivated Growth, Youth, Acquiring Experience, Youthful Ignorance, Enveloping, Folly, Darkness "Often the I Ching uses this hexagram to show us that we should not be asking this question." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Inexperience means progress and success. I do not seek the inexperienced youth, but he seeks me. When he shows the sincerity proper for divination, I instruct him. If he asks two or three times, that is troublesome, and I do not instruct the troublesome. Firm correctness brings advantage.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Youthful Folly has success. It is not I who seek the young fool; the young fool seeks me. At the first oracle I inform him. If he asks two or three times, it is importunity. If he importunes, I give him no information. Perseverance furthers.
Blofeld: Immaturity. Good fortune! I am not one to seek out uncultivated youths, but if such a youth seeks me out, I shall at first read and explain the omens. Yet should he ask me many times, just because of his importunity, I shall not explain anything more. The omen indicates a need for proper direction. [This hexagram suggests stubbornness (the upper trigram) issuing from the softness of the womb (the lower trigram). While it sometimes happens that youthful rashness succeeds where sober counsels fail, it is nevertheless the duty of the mature man to cultivate the minds of the young and to respond, within reason, to their requests for guidance. As an omen, this hexagram may be taken to imply a case in which a certain amount of rashness may lead to success, but in which older people are not absolved from the duty of guiding the young. There is also a suggestion that the Book of Change itself, though fully responsive to those who make the right approach, will not brook importunity in the form of trivial questions or of seeking to reverse its judgments by further questioning. Whether the omen may be taken to mean that we should go ahead with some rash scheme or that it is time for us to restrain someone's youthful rashness will depend upon the nature of the enquiry, the people concerned in it and the particular moving lines involved in the response.]
Liu: It is not I who seek him, the youth seeks me. The first time he asks, I answer; but if he asks again and again, it is annoyance: no answer. Benefit for continuance.
Ritsema/Karcher: Enveloping, Growing. In-no-way me seeking youthful Enveloping. Youthful Enveloping seeking me. The initial oracle-consulting notifying. Twice, three-times: obscuring. Obscuring, by-consequence not notifying. Harvesting Trial. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of concealment and clouded awareness. It emphasizes that actively accepting this concealment in order to nurture growth is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Folly: Receipt; it is not we who seek youthful folly; youthful folly seeks us. The initial milfoil divination is auspicious, but if two or three times drawn out, being drawn out then it is not auspicious; beneficial to determine.
Cleary(1): In darkness is development. It is not that I seek naïve innocence; naïve innocence seeks me. The first augury informs; the second and third defile. Defilement does not inform. It is beneficial to be correct.
Cleary(2):Darkness. Getting through. It is not that I seek the ignorant; the ignorant seek me. The first pick informs, the second and third muddle. That which is muddled does not inform. Benefit is a matter of correctness.
Wu:Ignorance is pervasive. It is not that I ask the ignorant lad to come for instruction. It is that the ignorant lad comes to request my instruction. As in divination, he will be instructed the first time. If he asks the same question for the second and third times, he is disrespectful. Having been judged disrespectful, he will not be instructed again. It will be advantageous to be persevering.
The Image
Legge: A spring issuing from the mountain -- the image of Inexperience. The superior man, in accordance with this, nourishes his virtue and strives for resoluteness of conduct.
Wilhelm/Baynes: A spring wells up at the foot of the mountain: the image of Youth. Thus the superior man fosters his character by thoroughness in all that he does.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes a watery hole at the foot of a mountain amidst uncultivated growth. The Superior Man by determined good conduct nourishes his virtue. [The second sentence is deduced from the first; both are suggested by the component trigrams.]
Liu: A spring comes out at the foot of the mountain; this symbolizes Youth. The superior man will cultivate his character through decisive action.
Ritsema/Karcher: below Mountain issuing-forth spring-water. Enveloping. A chun tzu uses fruiting movement to nurture 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): Under a mountain a spring is produced, in darkness. A superior person nurtures character with fruitful action.
Cleary (2): Under a mountain emerges a spring, in darkness. Leaders use effective action to nurture inner qualities.
Wu: A spring flows at the foot of a mountain; this is Ignorance. The jun zi resolves to taking steps to cultivate his virtue.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge:Inexperience shows the trigram of the Mountain above that of the Abyss. The perilous impasse suggested by these figures evokes the idea of inexperience. Progress and success are suggested because the action and development of the hexagram conform to the requirements of the time. When inexperience seeks wisdom, will responds to will. The oracle responds to sincerity because it has the qualities of the dynamic line in the central second place, but the oracle does not respond to ignorant importuning. The proper duty of a sage is to nourish the correct nature of the ignorant.
Legge: Difficulty shows us plants struggling within the earth, and Inexperiencesuggests the small and undeveloped sprouts which then appear upon its surface. This is an image of youthful ignorance, and the object of the hexagram is to show how those in authority should deal with it. The Judgment takes the form of the oracle's response to the questioner.
The upper trigram represents a frowning mountain which blocks the progress of the traveler. The lower trigram symbolizes a stream of water in a dangerous canyon, such as might be found at the foot of a mountain. The combination of these symbols suggests the perilous nature of ignorant inexperience.
The subject of line two represents the oracle, who demands sincerity from the unenlightened. It is his duty to evoke the innate "correct nature" hidden within the questioner, to bring this quality out and develop it. In regard to the Image, Chu Hsi says that "the water of a spring is sure to move on and gradually advance." This may serve as a symbol of the general process and progress of education.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Inexperience portrays the relationship between the ego and the Self as one of student to master. Communication via the oracle demands seriousness of purpose -- the Self refuses to pander to the ego's illusions.
The Superior Man furthers the Work by developing his will and intent.
Wilhelm's title for this hexagram is Youthful Folly, which tends to lend it a negative connotation that is not always strictly applicable. However, he is quick to point out that the title "should be understood to mean the immaturity of youth and its consequent lack of wisdom, rather than mere stupidity."
While the title of Inexperience avoids the negative connotation, it must be acknowledged that there is an aura of irritation in this hexagram which illustrates an uncomfortable truth about the relationship between the ego and the Self. The Self is an awesome archetype, and once one has established contact with him, he assumes a distinctly stern personality. The Self will not pander to the ego's illusions, and has no patience with anything but the unvarnished truth. Tact and patience are not among his attributes. Lao Tse describes him very accurately:
The Sage is unkind: He treats the people like sacrificial straw dogs.
Which is just the way it is. As a satellite of the Self, the ego-complex was not created just so that it could spend a lifetime indulging its fantasies. The Work must be undertaken, and the Self knows more than you do what remains to be done. Like any excellent teacher, he demands more of us than we think we have in us to give. This phenomenon of the tyrannical and often "unjust" Self has been noted in many times and places. Here is an example from Neo-Platonism:
What shall we say in regard to the question: "Why do the divinities that are invoked require the worshipper to be just, although they themselves when entreated consent to perform unjust acts?" In reply to this I am uncertain in respect to what is meant by "performing unjust acts," as the same definition may not appear right both to us and to the gods. We, on the one hand, looking to that which is least significant, consider the things that are present, the momentary life, what it is and how it originates. The beings superior to us, let me say, know for certain the whole life of the soul and all its former lives; and if they bring on a retribution from the supplication of those who invoke them, they do not increase it beyond what is just. On the contrary, they aim at the sins impressed upon the soul in former lifetimes, which men do not perceive, and so imagine that is unjust that they fall into the misfortunes which they suffer. Iamblichus -- The Egyptian Mysteries
A contemporary expression of this idea comes from consciousness researcher, John Lilly, famous for his work with dolphins and isolation tank experiments with psychedelic drugs:
Cosmic Love [e.g., the Spiritual Self] is absolutely Ruthless and Highly Indifferent: it teaches its lessons whether you like/dislike them or not. John Lilly
By definition, "the gods" (archetypes) are not human. Were it possible for them to evolve without human vessels in Spacetime, presumably we humans would not exist. It is these archetypes, in the guise of our complexes and limiting beliefs, that are being altered by the Work. Because the unconscious psyche is a multiverse, it is sometimes very difficult to differentiate just "who" is advising us, and the Self via the oracle, will occasionally test us for our ability to use intuitive common sense.
Which is to say: when the gods (or the "Self") become totally "unreasonable," we can only go along with them to the limit of our human understanding. Slavish obedience to all injunctions from the unconscious is to sell our souls outright to something that we don't understand. The renunciation of "common sense" is the renunciation of our most precious birthright.
On the other hand, to "disobey" at will is to put our souls at risk. This is one of the most painful of all dilemmas -- how far do we go in our obedience to unseen powers? Aspects of this problem have been called The Dark Night of the Soul -- an inner initiation, a trial by fire to see what we are really made of. There are times in the advanced course of the Work when one receives the strange insight that the Self actually wants us to disobey! This ordeal can only be lived through -- no one can advise you except your own sense of what is right for you at any given moment.
The most useful guideline that I have found is that the precepts of the Work (as found in the Perennial Philosophy) are consistent worldwide, and constitute a reliably moral structure for responsible choice. If the oracle seems to be telling you to do something contrary to your inner sense of right and wrong, contrary to your understanding of the precepts of the Work, then go with this intuition rather than the oracle. The Self, via the oracle, will test you in many ways to make you develop. (The ultimate goal is to become so infallibly intuitive that oracles become superfluous.)
The gods need our intelligent disobedience if they themselves are to evolve. It is in the stress between obedience and conscientious disobedience that growth takes place. In one sense, whatever choice you make, as long as it is conscious and you fully accept the consequences, is the right choice for you at that moment. We learn through our mistakes, and can never fail our lessons if we truly integrate the experience into our unfolding lives.
Confucius, one of the greatest teachers who ever lived, obviously took his teaching method from the Judgment of this hexagram:
The Master said:"I won't teach a man who is not anxious to learn, and will not explain to one who is not trying to make things clear to himself. And if I explain one- fourth and the man doesn't go back and reflect and think out the implications in the remaining three-fourths for himself, I won't bother to teach him again."
And so it is with the oracle (the Self) -- the deeper one gets involved in the Work, the more difficult the lessons become, so that one is always kept in a position of relative Inexperience. There are times, when a simple answer would suffice, that you will receive an ambiguous image, which (if you do three-fourths of the work), will lead you to a profound insight.