Begin with clarity, but stay adaptable as life flows into challenges; true growth emerges in persistence.
From
63
After Completion
To
29
Danger
One has trouble recovering from a lean period. taoscopy.com
After Completion63
Completion; things fall into place, but remain cautious. Stability achieved, yet vigilance needed to sustain harmony.
↓ Line 1
Caution at the beginning prevents future problems. Avoid rushing into things.
↓ Line 2
Patience is required. What is lost will return in due time.
↓ Line 3
Persistence and discipline lead to success. Avoid relying on unworthy individuals.
↓ Danger29
Face repeated challenges with courage and determination. Embrace setbacks as opportunities to build resilience. Stay true to your principles to navigate through difficulties.
Other titles: After Completion, The Symbol of What is Already Past, Already Fording, Already Completed, Settled, Mission Accomplished, Tasks Completed, After the End, A state of Climax
Judgment
Legge:Completion intimates progress and success in small matters. There is advantage in firm correctness. There had been good fortune in the beginning; there may be disorder in the end.
Wilhelm/Baynes: After Completion. Success in small matters. Perseverance furthers. At the beginning good fortune, at the end disorder.
Blofeld:After Completion -- success in small matters! Persistence in a righteous course brings reward. Good fortune at the start; disorder in the end. [Perhaps persistence may help to lessen the disorder that threatens to come upon us after some initial success.]
Liu: Completion. Success in the small. It benefits to continue. Good fortune at first; disorder in the end.
Ritsema/Karcher:Already Fording. Growing: the small. Harvesting Trial. Initially significant. Completing: disarraying. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of an important move from one position to another. It emphasizes that actively proceeding with the crossing is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy:Already Completed: Receipt; slightly beneficial to determine; initially auspicious, in the end disordered.
Cleary (1):Settlement is developmental, but it is minimized. It is beneficial to be correct. The beginning is auspicious, the end confused.
Cleary (2): Settlement is successful, even in small matters … etc.
Wu: Mission Accomplished indicates a small degree of pervasiveness and the advantage of being persevering. It is characterized by goodness in the beginning, but tumult in the end.
The Image
Legge: The image of water above fire formsCompletion. The superior man, in accordance with this, thinks of the evil that may come, and guards against it in advance.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Water over fire: the image of the condition in After Completion. Thus the superior man takes thought of misfortune and arms himself against it in advance.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes water above fire. The Superior Man deals with trouble by careful thought and by taking advance precautions.
Liu: Water above fire symbolizes Completion. The superior man ponders danger and takes precautions against it.
Ritsema/Karcher: Stream located above fire. Already Fording. A chun tzu uses pondering distress and-also providing-for defending-against it.
Cleary (1): Water is above fire,Settled.Thus superior peopleconsider problems and prevent them.
Wu: There is water above fire; this is Mission Accomplished. Thus the jun zi conceives ways to prevent disaster.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Progress and success in small matters, with advantage in firm correctness. The dynamic and magnetic lines are correctly arranged, each in its proper place. There has been good fortune in the beginning because the magnetic second line is in the center. In the end there is a cessation of effort, and disorder arises. The course that led to rule and order is now exhausted.
Legge: The two written Chinese characters translated here as Completion represent two ideas -- the symbol of being past or completed, and the symbol of crossing a stream -- with a secondary meaning of helping and completing. When combined, the two characters express the idea of successful accomplishment. The hexagram denotes the kingdom finally at rest -- the vessel of state has been brought safely across the great and dangerous stream, the distresses of the realm have been relieved and its disorders rectified. Small things need to be completed: the new government must be consolidated and its ruler must, without noise or clamor, go on to perfect what has been wrought with firm correctness and without forgetting the inherent instability of all human affairs. That every line of the hexagram is in its correct place, and has its proper correlate emphasizes the intimation of progress and success.
The K'ang-hsi editors compare this hexagram and the next with number eleven, Harmony, and number twelve, Divorcement, observing that the goodness of Harmony is concentrated, as here, in the second line. Disorder after completion is inevitable. All things move on with a constant process of change. Disorder succeeds to order, and again order to disorder.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: All's well that ends well, but the new cycle demands as much willpower as the last. Make no drastic choices during a transition.
The Superior Man anticipates conflict and is prepared for it in advance.
The sixty-third hexagram is the reference hexagram which depicts the correlation of properly matched dynamic and magnetic lines. On the basis of this figure, all of the other hexagrams (except the first and second, which are their "parents"), are compared. Yet, despite the fact that every line is in its proper place, not one of them has an easy auspice, and both the Judgment and Image are subdued and cautionary. The general idea is that as long as we draw breath in this spacetime dimension, our lives and Work are incomplete. Cycles complete themselves, certainly, but Completion in that sense is the "completion" of the full moon, which as soon as it reaches maximum brilliance immediately begins to wane.
Among those engaged in psycho-spiritual work, there is a great deal of energy focused on "enlightenment," and the natural desire of each aspirant to attain that state of consciousness as soon as possible. Many there are who wander from one conception of the Work to another in the hope that this particular discipline, or that particular Guru will provide the transcendent answer that the last one didn't.
This is a very deceptive illusion, because the chances that any given individual will attain perfect enlightenment in any given lifetime are probably miniscule to the point of insignificance. (How many truly enlightened beings have you ever met in your life?)
But the first signs of this symbolism are far from indicating that unity has been attained. Just as alchemy has a great many procedures, ranging from the "work of one day" to the "the errant quest" lasting for decades, so the tensions between the psychic pair of opposites ease off only gradually; and, like the alchemical end- product, which always betrays its essential duality, the united personality will never quite lose the painful sense of innate discord. Complete redemption from the sufferings of this world is and must remain an illusion ... The goal is important only as an idea; the essential thing is the opus which leads to the goal: that is the goal of a lifetime. In its attainment "left and right" are united, and conscious and unconscious work in harmony. Jung-- Psychology of the Transference
The Work is a slow, organic process of transforming unconscious forces, which demands almost superhuman levels of discipline to accomplish. One can make a great deal of progress in one lifetime, but the Work can not be said to be complete until physical death “completes” it -- at that point, assuming the ego has acquired enough strength of will, perhaps one can facilitate a "permanent" synthesis of the forces one has spent a lifetime in training. Death is the doorway back to our Source, and if we enter that doorway consciously and correctly we can consolidate a great deal of power which will serve us well in the next cycle, in whatever dimension that cycle may take place.
It is even doubtful whether a man can arrive at the summit of all perfection as long as he lives in an imperfect physical form, because the imperfections of the form hamper the spirit, and only a spirit that has outgrown the necessity to live in a physical form may be said to have arrived at that high degree of perfection at which a perfect knowledge of self, and consequently a perfect knowledge of the universe is obtained. F. Hartmann --Paracelsus: Life and Prophecies
Line 1
Legge: The first line, dynamic, shows its subject as a driver who drags back his wheel, or as a fox which has wet his tail. There will be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: He brakes his wheels. He gets his tail in the water. No blame.
Blofeld: He brakes the wheel of his chariot and gets the rear part wet -- no error!
Liu: The brake to the wheel. The tail gets wet. No blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Pulling back one's wheels. Soaking one's tail. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: Dragging his ribbon, wetting his tail; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Dragging the wheel, wetting the tail, there is no fault.
Cleary (2): Dragging the wheels – it is right that there be no problem.
Wu: The wheels are pulled back. The tail is immersed in water. There will be no error.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: As we may rightly judge, there will be no mistake. Wilhelm/ Baynes: According to the meaning, there is no blame in this. Blofeld: Since we manage to stop at the right moment we are not to blame for what happens. Ritsema/Karcher: Righteous, without fault indeed. Cleary (2): (None.) Wu: In principle there is nothing wrong.
Legge: Line one, the first of the hexagram, represents the time immediately after the successful completion of something -- a time for resting and being quiet. For a season at least, all movement should be hushed. Hence we have the symbolism of a driver trying to stop his carriage, and a fox who has wet his tail, and will not attempt the stream again.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, the man is not caught in the intoxication of the masses during a great transition. The general pressure finally overwhelms him. However, this occurs only at the last minute, after he has successfully completed the enterprise.
Wing: As you move forward with your plans, the pressure starts to build and you feel an urge to reconsider. You must face the fact that you will be affected by the events that you have inexorably set into motion, but not detrimentally, as you are generally correct.
Editor: Wilhelm, Blofeld and Liu all use the image of brakes to stop a wheel. If the hexagram is turned upside down it becomes number sixty-four, Before Completion or Unfinished Business,and this line becomes number 64:6 which has a similar message. Even the fox is mentioned. The image is one of avoiding danger by holding back.
The contented man meets no disgrace;
Who knows when to stop runs into no danger --
He can long endure.
Lao Tzu
A. Stop pushing -- hold and consolidate your position.
B. "Leave well enough alone."
Line 2
Legge: The second line, magnetic, shows its subject as a wife who has lost her carriage-screen. There is no occasion to go in pursuit of it. In seven days she will find it.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The woman loses the curtain of her carriage. Do not run after it; on the seventh day you will get it.
Blofeld: The lady loses the blind from her chariot window. She should not go in search of it, for she will recover it in seven days.
Liu: A lady loses her carriage curtain. Without seeking it, it will be regained within seven days.
Ritsema/Karcher: A wife losing her veil. No pursuit. The seventh day: acquiring.
Shaughnessy: The wife loses her hair; do not follow, in seven days you will get it.
Cleary (1): A woman loses her protection. Do not pursue; you will get it in seven days.
Cleary (2): A woman loses her protection. Let her not give chase: she will find it in seven days.
Wu: A woman has lost the curtain of her carriage. There is no need to look for it. After seven days it will be found.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The course pursued is that indicated by the central position of the line. Wilhelm/Baynes: As a result of the middle way. Blofeld: Restraint or moderation will be rewarded. Ritsema/Karcher: Using centering tao indeed. Cleary (2): Because of her balanced course. Wu: Because she take a middle course.
Legge: The second line is magnetic and in her proper place. With her dynamic correlate in line five, she might be expected to take action, but she is central and correct – a lady who has lost her carriage screen. She will not advance further so soon after success has been achieved, but keeps herself in hidden retirement. Let her not seek the screen. The seven days is a cycle of completion running its course -- then a new period when action will be proper shall have commenced.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man is not accorded the protective confidence of his superiors. In his desire to achieve something, he is tempted to seek it and draw it to himself. He should not do so, but should remain patient and faithful. What is truly his will come to him eventually.
Wing: You are suddenly exposed, whether by your own hand or by circumstances beyond your control. Do nothing. Don't try to cover up, or attempt to make a case for your position. This time of conspicuousness will soon pass.
Editor: The image of the hexagram suggests a high water mark -- the point at which a cycle is completed. Beyond this point is the beginning of a whole new cycle. The second line is the ruler of the hexagram -- a magnetic, receptive, yin line who remains fully devoted to the dynamic yang line, her husband, in the fifth place. A magnetic force is vulnerable during a period of completion -- it must remain in place until the synthesis is complete and the next cycle begins.
When a patient begins to feel the inescapable nature of his inner development, he may easily be overcome by a panic fear that he is slipping helplessly into some kind of madness he can no longer understand. More than once I have had to reach for a book on my shelves, bring down an old alchemist, and show my patient his terrifying fantasy in the form in which it appeared four hundred years ago. This has a calming effect, because the patient then sees that he is not alone in a strange world which nobody understands, but is part of the great stream of human history, which has experienced countless times the very things that he regards as a pathological proof of his craziness. Jung -- Alchemical Studies
A. An image of temporary vulnerability: take no action until the situation matures.
Line 3
Legge: The third line, dynamic, suggests the case of Kao Tsung who attacked the Demon region, but was three years in subduing it. Inferior men should not be employed in such enterprises.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The Illustrious Ancestor disciplines the devil's country. After three years he conquers it. Inferior people must not be employed.
Blofeld: The Illustrious Ancestor (namely, the Emperor Wu Ting, 1324 BC) carried out a punitive expedition in Kuei Fang (literally, the Land of the Devils) and conquered it after three years -- men of mean attainments would have been useless! [The Land of Devils was probably a territory inhabited by non-Chinese tribes. The implication is that only a man of outstanding capability should attempt any difficult task now.]
Liu: The emperor Kao Tsung chastised the barbarian country and conquered it in three years. The inferior man should no longer be employed.
Ritsema/Karcher: The high ancestor subjugating souls on-all- sides. Three years-revolved controlling it. Small People, no availing of.
Shaughnessy: The High Ancestor attacks the Devil-land, in three years conquering it; the little man should not use it.
Cleary (1): The emperor attacks the barbarians, and conquers them after three years. Do not employ inferior people.
Wu: Gao Zong took military actions against Guifan. After three years, he quelled the rebellion. Little men should not be trusted.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He was three years in subduing it -- enough to make him weary. Wilhelm/Baynes: This is exhausting. Blofeld: His taking three years to conquer it indicates great fatigue. [Even if we do feel capable of undertaking an extremely difficult task, we must expect it to occupy us for so long as to make us feel exhausted.]Ritsema/Karcher: Weariness indeed. Cleary (2): He is weary. Wu: It was a tiresome campaign.
Legge: The dynamic third line at the top of the lower trigram suggests the idea of one undertaking a vigorous enterprise. The writer thinks of Kao Tsung, one of the ablest sovereigns of the Shang dynasty (B.C. 1364-1324), who undertook an expedition against the barbarian hordes of the cold and bleak regions north of the Middle States. His enterprise was successful, but it was tedious, and the line concludes with a warning.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: A correct subjugation policy is essential after the conquest. Inferior people, of no value at home, should not be sent to govern the colonies. Protracted struggles usually follow, and small men are inadequate to the task.
Wing: The attainment of a highly ambitious goal is possible. It will take a long time and will leave you spent. If it is worthwhile to you, success is indicated. However, be cautioned to employ only the most qualified persons in your endeavor.
Editor: In psychological terms, the Demon region is the unconscious psyche, and no new synthesis can take place therein until all of its autonomous complexes have been pacified and integrated. The will of the ego is the last line of defense against their constant pressure. Only one who has undertaken the Work can truly appreciate how exhausting it is -- a fact made more ominous by the realization that one can win most of the battles and still lose the war. "Inferior men should not be employed" means that it is a task not to be lightly undertaken by anyone.
When an individual in some contretemps discovers this primitive force alive within him, like a ruthless and cold-blooded daemon, he must find some method by which it can be transformed into a different kind of spirit, if he is to avoid a regression to a level of civilization far below his conscious standard. M.E. Harding -- Psychic Energy
A. Conquer your demons -- the integration of unbalanced forces is a long and exhausting process.
Other titles: The Abysmal, The Symbol of Sinking, Water, The Abyss, Gorge, Repeating Gorge, Repeated Entrapment, Double Pitfall, Multiple Danger, Double Water, The Deep, Dark Forces, The Perilous Pit, "May not be as bad as it sounds, but whatever happens, remain true to yourself." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: The trigram of Danger, here repeated, shows the possession of sincerity, through which the mind is penetrating. Action in accordance with this will be of high value.
Wilhelm/Baynes:The Abysmal repeated. If you are sincere, you have success in your heart, and whatever you do succeeds.
Blofeld: Abyss upon abyss -- grave danger! All will be well if confidence is maintained and a sharp hold kept upon the mind; activities so conducted will win esteem.
Liu: Water doubled. Danger. Sincerity leads to success (peacefulness) in your heart and mind. You will succeed in your actions. [This hexagram means danger, misfortune, or entanglement in a difficult situation... You should be both careful and patient; do not struggle with all of the difficulties around you.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Repeating Gorge. Possessing conformity. Holding-fast the heart Growing. Movement possesses honor. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of a dangerous situation you cannot avoid. It emphasizes that taking the risk without reserve, the action of Gorge, is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: venture and fall!]
Shaughnessy: Repeated Entrapment: There is a return; the appended heart; receipt; in motion there will be elevation.
Cleary (1): In mastering pitfalls there is truthfulness; thus the mind develops. There is excellence in practice.
Cleary (2): In multiple danger, if there is sincerity, the mind gets through and action has value.
Wu:Entrapment indicates there is confidence. The heart of the matter is that it is pervasive. Actions taken in its accord will be commendable.
The Image
Legge: The image of water flowing on continuously forms the repeated trigram of Danger. The superior man, in accordance with this, maintains constantly the virtue of his heart and the sincerity of his conduct, and practices the business of instruction.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Water flows on uninterruptedly and reaches its goal. The image of the Abysmal repeated. Thus the superior man walks in lasting virtue and carries on the business of teaching.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes water flowing on and on and abyss upon abyss. [The trigram K'an is usually inauspicious; here it occurs in duplicate as the upper and the lower trigram; thus the implication is that we are beset by grave dangers from which, if we can escape them at all, the utmost skill and confidence will be required to extricate ourselves.] The Superior Man acts in accordance with the immutable virtues and spends much of his time instructing others in the conduct of affairs.
Liu: Water flows unceasingly into the depths symbolizing Water doubled. The superior man constantly preserves his virtue and practices his task of education.
Ritsema/Karcher: Streams reiterating culminating. Repeating Gorge. A chun tzu uses rules actualizing-tao to move. [A chun tzu uses] repeating to teach affairs. [Actualize-tao, TE: realize tao in action; power, virtue; 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): Water travels, double water. Thus do superior people consistently practice virtue and learn how to teach.
Cleary (2): Water comes repeatedly – multiple danger. Developed people practice teaching by constant virtuous action. [This is in perfect accord with the Tiantai Buddhist teaching of knowing how to get through an impasse, the method of making an impasse itself into a way through; this is also the method of skillfully using natural ills.]
Wu: Water comes time and again; this is Entrapment. Thus the jun zi practices virtuous conduct and reviews didactics.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Danger repeated shows us one defile succeeding another. This is the nature of water -- it flows on, without accumulating its volume so as to overflow; it pursues its way through a dangerous defile, without losing its true nature. That the mind is penetrating is indicated by the dynamic line in the center. Advance in accordance with this will be followed by achievement. The dangerous height of heaven cannot be ascended; the difficult places of the earth are mountains, rivers, hills and mounds. Kings and princes arrange, by means of such strengths, to maintain their territories. Great indeed is the use of what is here taught about seasons of peril.
Legge: The trigram of Danger which is doubled to form this hexagram is the symbol of water, and means a pit, a perilous cavity or defile with water flowing through it. The trigrams consist of a dynamic central line between two magnetic lines. Together they symbolize danger -- how it should be encountered, its effects on the mind, and how to escape from it.
Liang Yin says: "Water stops at the proper time, and moves at the proper time. Is not this an emblem of the course of the superior man in dealing with danger?”
The K'ang-hsi editors say that to exercise one's self in meeting difficulty and peril is the way to establish and strengthen the character, and the use of such experience is seen in all measures for self-defense.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Commitment to the Work engenders a keen discernment of threatening situations and the factors which create them. With the ability to recognize the dangerous elements in a situation, success is assured.
The Superior Man maintains his connection with the Self and learns from the trials thus provided.
This is one of the first hexagrams that one learns to recognize by name and number, and it is usually received with trepidation. Like the Death card in Tarot, it is often interpreted as an evil omen, although a deeper understanding reveals opportunity rather than defeat in such images.
There is danger and suffering in the Work, but probably far less of it (in the long run) than in an ordinary unexamined life. Anguish in the service of purpose is ultimately tolerable -- it is the incredible suffering of ignorance that is truly tragic: all that pain and sorrow expended on worldly illusions!
The Confucian commentary provides some valuable insights concerning the defensive use of danger by kings and princes to protect their realms. To master a dangerous challenge before one can progress to a higher level of awareness is a classical theme of initiation: without it, the candidate would be destroyed by forces he wasn't ready to confront. (This is the purpose and meaning behind of the "Guardian of the Threshold" archetype.) Danger is evil or unfortunate only if one is intimidated by it -- correct behavior in accordance with the principles of the Work will always take you to your destination. The Self will seldom, if ever, give you a test that you cannot pass if you fully apply yourself. When it seems otherwise, bear in mind that failure often renders better lessons than success, or the illusion thereof.
A neurosis is by no means merely a negative thing, it is also something positive. Only a soulless rationalism reinforced by a narrow materialistic outlook could possibly have overlooked this fact. In reality the neurosis contains the patient's psyche, or at least an essential part of it; and if, as the rationalist pretends, the neurosis could be plucked from him like a bad tooth, he would have gained nothing but would have lost something very essential to him. That is to say, he would have lost as much as the thinker deprived of his doubt, or the moralist deprived of his temptation, or the brave man deprived of his fear. To lose a neurosis is to find oneself without an object; life loses its point and hence its meaning. This would not be a cure, it would be a regular amputation. Jung -- Civilization in Transition