Journey with mindfulness, adapt to changing paths, and find balance through understanding and clarity in resolving differences.
From
56
The Wanderer
To
6
Conflict
One is dismayed by the abusive comments one has heard. taoscopy.com
The Wanderer56
Embrace the journey. Stay adaptable and attentive. Balance independence with humility. Success comes from accepting change and being resourceful.
↓ Line 2
Finding a temporary place of rest and support can lead to stability and assistance.
↓ Line 3
Unexpected events can lead to loss and instability; be prepared for challenges.
↓ Line 5
Success through skill and precision leads to recognition and advancement.
↓ Conflict6
Conflict arises. Approach disputes with clarity and fairness. Seek resolution over victory. Compromise is key.
Other titles: The Wanderer, The Symbol of the Traveler, The Exile, Sojourning, The Newcomer, To Lodge, To Travel, Traveling, The Stranger, Strangers, The Traveling Stranger, The Outsider, The Alien, The Gnostic, The Tarot Fool, Wandering, Homeless, Uncommitted, On Your Own, "Can refer to being out of one's element." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Transition means that small attainments are possible. If the traveling stranger is firm and correct, there will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes:The Wanderer. Success through smallness. Perseverance brings good fortune to the wanderer.
Blofeld:The Traveler -- success in small matters. Persistence with regard to traveling brings good fortune.
Liu: The Exile. Small success. To continue leads to good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher:Sojourning, the small: Growing. Sojourning, Trial: significant. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of wandering journeys and living in exile. It emphasizes that mingling with others as a stranger whose identity comes from a distant center is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy:Traveling. Small receipt. Traveling; determination is auspicious.
Cleary (1): Travel is developmental when small; if travel is correct, it leads to good fortune.
Cleary (2): Travel has a little success. Travel is auspicious if correct.
Wu:Traveling indicates small pervasion. Perseverance will bring auspiciousness.
The Image
Legge: A fire on the mountain -- the image of Transition. The superior man exerts cautious wisdom in his punishments, and does not permit prolonged litigation.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Fire on the mountain: the image of The Wanderer. Thus the superior man is clear-minded and cautious in imposing penalties, and protracts no lawsuits.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes fire upon a mountain. The Superior Man employs wise caution in administering punishments and does not suffer the cases brought before him to be delayed.
Liu: Fire over the mountain symbolizes the Exile. The superior man is careful and clever in imposing punishments, and does not delay the cases brought.
Ritsema/Karcher: Above mountain possessing fire. Sojourning. A chun tzu uses brightening consideration to avail-of punishing and-also not to detain litigating.
Cleary (1): There is fire atop a mountain, transient. Thus superior people apply punishments with understanding and prudence, and do not keep people imprisoned.
Cleary (2): Fire on a mountain – traveling. Etc.
Wu: There is fire on the mountain; this is Traveling. Thus the jun zi exercises the utmost deliberations in exacting punishments such that prisoners will not be detained without cause.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge:Transition indicates that there may be some small attainment and progress -- the magnetic line occupies the central place in the upper trigram, and is obedient to the dynamic lines above and below it. We also have the attributes of Keeping Still connected with Intelligence in the lower and upper trigrams. Hence it is said that there may be some small attainment and progress. If the traveling stranger is firm and correct as he ought to be, there will be good fortune. Great is the time and great is the right course to be taken under these circumstances!
Legge: The written Chinese character for this hexagram denotes people traveling abroad, and is often translated as Strangers. The figure addresses itself to traveling strangers, and tells them how they ought to comport themselves through the cultivation of humility and firm correctness. By means of these they would escape harm, and make progress. The status of traveling stranger is seen as too low to expect great things of them.
It is assumed that the wanderer is in the position of the fifth line. The ideas of humility, docility, calmness and intelligence are derived from the attributes of the component trigrams. These are all characteristics which are proper to a stranger, and are likely to lead to advancement and attainment of his desires. Concerning the Image, K'ung Ying-ta comments: "A fire on a mountain lays hold of the grass, and runs with it over the whole space, not stopping anywhere long, and soon disappearing -- such is the emblem of the traveler."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: During a Transition, keep your willpower great and your expectations small.
The Superior Man sees clearly and does not embroil himself in complexity. He is clear-minded and cautious in judging the truth of the situation, maintaining detachment from the social milieu.
Wilhelm's translation of the title of this hexagram is The Wanderer. A wanderer is one who has no home, or who is between one home and another. This reminds us of the gnostic notion of the "Alien": the incarnate soul exiled to wander in the space-time dimension (i.e., this world).
The alien is that which stems from elsewhere and does not belong here ... The stranger who does not know the ways of the foreign land wanders about lost; if he learns its ways too well, he forgets that he is a stranger and gets lost in a different sense by succumbing to the lure of the alien world and becoming estranged to his own origin ... The recollection of his own alienness, the recognition of his place of exile for what it is, is the first step back; the awakened homesickness is the beginning of the return. Hans Jonas -- The Gnostic Religion
In the broadest interpretation then, the message in the Judgment: "If the traveling stranger is firm and correct, there will be good fortune" can refer to not becoming entangled in the affairs of this world in which we wander -- an idea emphasized in the first line. Ritsema/Karcher state it explicitly -- defining our challenge as "mingling with others as a stranger whose identity comes from a distant center." This is good general advice for anyone seriously engaged in the Work, since the "distant center" ("God," or the Self) represents the essence we incarnated to serve.
We are strangers in this world, and the body is the tomb of the soul, and yet we must not seek to escape by self- murder; for we are the chattels of God who is our herdsman, and without his command we have no right to make our escape. Pythagorean ethic
In more specific situations, the hexagram symbolizes a transitional phase. Lines two, three and four all depict "Inns" or temporary resting places (commonly experienced in dreams as images of hotels or motels). The symbolism is identical: the psyche is reflecting an interim situation during a state of Transition.
By definition, a transition is fluid and not yet fixed. Depending upon the choices made, one can go in different directions. In terms of consciousness, it is obvious that the transition can be from a lower state of awareness to a higher one, or vice-versa. Because a transition is an opportunity for deliberate choice-making, the Confucian commentary concludes with: "Great is the time and great is the right course to be taken under these circumstances!"
Lines one, three and six depict very negative situations involving ignorant, arrogant choices. We think of the ego blindly pushing the river of its desires, unable to see the unfortunate consequences it thereby engenders. Line two suggests a solid resting place during our journey, while line four depicts a tenuous, though not necessarily incorrect, similar situation. The fifth line counsels a kind of sacrifice to the ruler (the Self) which results in an eventual reward. The message is to let the Self guide you through a Transition.
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Hexagram number fifty-six is the reverse of hexagram number fifty-five. Compare the role of the superior man in the Image of each figure. How are they the same? How are they different? What are the differences and similarities of the component trigrams of each hexagram, and how do they affect their respective meanings?
Notes, August 15, 2009: A new paraphrase of the Judgment and Image:
The Gnostic Alien. Small attainments are possible if the Alien keeps a clear head and maintains his self-discipline. The initiated Adept is intelligent, discreet, and displays vigilant wisdom: he maintains and protects his gnosis via cautious reserve in worldly disputes, eschewing needless contention. [He can do this because he knows that this is an illusory reality: a set-up, a trap, a Loosh factory created by the Demiurge.] A chun tzu uses brightening consideration to avail-of punishing and-also not to detain litigating. [In other words “do the work in the place in which you find yourself” quickly, and efficiently, with as few entanglements as possible under the circumstances. Shun new karma. Implicit is that this experience is preparation for the bodhisattva vow.]
Line 2
Legge: The second line, magnetic, shows the stranger occupying her lodging-house, carrying her means of livelihood, and provided with good and trusty servants.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The wanderer comes to an inn. He has his property with him. He wins the steadfastness of a young servant.
Blofeld: The traveler reaches an inn with his valuables still nestling safely in the bosom of his robe. He gains the loyalty of a young servant. [This implies that we need fear no loss upon our journey.]
Liu: The exile arrives at an inn. He carries valuables. He wins the loyalty of a young servant.
Ritsema/Karcher: Sojourning, approaching a resting-place. Cherishing one's own. Acquiring a youthful vassal: Trial.
Shaughnessy: In traveling having just lodged, he cherishes his belongings, getting the young servant's determination.
Cleary (1): Coming to a lodge on a journey with money in your pocket, you have attendants, yet are upright.
Cleary (2): Coming to an inn on a journey with supplies in hand, one gains the loyalty of a servant.
Wu: The traveler makes a stop with his valuable belongings and gets help from a trustworthy bellboy.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: With such servants she will in the end have nothing of which to complain. Wilhelm/Baynes: This is not a mistake in the end. Blofeld: There will be no trouble to the very end. Ritsema/Karcher: Completing without surpassing indeed. Cleary (2): After all there is no complaint. Wu: He is free from troubles.
Legge: Line two is magnetic, but in her proper and central place. Hence the traveler is represented as provided with everything she requires, and though the auspice is not mentioned, we must understand it as being good. Strong and trusty servants are the most important condition for the comfort and progress of the traveler.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man retains his inner sense of modesty and reserve. He acquires the necessary means of livelihood, a home, and good and trustworthy servants.
Wing: With confidence and self-possession you can attract support from new environments. Think of it as the personal gravity generated by the weight of your principles. Someone is ready to help you in your endeavors.
Editor: Psychologically interpreted, the image of a wandering stranger portrays the ego en-route to somewhere else -- transient, uncommitted, undergoing change. A lodging house or Inn is a temporary shelter, an interim point of view, a transitory state. Legge's "means of livelihood" (rendered as "valuables," "property,""belongings," “money” or “supplies” by the other translators), can be any wealth, gain, power, ability, or consolidation of psychic energy. Most translators qualify "servants" as "young servant." A young servant would symbolically suggest inexperienced, untried power or ability to do work. These images all suggest the consolidation of energy during a period of transition.
If the emphasis is on the temporary and transient nature of the worldly sojourn and on the condition of being a stranger, the world is called also the "inn," in which one "lodges"; and "to keep the inn" is a formula for "to be in the world" or "in the body." H. Jonas -- The Gnostic Religion
A. One preserves one's gains through a transition and obtains new and untried powers. You have everything you need to succeed.
Line 3
Legge: The third line, dynamic, shows the stranger, burning his lodging-house, and having lost his servants. However firm and correct he tries to be, he will be in peril.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The wanderer's inn burns down. He loses the steadfastness of his young servant. Danger.
Blofeld: Owing to the traveler’s lack of caution, the inn is burnt down and he no longer enjoys the young servant's loyalty. Persistence now would lead to trouble. [Our carelessness leads us into such difficulties that it would be folly to proceed.]
Liu: The inn where the exile stays burns down. He loses the loyalty of his young servant. To continue is dangerous.
Shaughnessy: In traveling burning his lodging, and losing his young servant; determination is dangerous.
Cleary (1): Burning the lodge on a journey, you lose your attendants. Even if righteous there is danger.
Cleary (2): Burning the inn on a journey, losing the servants, is dangerous even if one is upright.
Wu: The lodge is on fire. He loses the favor of his helper. He is in danger even persevering.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: By burning down his lodging-house he himself also suffers harm. When as a stranger, he treats those below him as the line indicates, the right relation between master and servant is lost. Wilhelm/Baynes: This is a loss for him personally. If he deals like a stranger with his subordinate, it is only right that he should lose him. Blofeld: Traveling on a downward path, our sense of duty and fitness is impaired. Ritsema/Karcher: Actually truly using injuring. One's righteousness lost indeed. Cleary (2): One will also be injured. Duty is lost. Wu: It is a pity. Being stern to the helper in traveling is an invitation to loss.
Legge: The third line is dynamic in a dynamic place, but because he is at the top of the lower trigram, he may be expected to be violent. In the case symbolized he is violent to an extraordinary degree, and incapable of correctness. He treats those below him (his servants) with arrogance, which of course alienates them from him. The K'ang-hsi editors remark that the second and third lines are represented as having lodging-houses when the other lines don't, because they are the only two lines in the figure who are in their proper places.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The newcomer becomes arrogant and truculent. He eventually loses his house and servant and finds himself without support in a perilous situation.
Wing: Offensive and careless behavior in your position are great mistakes. You are in danger of losing what security you have by interfering in matters that are not your concern. Those who may have once been loyal will then withdraw, leaving you in a perilous state.
Editor: Wilhelm points out that the dynamic line in a dynamic place is in this case too overbearing -- representing one who shows no respect for either those above or below him. For a "stranger in a strange land" to behave in this fashion is a sure formula for failure. One is reminded of the boorish behavior of some tourists in foreign countries -- their insensitivity invariably costs them both money and respect. Sometimes the line can suggest a kind of masochistic petulance in your attitude toward the Work. Note: Oracle interpretation must always remain open and flexible. A recent receipt of this line reversed its usual syntax to portray a situation in which the “ Inn set on fire” referred to an organization which lost a faithful servant (the querent-employee) through unethical business practices. Always allow your best intuition to recognize the best fit for the symbolism, particularly if an answer doesn’t seem to make sense. Try inverting the situation to see if that works better – if so, the answer will usually be numinous.
The arrogant heart is abhorrent to Yahweh,
be sure it will not go unpunished.
Proverbs 16: 5
A. A position is undermined and support is lost because of arrogance.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, magnetic, shows its subject shooting a pheasant. She will lose her arrow, but in the end she will obtain praise and a high charge.
Wilhelm/Baynes: He shoots a pheasant. It drops with the first arrow. In the end this brings both praise and office.
Blofeld: While pheasant shooting, he loses an arrow. In the end he wins praise and attains to office. [After suffering a small loss, we shall receive considerable benefits from those above us.]
Liu: He shoots a pheasant, losing one arrow. In the end he gains honor and position.
Shaughnessy: Shooting the pheasant, one arrow is gone; in the winter he is thereby presented a command.
Cleary (1): Shooting a pheasant, one arrow is lost; eventually one is entitled, because of good repute.
Cleary (2): ... Ultimately one is lauded and given a mandate.
Wu: He shoots a pheasant, but loses an arrow. Eventually he receives a conferment of praise.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She has reached a high place. Wilhelm/Baynes: In the end he rises through praise and office. Blofeld: Both of these are bestowed from above. Ritsema/ Karcher: Overtaking the above indeed. Cleary (2): Reaching the highest. Wu:“Eventually he receives a conferment of praise” from his superior.
Legge: Although magnetic, the fifth line is in the center of the upper trigram of Clarity and Intelligence. She is the ruler of the trigram and the dynamic fourth and sixth lines loyally defend and help her. She shoots a pheasant. When an officer was traveling abroad in ancient times, the gift of introduction at any feudal court was a pheasant. The wanderer is here praised by her friends and exalted to a place of dignity by the ruler to whom she is acceptable. Note that the idea of the fifth line being the ruler's seat is dropped here as being alien to the idea of the hexagram.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man succeeds in his task and receives the recognition and praise of his friends. They recommend him to the prince, who accepts his services in a highly responsible position.
Wing: It may be that you must establish a place for yourself in altogether new territory. Be mindful of your approach. Modesty and generosity in the beginning will be rewarded with position and acceptance. Success is indicated.
Editor: There is some ambiguity in the various interpretations of this line. Some say that the fifth line is the seat of the ruler, though the logic of the symbolism suggests that since the ruler bestows favors on the subject of the line, he must be elsewhere. Wilhelm says that line four represents the wanderer's friends, and line six represents the high place to which she is promoted. As a bird, the pheasant is a creature of air, or mental realm, hence symbolic of an idea, concept or thought. Here the thought is given (sacrificed) to the ruler or Self. The arrow here suggests aspiration or intent: to perceive a goal or target (the pheasant) and make it one's own. However, the arrow is lost, and the quarry is given to the ruler in a gesture of fealty. In the end this results in a reward for the wanderer. All of these images suggest a kind of willing sacrifice which one may not completely understand, but which will eventually result in an ample reward.
Intellectually the Self is no more than a psychological concept, a construct that serves to express an unknowable essence which we cannot grasp as such, since by definition it transcends our powers of comprehension. It might equally well be called the "God within us." The beginnings of our whole psychic life seem to be inextricably rooted in this point, and all our highest and ultimate purposes seem to be striving towards it. Jung -- Two Essays on Analytical Psychology
A. Your aspiration exceeds your comprehension. Sacrifice a small reward now and receive a big one later on.
B. Sacrifice your need to understand. Have faith in the Work.
Other titles: Conflict, The Symbol of Contention, Strife, Litigation, Quarreling, Arguing, Lawsuit, "It is important to mind one's step at the very beginning then things will have a chance to work out all right." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Stress indicates that despite sincere motivations, one still meets with opposition and obstruction. Maintain an apprehensive caution. To prosecute the contention to the bitter end will produce evil results. It is advantageous to see the Great Man. It is not advantageous to cross the great stream.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Conflict. You are sincere and are being obstructed. A cautious halt halfway brings good fortune. Going through to the end brings misfortune. It furthers one to see the great man. It does not further one to cross the great water.
Blofeld: Conflict. Confidence accompanied by obstacles! With care, affairs can be made to prosper in their middle course, but the final outcome will be disaster. It is advantageous to visit a great man, but not to cross the great river (or sea). [In general, this hexagram indicates that we have little chance of success in any conflict, dispute or lawsuit in which we are now engaged and that retreat is the best policy -- unless line one or five is a moving line, in which case the position is more hopeful. We can profit from the advice of someone truly wise, but a journey of any kind at this time would be disastrous.]
Liu: Conflict; you have sincerity even though obstructed, stop halfway -- good fortune; follow to the end -- misfortune. It is of benefit to see a great man, but not to cross the great water.
Centering significant. Completing: pitfall. Harvesting: visualizing Great People. Not Harvesting: wading the Great River. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of a dispute. It emphasizes that actively expressing your claims and objections is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to argue!] (Sic)
Shaughnessy: Lawsuit : There is a return; pitying and tranquil, it succeeds to be auspicious, but in the end is inauspicious; beneficial herewith to see the great man; not beneficial to ford the great river.
Cleary (1): Contention; there is blockage of truth. Caution and moderation lead to good results, finality leads to bad results. It is beneficial to see a great person, not beneficial to cross a great river.
Cleary (2): …Wariness within leads to good results, but ending up that way is unfortunate … etc.
Wu:Litigation indicates an obstruction of trust. If the subject is vigilant, he will have good fortune. If he is libelous to the end, he will face foreboding. It will be advantageous to see the great man. It will not be advantageous to cross the big river.
The Image
Legge: The image of water moving away from heaven forms Stress. The superior man, in accordance with this, takes good counsel about the beginning of any enterprise.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Heaven and water go their opposite ways: the image of Conflict. Thus in all his transactions the superior man carefully considers the beginning.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes sky and water in opposition. The Superior Man does not embark upon any affair until he has carefully planned the start.
Liu: Heaven and water go in different directions, symbolizing Conflict. The superior man contemplates the beginning before undertaking an enterprise.
Ritsema/Karcher: Heaven associating-with stream, contradicting movements. Arguing, a chun tzu uses arousing affairs to plan beginning.
Cleary (1): When heaven and water go in different directions, there is contention. Superior people plan in the beginning when they do things.
Cleary (2): … When leaders do things, they plan to begin with.
Wu: Heaven and water go in opposite directions; this is Litigation. Thus the jun zi plans well before taking actions.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The coming together of Strength and Peril gives the idea of Stress. A dynamic line in the central place in the lower trigram shows how there will be good fortune if one maintains apprehensive caution; but because contention should not be taken to extremes, there will be evil if one prosecutes his contention to the bitter end. The great man sets a value on the due mean. If one attempts to cross the great stream, he finds himself in an abyss.
Legge: The upper trigram of Strength here controls the lower trigram of Peril which is trying to attack it. Or it may also be seen as someone in a perilous situation contending with strong outside forces. The image is of contention and strife. The sincere yang line in the middle of the trigram of Peril gives a character to the whole figure -- an individual so represented will be very cautious and have good fortune. But since contention is bad, even a sincere individual must fail if he pursues it to the bitter end. The fifth line represents the great man, whose agency is sure to be good. His decision in any matter of contention will be correct. The sixth line is also dynamic, but his action is likely to be too rash for a great enterprise, hence the warning about not attempting to cross the great stream.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Be careful, don't attempt much, and don't allow the situation to get out of hand.
The Superior Man is judicious about his choices of action to ensure that the situation remains stable.
The hexagram portrays a high level of tension. Wilhelm points out that the only "favorable" line is the ruler in the fifth place, and that all of the other lines symbolize people quarreling. It should also be noted that lines one through four counsel either retreat from contention or remaining passively in place. Only line five suggests that an active struggle can have a favorable outcome, and line six portrays the sorry fate of those who insist on "demanding their rights." If we turn the hexagram upside down we have Waiting, which suggests some subtle truths about the proper way to handle stress.
He who has a taste for dispute has a taste for blows, the man of haughty speech courts destruction. Proverbs 17: 19
At deciding lawsuits I am no better than anyone else; but what is necessary is to bring about a state of affairs in which there will be no lawsuits. Confucius
Note that Ritsema/Karcher's summation of the Judgment stands in stark disagreement with the general tenor of the figure: I have never received this hexagram when that interpretation has applied.