Harness your strength with wisdom, navigate challenges with clarity, and rise to the occasion with resilience.
From
7
Discipline
To
28
Critical Mass
Giving a lesson in strategy
One is determined to break out of the encirclement. taoscopy.com
Discipline7
Strategic alignment leads to victory; discipline and structure ensure success.
↓ Line 3
Carrying unnecessary burdens or past issues leads to failure.
↓ Line 4
A strategic withdrawal is sometimes necessary and wise.
↓ Line 5
Leadership should be entrusted to the experienced. Misfortune comes from inexperience.
↓ Critical Mass28
Embrace resilience during times of overwhelming pressure. Acknowledge the burden, make necessary adjustments, and seek support to prevent collapse. Balance is crucial for enduring success.
Other titles: The Army, The Symbol of Multitude and of Army, Legions/ Leading, The Troops, Collective Force, Discipline, Soldiers, Group Action, A Disciplined Multitude, Ego Discipline, Willpower "Can refer to mourning but its essential meaning is Discipline." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge:Disciplineindicates that with firm correctness and a leader of age and experience, there will be good fortune and no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes:The Army. The army needs perseverance and a strong man. Good fortune without blame.
Blofeld: Persistence in a righteous course brings to those in authority good fortune and freedom from error. [If the enquiry is not concerned with military affairs, we must interpret this hexagram symbolically in the sense that life is a battle.]
Liu:The Army. The army demands perseverance and a strong person (leader). Good fortune. No blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Legions: Trial. Respectable people significant. Without fault. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of unorganized crowds or bunches of things. It emphasizes that organizing these things into functional units is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to lead!]
Shaughnessy: The Troops: Determination for the senior man is auspicious; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): For the leader of the army to be right, a mature person is good; then there is no error.
Wu: The Army indicates persevering. Led by the elder man, it will be auspicious.
The Image
Legge: Water in the midst of the earth -- the image ofDiscipline. The superior man nourishes and educates the people, and collects from among them a mighty army.
Wilhelm/Baynes: In the middle of the earth is water: the image of The Army. Thus the superior man increases his masses by generosity toward the people.
Blofeld: The symbol of water surrounded by land. The Superior Man nourishes the people and treats them with leniency.
Liu: Water in the earth symbolizes the Army. The superior man increases his followers by benevolence toward the people.
Ritsema/Karcher: Earth center possessing stream. Legions. A chun tzu uses tolerating commoners to accumulate crowds.
Cleary (1): There is water in the earth, The Army. Thus does the superior person embrace the people and nurture the masses.
Cleary (2): … Leaders develop a group by admitting people.
Wu: There is water underneath the ground; this is The Army. Thus the jun zi receives people and shelters them.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Discipline describes the masses who make up the army, and the firm correctness referred to means a morally correct intent. When the leader uses the masses with such correctness, he may fulfill the ruler's will. The focus of strength in the second line is responded to by his proper correlate in the ruler's place. Although action is dangerous, it accords with the best sentiments of men, and although the leader may distress the country the people will still follow him -- there will be good fortune and no error.
Legge: Discipline is symbolized here by the conduct of a military expedition. The arrangement of the lines suggests the idea of a general surrounded by his troops. The dynamic yang line in the center of the lower trigram has the confidence of the magnetic ruler in the fifth place. Entire trust is reposed in him because he is strong and correct. He is referred to as an old and experienced man, hence all of his enterprises will succeed.
Perilousness is the attribute of the lower trigram, and Docility or Accordance with Others, that of the upper. War is like poison to a country -- painful, and potentially ruinous, and yet the people will endure it on behalf of the sovereign whom they love and respect.
In regard to the Image, Chu Hsi says: "As the water is not outside the earth, so soldiers are not outside the people. Therefore if a ruler is able to nourish the people, he can get the multitudes for his armies."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Discipline directed by willpower and serious intent advances the Work. Or: With experienced judgment and proper will and intent there will be a good outcome.
The Superior Man trains and nourishes his powers to build an invincible unity.
The English word "infantry," meaning foot soldiers (the backbone of any army), is derived from the French word enfant, meaning infant, or child. This ancient association was made because a good military officer was expected to treat his soldiers as if they were his own children -- with a stern but loving discipline designed to improve their character. This concept is what the Image alludes to when it says: “The superior man nourishes and educates the people, and collects from among them a mighty army.” Psychologically interpreted the idea is that the ego-complex is the general officer in the second line that nourishes, educates and controls the other complexes within the psyche. This can only be accomplished through discipline, and thus I have chosen that name for the hexagram rather than the more usual title of The Army.
With the only dynamic line of the hexagram placed in the center of the lower trigram we have an image of the position of the ego-complex in relation to the rest of the psyche. The magnetic ruler in line five represents the Self, isolated from direct physical involvement and dependent upon the dynamic ego to carry out the Work in the material dimension. The seventh hexagram, therefore, shows the Work from the ego's point of view.
Hexagram number eight, Holding Together, is the inverse of this image, and shows the Work from the Self's point of view outside of spacetime. There it is the dynamic fifth line ruler who is the focal point -- an image of the Self surrounded by its satellites. In that dimension the second line ego-complex is only another magnetic complex in the company of other magnetic complexes. Ideally, the lower complexes within the psyche should be magnetic in relation to a dynamic ego, but the ego is always magnetic in relation to the dynamic Self. From the Self's point of view all of its complexes are its magnetic "children," or "infantry." Hexagrams seven and eight should be studied together as reversed images to get a full comprehension of each.
The images in the lines of Discipline all deal with the management of forces as a coordinated whole -- as long as they are under the firm command of the ego (who is only a general carrying out the orders of the Self), things proceed successfully. If the Discipline breaks down and the ego- general loses control, defeat is certain.
Narutomi Hyogo said, "What is called winning is defeating one's allies. Defeating one's allies is defeating oneself, and defeating oneself is vigorously overcoming one's own body. It is as though a man were in the midst of ten thousand allies but not one were following him. If one hasn't previously mastered his mind and body, he will not defeat the enemy." Yamamoto Tsunetomo -- The Book of the Samurai
Line 3
Legge: The third line, magnetic, shows how the army may possibly have many inefficient leaders. There will be evil.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Perchance the army carries corpses in the wagon. Misfortune.
Blofeld: The army carries wagon-loads of corpses -- disaster!
Liu: The army carries corpses. Misfortune. [This is a time of sudden mourning.]
Shaughnessy: Of the troops some join with the corpses; inauspicious.
Cleary (1): The army has casualties; bad luck.
Cleary (2): The army may have casualties; misfortune.
Wu: The army may have to cart back corpses. This will be foreboding.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Possibly the army has idle leaders -- great will be its want of success. Wilhelm/Baynes: This is quite without merit. Blofeld: This indicates a serious defeat. Ritsema/Karcher: The great without achievement indeed. Cleary (2): When the army has casualties, that is a great lack of success. Wu: Despite its large number, it does not succeed.
Legge: Canon McClatchie translates this as: "Represents soldiers as it were lying dead in their baggage carts, and is unlucky." Line two is the only legitimate leader of the army. Line three is magnetic in a dynamic place, as if she had jumped over the leader and perched herself above him to take command. In military operations there must be one ruling will and mind. A divided authority is sure to bring failure.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Defeat ensues when others interfere with the authority of the chosen ruler. Divided command is often fatal.
Wing: There is an absence of vision and leadership. Whether it is a matter of divergent goals or whether the acting leader is simply inept, the result is the same: misfortune.
Editor: Psychologically interpreted, this line describes one of the most fundamental, yet least recognized truths of human consciousness -- the fact that "unity" of awareness is mostly illusory. Indeed, the whole goal of the Work is to actually attain this unity which we think we already possess. Legge's metaphorical equation of "corpses" with "inefficient leaders" is not always apt -- in its most neutral interpretation, the line can depict a situation of (as Liu says) "sudden mourning" or overwhelming grief.
Man has no individual I. But there are, instead, hundreds and thousands of separate small I's, very often entirely unknown to one another, never coming into contact, or, on the contrary, hostile to each other, mutually exclusive and incompatible ... And each separate small I is able to call itself by the name of the whole, to act in the name of the whole, to agree or disagree, to give promises, to make decisions, with which another I or the whole will have to deal. – Gurdjieff
A. Are you in charge of your thoughts and feelings, or do they make your choices for you?
B. Be on guard against inferior elements within yourself or the situation.
C. Suggests dead weight, useless baggage (beliefs, etc.)
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, magnetic, shows the army in retreat. There is no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The army retreats. No blame.
Blofeld: The army retreats and halts -- no error!
Liu: The army retreats at the proper time. No blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Legions: the left resting. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: The troops camp on the left; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): The army retreats and camps, there is no error.
Wu: The army halts its advance and chooses to camp. It will be blameless.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: There has been no failure in the regular course. Wilhelm/ Baynes: It does not deviate from the usual way. Blofeld: No error is involved because retreating and halting are a normal part of military activity. Ritsema/ Karcher: Not-yet letting-go the rules indeed. Cleary (2): One has not lost the constant. Wu: It does not violate the normal course of action.
Legge: Line four is magnetic and not central. Therefore to retreat is natural to her. Since the place is proper for a yielding line, the retreat is correct under the circumstances. Retreat is no evidence of failure in a campaign. When advance would lead to defeat, retreat is the regular course to pursue.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man is confronted by a superior enemy. Orderly retreat to preserve the army is his correct course of action.
Wing: The obstacles ahead are insurmountable. Struggling against them is useless. Therefore the intelligent maneuver is retreat.
Editor: Regarded objectively, any withdrawal from an incorrect position can only be a strategy for success.
But even when these forces within ourselves are temporarily stronger, when the conscious personality is at first overwhelmed by their violence, the vigilant self is never really conquered. It can retire to an inner fortress and there prepare for and await the favorable moment in which to counter-attack. It may lose some of the battles, but if it does not give up its arms and surrender, the ultimate issue is not compromised, and it will achieve victory in the end. Roberto Assagioli -- Psychosynthesis
A. Strategic withdrawal is not surrender.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, magnetic, shows birds in the fields, which it will be advantageous to seize and destroy. In that case there will be no error. If the oldest son leads the host, and younger men idly occupy offices assigned to them, however firm and correct he may be, there will be evil.
Wilhelm/Baynes: There is game in the field. It furthers one to catch it. Without blame. Let the eldest lead the army. The younger transports corpses; then perseverance brings misfortune.
Blofeld: Wild beasts roam the field. To avoid error, speech should be guarded. The eldest son is in command; the younger son carts away the corpses. Persistence would lead to calamity.
Liu: Much game in the field. It benefits to capture it. No blame. The army is led by the eldest son. The younger son carries corpses. Continuing brings misfortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: The fields possess wild-fowl. Harvesting: holding-on-to words. Without fault. The long-living son conducting Legions. The junior son carting corpses. Trial: pitfall.
Shaughnessy: In the fields there is game; beneficial to shackle prisoners; there is no trouble. The eldest son leads the troops, the younger son carts corpses; determination is inauspicious.
Cleary (1): There are animals in the fields. It is beneficial to take up words. A mature person is to lead the army; if it is an immature person, there will be casualties, for even if he is righteous the outlook is bad.
Cleary (2): … A mature person leads the army. If the leader is immature, there will be casualties, and even if the leader is right, the prospects are bad.
Wu: There are prisoners of war in the field. It will be advantageous to uphold the mission of the military action. No blame. The eldest son commands the army. A younger son carts back corpses. Even with perseverance, it will be foreboding. [The fifth is a ruler’s position, but it is now occupied by a yin. Hence, the occupant becomes a weak administrator. The elder man and the eldest son … refer to the same second nine, the commander.]
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The army's movements are directed by the oldest son in accordance with his position in the center. The employment of younger men who idly occupy their posts is improper. Wilhelm/Baynes: "Let the eldest lead the army," because he is central and correct. "The younger transports corpses." Thus the right man is not put in charge. Blofeld: The moving line in the center of the upper trigram indicates that the elder son is in command. The younger son is put in charge of carrying away the corpses because he is unsuited to worthier employment. [This line may refer to the suitability or otherwise of a person required to fill an important post in any sort of organization or in carrying out some scheme.] Ritsema/Karcher: Using centering movement indeed. Commissioning not appropriate indeed. Cleary (2): A mature person leads the army, with balanced action. The immature sustain casualties because their mission was not appropriate. Wu: His orders are given from the center. Because the appointment is a poor choice.
Legge: In line five we have an intimation of the important truth that only defensive war, or war waged by the rightful authority to put down rebellion and lawlessness is right. The birds in the fields symbolize parties attacking for plunder. The fifth line symbolizes the ruler, who is humble and magnetic, and in the center. She cedes the use of all her power to the general in line two. Line two is the "oldest son" and lines three and four are the younger brother and son -- i.e., the younger men who would cause evil if allowed to share the command. In military operations there must be one ruling will and mind. A divided authority is sure to be a failure.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Invasion occurs. A seasoned soldier is chosen to lead the army to victory and to prevent needless slaughter of the defeated people.
Wing: Rely on an experienced person to lead the way in correcting the situation. He must be moderate in his behavior and not over reactive, for this would lead to misfortune. Inexperienced and enthusiastic persons are now inappropriate for the job of deliberate and controlled leadership.
Editor: This line contains ambiguities, yet the general image is clear enough. It is a re-statement of lines two and three: a strong leader is essential for success. Nevertheless, all except Legge's translation contain a final sentence stating that perseverance leads to misfortune, which seems to contradict the earlier advice to "pursue the game." As written, it is not clear whether this applies to the situation in general or only in the case of incompetent leadership. If this is the only changing line, the hexagram thus created is number twenty-nine,Danger -- suggesting that you carefully examine the situation at hand, consolidate your control and advance cautiously.
Know you not that the thing is a warfare? One man’s duty is to mount guard, another must go out to reconnoiter, a third to battle; all cannot be in one place, nor would it even be expedient. But you, instead of executing your Commander's orders, complain if aught harsher than usual is enjoined; not understanding to what condition you are bringing the army, so far as in you lies. If all were to follow your example, none would dig a trench, none would cast rampart around the camp, none would keep watch, or expose himself to danger; but all turn out useless for the service of war. Thus it is here also. Every life is a warfare, and that long and various. You must fulfill a soldier's duty, and obey each order at your commander's nod: aye, if it be possible, divine what he would have done: for between that Commander and this, there is no comparison, either in might or in excellence. Epictetus
A. There is work to be done, but if you allow inferior elements to influence your judgment, disaster will ensue.
Other titles: Preponderance of the Great, The Symbol of Great Passing, Excess, Great Excess, The Passing of Greatness, Great Surpassing, Great Gains, Experience, Greater than Great, Greatness in Excess, Dominance by the Mighty, The Passing of Greatness, Excess of the Great, Law of Karma
Judgment
Legge:Critical Mass depicts a weak beam. Under such conditions it is advantageous to move in any direction whatever. Success is indicated.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Preponderance of the Great. The ridgepole sags to the breaking point. It furthers one to have somewhere to go. Success.
Blofeld:Excess! The ridgepole sags. It is favorable to have some goal (or destination) in view. Success! [A glance at the hexagram will show that it is too heavy in the middle and too weak at the ends. A number of firm lines is generally auspicious, but there can be too much of a good thing!]
Liu: Great Excess. The ridgepole is crooked. It benefits to go anywhere. Success.
Ritsema/Karcher:Great Exceeding, the ridgepole sagging. Harvesting; possessing directed going. Growing. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of your connection to a ruling principle. It emphasizes that pushing the guiding idea beyond ordinary limits and accepting the results is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Great Surpassing: The ridgepole bows upward; beneficial to have someplace to go; receipt.
Cleary (1): When the great is excessive, the ridgepole bends. It is good to go somewhere; that is developmental. [When the ridgepole snaps, the whole house falls down. In the same way, practitioners of the Tao who promote yang too much, who do not know when enough is enough, who can be great but cannot be small, suffer damage to their spiritual house.]
Cleary (2): When greatness passes, the ridgepole bends. It is beneficial to have somewhere to go, for you will succeed.
Wu:Excess of the Great indicates a beam that warps. It will be advantageous to have undertakings. It will be pervasive.
The Image
Legge: The image of trees beneath a marsh forms Critical Mass. The superior man, in accordance with this, fearlessly stands alone, and stays retired from the world without regret.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The lake rises above the trees: the image of Preponderance of the Great. Thus the superior man, when he stands alone, is unconcerned, and if he has to renounce the world, he is undaunted.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes a forest submerged in a great body of water. The Superior Man, though standing alone, is free from fear; he feels no discontent in withdrawing from the world. [This is suggested by the component trigrams. Water is necessary for the nourishment of the trees, but too much of it can cause serious damage.]
Liu: The lake rising over the trees symbolizes Great Excess. The superior man, when isolated, is undisturbed. If he has to retreat from society, he feels no regret.
Ritsema/Karcher: Marsh submerging wood. Great Exceeding. A chun tzu uses solitary establishing not to fear. (A chun tzu uses) retiring-from the age without melancholy.
Cleary (1): Moisture destroys wood in excess. Thus superior people stand alone without fear, and leave society without distress.
Cleary (2): Moisture destroys wood. Developed people, etc. [Only when sustained by the power to stand alone without fear and avoid society without distress can learning be firmly rooted and development have a proper basis; then it is possible to refine and support the mediocre.]
Wu: Marsh covers over wood; This is Excess of the Great. Thus the jun zi stands alone without fear and withdraws from the world without melancholy.
CONFUCIAN COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Excess is weakly supported at either end, with weakness in both the lowest and topmost lines. The dynamic lines are in excess, but two of them are in the central positions. The trigrams of Flexibility and Satisfaction indicate that there will be advantage in moving in any direction whatever -- there will be success. Great indeed is the work to be done during this extraordinary time.
Legge: Extraordinary times require extraordinary skill in their management. The figure shows two magnetic lines at top and bottom, with four dynamic lines between them -- giving the image of a great beam unable to sustain its own weight. Lines two and five are both dynamic and central however, and from this and the attributes of the component trigrams a good auspice is obtained.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: A stressful situation is best managed with a comprehensive strategy. (Or: in the chess game of life, one succeeds by planning several moves in advance.)
The Superior Man serves The Work by going his own way, regardless of public opinion.
Wilhelm titles this hexagram Preponderance of the Great. I prefer R.L. Wing's paraphrase of Critical Massas more evocative of the figure's meaning in modern terminology.
In Critical Mass four dynamic lines lurk inside of the hexagram, weakly contained at top and bottom by two magnetic lines. This energetic concentration could explode in an unpredictable release of force, and hence the Judgment tells us to move now (remember: non-action is also action) to avoid unwanted consequences. (Often the outcome is predictable – be prepared to just walk away if and when that is your best move.)
Legge’s translation of the Judgment is:
"...It is advantageous to move in any direction whatever. "
This is a different message than Wilhelm's:
"...It furthers one to have somewhere to go."
Legge’s version implies an almost hysterical flight from danger while Wilhelm's rendition suggests prior intention and planning. The latter interpretation is definitely what is meant here, as confirmed by Cleary’s Buddhist commentary:
When the transformative path is flourishing, contaminations easily arise; it is best to set up guidelines and regulations. When meditation work is advanced, ignorance is about to dissolve; it is best to exercise the mind skillfully.
Coupled with Cleary’s translation of the Image as: “Developed people stand alone without fear, avoid society without distress,” the idea is that one should follow one's best intuition and ignore popular illusions, political correctness or inner fears. (Psychologically: conventional thinking, socially conditioned reflexes, knee-jerk responses, etc.). During a time of Critical Mass, pay close attention to direction from the Self to preserve the Work. This is not the time to follow the crowd. Sometimes this can mean that you are obliged to go it alone – one of the Work’s frequent tests (Cf. line 6):
The Gulf is something that has to be leaped, and leaped alone, stripped of all hindering burdens, in faith ... It is thus one of the crisis points of spiritual progress because of the great temptation to turn back from the unknown to the apparent safety of known things, and to succumb to this temptation is to lose all the fruits of past endeavor. G. Knight -- A Practical Guide to Kabbalistic Symbolism
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Compare the Judgment and Image of this hexagram with those of hexagram number 32, Consistency.
Anthony: We must regain modesty through the effort to rid ourself of strong elements that cause us to press forward. The strong elements may exist in someone else, causing them to assault us with their fear, mistrust or doubt. Strong refers to impetuous movement to resolve what is ambiguous … We can meet the challenge by remaining detached and letting things go through their changes … To be truly rich is to remain modest; to be truly powerful is to remain reticent.