Contradicting misleading speeches
One challenges the validity of the arguments presented. taoscopy.com
Treading 10
Careful progress ensures safety; walk with awareness and integrity.
↓ Line 2
Steady and consistent conduct brings good fortune, especially for those who are humble and patient.
↓ Line 3
Acting beyond one's capabilities leads to danger and misfortune. Caution is advised.
↓ Line 4
With careful and cautious conduct, one can avoid danger and achieve good fortune.
↓ The Family37
Focus on nurturing harmony in your community or family. Cultivate stability and mutual support by fostering open communication and shared values.
Original Readings
10 Treading
Other titles: Treading, Conduct, The Symbol of Stepping Carefully, Proper Conduct, Cautious Treading, Proceeding Cautiously, Watch Your Step, Proceed at Your Own Risk, Advancing With Care "Illustrates the difference between courage and foolhardiness." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Cautious Advance suggests the idea of one treading on the tail of a tiger, which does not bite him. There will be progress and success.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Treading . Treading upon the tail of the tiger. It does not bite the man. Success. [For the weak to take a stand against the strong is not dangerous here, because it happens in good humor and without presumption, so that the strong man is not irritated but takes it all in good part. Such simplicity and unpretentiousness is faith derived from reality -- neither from love of happiness nor fear of unhappiness, but free of fear and hope. The concern here is with the art of action by means of proper conduct, and presupposes being childlike in its highest sense.]
Blofeld: Though he treads upon the tiger's tail, it does not bite him. Success! [The general idea of this hexagram is that success can be won, but that the situation is dangerous enough to require extreme caution. The `tiger' MAY not bite, but on the other hand, as lines three and five demonstrate, we cannot be certain of this. To consort with rulers and people in high places may be most beneficial; but, should we fail to please, they may make us regret our temerity.]
Liu: Treading: Stepping on the tail of a tiger, but it does not bite one. Success. [You should act only after you have planned carefully, and then with resolution.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Treading a tiger tail. Not snapping-at people. Growing.
[This hexagram describes your situation in terms of finding and making your way. It emphasizes that doing this step by step is the adequate way to handle it.]
Shaughnessy: Treading on a tiger's tail; not a real man; receipt.
Cleary (1): Even when they tread on a tiger’s tail, it doesn’t bite people. This is developmental.
Cleary (2): Someone treads on a tiger’s tail without being bitten, thus getting through.
Wu:Treading after a tiger without being bitten indicates pervasion.
The Image
Legge: The image of the sky above, and below it the waters of a marsh, formCautious Advance. The superior man, in accordance with this, discriminates between high and low, and gives settlement to the aims of the people.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Heaven above, the lake below: the image of Treading. Thus the superior man discriminates between high and low, and thereby fortifies the thinking of the people. (Thus the superior man creates in society the differences in rank that correspond with differences in natural endowment, and in this way fortifies the thinking of the people, who are reassured when these differences accord with nature ... We see a universe moved from within, without external manipulation. Since the universe is also within the human being, internal universal order leads to order without by the force of necessary differentiation.) [Cf. the ideal society in Plato’s Republic.]
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes a body of water lying open to the sky. The Superior Man consults both high and low and thereby steadies the people's will.
Liu: The heaven above and the lake below symbolize Treading. The superior man differentiates between high and low, and thus fixes the minds of the people.
Ritsema/Karcher: Heaven above, marsh below. Treading. A chun tzu uses differentiating Above and Below. A chun tzu uses setting-right the commoners, the purpose.
Cleary (1): Above is the sky, below is a lake: Treading. Thus do superior people distinguish above and below, and settle the will of the people.
Cleary (2): … Leaders stabilize the wills of the people by distinguishing positions.
Wu: Heaven above and marshes below, this is Treading. Thus the jun zi discriminates various levels of governmental services and sets the goals of the people.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In Cautious Advance we have the symbol of Weakness treading on that of Strength. The lower trigram indicates Pleasure and Satisfaction, and responds to the upper indicating Strength. Hence it is said, "He treads on the tail of a tiger." The fifth line is dynamic, in the center, and in his correct place. He occupies the God-given position, and falls into no distress or failure -- his action will be brilliant.
Legge: Cautious Advance is made up of the lower trigram of Pleased Satisfaction or "Naiveté," and the upper trigram of Heaven, or Primal Power. Being situated below the great symbol of Strength, Naiveté is seen to be stepping on a tiger's tail. To emerge unscathed from such a danger depends entirely upon propriety and a strict observance of all the rules of correct behavior. On these, as so many stepping stones, one may tread safely amid scenes of disorder and peril.
The symbol of weakness, according to Wang Shen-tzu is the third line which is urged on by the two lines below it to encounter the three strong lines above. Other commentators say that the whole lower trigram, partaking of the yin nature, is the symbol of weakness, and the entire upper trigram is symbolic of strength. The Chen-Chung editors say that to get the full meaning, we must hold both views.
Ch'eng-tzu says of the Image: "The sky above and a marsh lying
below it is true in nature and reason, and so should be the rules of propriety
on which men tread."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: A cautious advance in the face of potentially volatile conditions will lead to safety.
The Superior Man orders his priorities realistically and gets a grip on himself.
Cautious Advance depicts the lower trigram of the joyful Youngest Daughter stepping on the heels of the upper trigram of Heaven -- the stern Pater Familias: Yahweh Saboath, or Zeus with his thunderbolt. In her innocence she doesn't realize the danger of her action. This is "treading on the tail of the tiger," and the hexagram teaches us how to do this without being bitten. The original Judgment suggests that superior powers realize the innocent intent of the action, and may be inclined to be lenient.
You should not resist fate,
nor need you escape it;
if you go to meet it,
it will guide you pleasantly.
Goethe
Wilhelm's notes on The Image illustrate the undemocratic truth that although all men are created equal in the eyes of God, every human being possesses clearly differentiated strengths, weaknesses, talents and incapacities. In Lectures on the I Ching, he says:
The secret of proper conduct is in inequality. Uniformity alone cannot give rise to proper conduct. To be sure, uniformity might produce rule and regulation or law and force. But tedious force and brutal law never led people to convictions that legitimately resulted in proper conduct (the term includes that which produces proper conduct and proper conduct achieved). Instead, as Confucius said: "Force produces only alienation and people transgress secretly that which is public regulation."
Cautious Advance often images a test situation, or it can be a warning that you are walking on the edge of a precipice. The image of The Fool in the tarot deck has similar associations. Without changing lines, this hexagram implies a need for extreme caution, or that your actions are tempting fate.
The passions, instead of having to be painfully exterminated, are yoked like snarling tigers to the adept’s carriage. The dangers of such a course are obvious. As one of my Lama teachers put it: "While you were traveling in that cart, a tumble would have done you little harm. Now I have given you an airplane. Don't crash in flames!" J. Blofeld -- The Tantric Mysticism of Tibet
Line 2
Legge: The second line, dynamic, shows its subject treading a path that is level and easy -- a quiet and solitary man, to whom, if he be firm and correct, there will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Treading a smooth, level course. The perseverance of a dark man brings good fortune.
Blofeld: The recluse treads his path peacefully. Righteous persistence will bring good fortune.
Liu: Treading in a safe and peaceful way. The man in seclusion carries on. Good fortune.
Shaughnessy: Treading the road so sincerely; the dark man's determination is auspicious.
Cleary (1): Treading the path evenly, the aloof person is upright and fortunate.
Cleary (2): Treading the road; it is level. The person in obscurity is fortunate if upright.
Wu: The trodden road is open and broad. A person in seclusion with perseverance will have good fortune.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Holding the due mean, he will not allow himself to be thrown into disorder. Wilhelm/Baynes: He is central and does not get confused. Blofeld: The recluse is a fortunate man because he cleaves to the middle path and does not allow himself to be confused. Ritsema/Karcher: Centering, not originating-from disarray indeed. Cleary (2): In the sense of not becoming personally deranged within. Wu: His mind is not disturbed from within.
Legge: Line two occupies the middle of the trigram, which symbolizes a path cut straight and level along a hillside or over difficult terrain. Since the fifth line is not his proper correlate, he is portrayed as a quiet and solitary man.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The quiet and solitary man apprehends the inscrutable. He seeks nothing, holds to the mean, and remains free from entanglements.
Wing: Maintain an ambiance of modesty and moderation. Do not harbor expectations or demands. Do not get involved with the dreams of others or hold overly ambitious goals. In this way you will meet with good fortune.
Editor: There seems to be little essential difference between lines one and two, except that the second line's central position emphasizes the idea of moderation and balance. When two lines in a hexagram have nearly identical meanings it is often helpful to check the corresponding hexagrams and lines created if each were the only changing line -- these will often provide clues as to their differences. In this instance, line one suggests avoiding trouble by minding one's own business; line two avoids trouble by a certain innocent faith in his destined path: a recluse or hermit who ignores the preoccupations of the crowd. Ritsema/Karcher translate "shade" (Wilhelm/Shaughnessy: "dark"), as: "hidden from view, retired, solitary, secret; dark, obscure, occult, mysterious; ignorant."
If I were possessed of Austere Knowledge
Walking on the Main Path [of Tao],
I would avoid the by-paths.
The Main Path is easy to walk on,
Yet people love the small by-paths.
Lao-Tzu
A. Stay out of sight, keep a low profile, stick to your own affairs, ignore the crowd -- balanced perception prevents confusion.
Line 3
Legge: The third line, magnetic, shows a one-eyed man who thinks he can see; a lame man who thinks he can walk well; one who treads on the tail of the tiger and is bitten. All this indicates ill fortune. We have a mere bravo acting the part of a great ruler.
Wilhelm/Baynes: A one-eyed man is able to see, a lame man is able to tread. He treads on the tail of the tiger. The tiger bites the man. Misfortune. Thus does a warrior act on behalf of his great prince.
Blofeld: Though a man have but one eye he can still see; though he be lame, he can still walk; but he who treads upon the tiger's tail will get bitten -- disaster! [Here the significance of the line runs counter to the benign significance of the hexagram; in all such cases, it is the line which provides the main indication of what is going to happen with regard to the matter forming the subject of the enquiry.] The warrior undertakes things for his lord. [This is no time to stand up to our superiors (tread on the tiger’s tail); it is a time for obedience.]
Liu: A one-eyed man can see; a lame man can walk. But when they step on the tail of a tiger, the tiger will bite. Misfortune. The warrior conducts himself like a great prince.
Ritsema/Karcher: Squinting enabling observing. Halting enabling Treading. Treading a tiger's tail. Snapping-at people: pitfall. Martial people activating: tending-towards a Great Chief.
Shaughnessy: The blind are able to see, the lame are able to tread. Treading on a tiger's tail; for a real man inauspicious. A military man is united with the great lord.
Cleary(1): Able to see with a squint, able to walk with a limp. When they tread on the tiger’s tail, it bites people. Inauspicious. A soldier becomes a ruler.
Cleary(2): The squint-eyed can see, the lame can walk. Treading on a tiger’s tail, they get bitten, unfortunately. A military man becomes a civil leader.
Wu: A person can look with one injured eye. A person can tread with one lame leg. He will get bitten by treading behind a tiger. It will be foreboding. He is like a warrior trying to be a ruler.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: "A one-eyed man who thinks he can see" : he is not fit to see clearly. "A lame man who thinks that he can tread well": one cannot walk along with him. "The ill fortune of being bitten" arises from the place not being the proper one for him. "A mere bravo acting the part of a great ruler": this is owing to his aims being too violent.
Confucius/Wilhelm/Baynes:"A one-eyed man is able to see," but not enough for clarity. "A lame man is able to tread," but not enough to tread with others. The misfortune in the biting of the man is due to the fact that the place is not appropriate. "Thus does a warrior act on behalf of his great prince," because his will is firm.
Confucius/Blofeld: The one-eyed man does see, but not clearly; the lame man can walk, but not keep up with the others. The disaster suffered by the man who gets bitten is indicated by this line's unsuitable position. The warrior undertakes his lord's affairs because the latter is strong of will.
Confucius/Ritsema/Karcher:"Squinting enabling observing." Not the stand to use possessing brightness indeed. "Halting enabling Treading." Not the stand to use associating-with moving indeed. "Snapping-at people's pitfall." Situation not appropriate indeed. "Martial people activating: tending-towards a Great Chief." Purpose solid indeed.
Confucius/Cleary(2): The squint-eyed can see, but not clearly; the lame can walk, but not well enough to be companions on a journey. The misfortune of being bitten is that of being in an inappropriate place. When a military man becomes a civil leader, his determination is adamant.
Confucius/Wu:“A person can look with one injured eye,” but he cannot see clearly. “A person can tread with one lame leg,” but he cannot walk with firm steps. He will have the misfortune of being bitten, because his position is improper. “A warrior wants to be a ruler,” because his idea is adamant.
Legge: Line three is neither central nor in a magnetic place, which would be proper to it. But with the strength of will which the occupant of a dynamic place should possess, he goes forward with the evil results cited. The editors of the imperial edition, in illustration of the closing sentence, refer to Analects VII, x.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man recklessly exposes himself to danger, which exceeds his powers of handling. He invites disaster thereby.
Wing: You are not suited for the ambitiousness of your goals. Your powers are not adequate. Willfulness on your part could end in disaster. Such Conduct is only for someone willing to throw himself away for a superior.
Editor: The content here does not lend itself to the usual gender symbolism for a magnetic line. Legge and Wu’s interpretation of the line and Confucian commentary differ conceptually from the other translators. For purposes of comparison I have rendered all versions of the Confucian commentary more thoroughly than usual. As the only magnetic line in the hexagram, three is outclassed and overwhelmed, yet still serves the ruler. If this is the only changing line, The Dynamicemerges, with a corresponding line of: "We see its subject as the superior man active and vigilant all the day, and in the evening still careful and apprehensive. The position is dangerous, but there will be no mistake." The image suggests a warrior who has only partial comprehension of a dangerous situation; his ability to serve his ruler is also impeded. Despite these handicaps, his devotion is such that he will expose himself to great danger in the service of his Lord, and suffer because of it.
If one were to say in a word what the condition of being a Samurai is, its basis lies first in seriously devoting one's body and soul to his master . Yamamoto Tsunetomo -- The Book of the Samurai
A. The image is one of inadequate strength or resources to deal with a superior force. Regardless, the confrontation seems to be mandated: thus does the ego serve the Self.
B. Serve the Work with a warrior's spirit: "Yours is not to reason why, yours is but to do or die."
C. Even when one's heart is in the right place, partial comprehension and insufficient ability can be expected to create distress.
Alternate: This line can also suggest foolhardy arrogance rather than blind obedience to a superior. In such instances, the familiar Lady from Liger limerick seems more appropriate:
There was an old lady of Liger
Who went riding on the back of a tiger.
They came back from the ride
With the lady inside
And a smile on the face of the tiger.
D. Incompetence plus arrogance equals disaster.
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, dynamic, shows its subject treading on the tail of a tiger. He becomes full of apprehensive caution, and in the end there will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: He treads on the tail of the tiger. Caution and circumspection lead ultimately to good fortune.
Blofeld: To tread with impunity upon a tiger's tail, breathless caution is required -- good fortune in the end. [This is an occasion for doing something dangerous, provided we are very cautious.]
Liu: He steps on the tail of the tiger. Caution and fearfulness. Good fortune in the end. [Trouble or disaster threaten and one must be very careful.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Treading at tiger's tail. Pleading, pleading; completing significant.
Shaughnessy: Treading on a tiger's tail so panicky; in the end auspicious.
Cleary(1): Treading on the tail of a tiger, with caution it will turn out well.
Cleary(2): Treading on a tiger’s tail with utmost caution turns out lucky.
Wu: Treading after a tiger is awesome, but it will be auspicious in the end.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: His aim takes effect. Wilhelm/Baynes: What is willed is done. Blofeld: The ruler's will is carried out. Ritsema/Karcher: Purpose moving indeed. Cleary(2): Utmost caution turning out lucky is determined action. Wu: With awe there will be auspiciousness in the end, because the aspiration will prevail.
Legge: Line four is dynamic in a magnetic place just below the ruler in line five. He recognizes his weak position and walks with care.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man successfully undertakes dangerous enterprises by proceeding with caution and circumspection.
Wing: You can now undertake even dangerous endeavors if you proceed with great caution.
Editor: This is the first line of the upper trigram, symbolizing the tiger's tail. The image depicts impeccable courage and willpower that conquers a dangerous situation.
The step to higher consciousness leads us out and away from all rear-guard cover and from all safety measures. The individual must give himself to the new way completely, for it is only by means of his integrity that he can go further, and only his integrity can guarantee that his way does not turn out to be an absurd adventure. Jung --The Secret of the Golden Flower
A. Proceed with caution. "Discretion is the better part of valor."
37 The Family
Other titles: Family Life, Clan, Home, Linkage, Dwelling People, The Psyche, "May indicate a situation where the family can and should help." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: For the regulation of The Family, what is most advantageous is that the wife be firm and correct.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The Family . The perseverance of the woman furthers.
Ritsema/Karcher: Dwelling People. Harvesting: woman Trial. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of living and working with others in a common space. It emphasizes that caring for your relation with those who share this space and for the space itself is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: dwell with people!]
Shaughnessy: Family members: Beneficial for the maiden to determine.
Cleary (1): For people in the home it is beneficial that the woman be chaste. [In the human body, the vitality, spirit, soul, psyche, and intent all belong to yin and all take orders from the human mentality … When you refine away the human mind, the mind of tao spontaneously becomes manifest.]
Wu:The Family indicates that it is advantageous for a woman to be persevering. [This is a hexagram with its emphasis on women. Both constituent trigrams are feminine … Hence those who endeavor to be firm and correct will have advantages.]
The Image
Legge: Wind rising out of fire -- the image of The Family. The superior man speaks the truth and is consistent in his behavior.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Wind comes forth from fire: The image of The Family. Thus the superior man has substance in his words and duration in his way of life.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes wind rising from fire. The Superior Man's speech is full of substance and he behaves with constancy.
Liu: The wind coming out of the fire symbolizes The Family. The speech of the superior man should have substance, and his conduct be enduring.
Ritsema/Karcher: Wind originating-from fire issuing-forth. Dwelling People. A chun tzu uses words to possess beings and-also movement to possess perseverance.
Cleary (1): Wind emerges from fire, members of a family. Thus is there factuality in the speech of superior people, consistency in their deeds.
Cleary (2): … Developed people are factual in speech, consistent in action.
Wu: Wind comes forth from fire; this is The Family. Thus the jun zi speaks with facts and acts with perseverance.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In Family the wife is in her correct place in the lower trigram, and the husband in his correct place in the upper. That spouses occupy their correct positions shows the correct relationship between heaven and earth. The parents rule the family: let the father indeed be father, and the son son; let the elder brother be indeed elder brother, and the younger brother younger; let the husband indeed be husband, and the wife wife -- then the family will be in its correct state. Bring the family to that state, and all under heaven will be established.
Legge: The written Chinese character for Family simply means "a household," or "the members of a family." The lesson of the hexagram is the regulation of the family, effected by the cooperation of the husband and wife in their several spheres, and only needing it to become universal to secure the good order of the kingdom. The important place accorded to the wife is seen in the short sentence in the Judgment -- that she be firm and correct, and do her part well is essential for the family's proper regulation.
The wife is represented by line two and the husband is her proper correlate in line five. The relationship between heaven and earth is analogous to the relationship between husband and wife.
The second sentence of the Confucian commentary, more closely rendered, would be: "That in the family there is an authoritative ruler is a way of naming father and mother." This means that the assertion of authority in a family should be a correct balance of force and gentleness.
Anthony: The Family symbolizes correct relationships between people – the family unit, the spiritual family (the Sage and the student), and human groups generally. When these most basic relationships are correct, the world is made correct through the force of inner truth, through cultivation of the feminine component of our nature, and through persevering in a virtually menial position (from our ego’s viewpoint) so that our work can come to fruition. All this means to forgo striving and self-assertion, and to allow ourself to be led, while persevering in gentleness and devotion to our path.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: For the correct regulation of the psyche, what is most important is that the ego must be firm and correct.
The Superior Man lives his allegiance to the ideals of the Work.
Applying the Hermetic Axiom: "as above, so below," the relationships within a family are analogous to the relationships within a city-state, or a kingdom, and vice- versa:
Society centuries before the time of Confucius had been organized on the basis of family. In the early days of the Chou dynasty fiefs had been allotted to the feudal lords in a system of planned colonization. These feudal lords, linked to one another and to the royal house by marriage ties, took their families, retainers, peasants, artisans and soldiers to form self-sufficient colonies based on an agricultural economy and governed from well-fortified walled cities. These large family groupings of the nobility were preserved only so long as the relationships of parents to children, brothers to brothers, and masters to servants were effectively controlled. D.H. Smith -- Confucius
If the ideal city is like a family, then the analogy also holds for an individual -- here the comparison goes directly from city to psyche:
Have we any greater evil for a city than what splits it and makes it many instead of one? Or a greater good than what binds it together and makes it one? ... Then is that city best governed which is most like a single human being? Plato -- The Republic
Psychologically interpreted, the hexagram of The Family symbolizes the psyche, and the Confucian commentary tells us that when its inner components all assume their proper roles and functions, then the Work will come into fruition. ("All under heaven will be established.") The identical idea has been stated in Gnostic thought:
Jesus said to them: "When you make eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in the place of a hand, and a foot in the place of a foot, and an image in the place of an image, then shall you enter the Kingdom. The Gnostic Gospel According to Thomas
The husband is the analogue of heaven or the Self, and the wife is the analogue of earth or the ego. When the ego assumes its correct role as the magnetic servant of the Work, then inner transformations can take place. I have paraphrased the Judgment in terms of the necessity of the ego to follow the dictates of the Work, but one could alternately phrase it in terms of keeping emotional responses under control. For the wife to be "firm and correct" is to ensure that emotions, drives and appetites are not allowed to make decisions -- they are servants, not masters. This is the essence of the Work, and arguably the most reiterated idea in theI Ching.
The patient should be encouraged to use his mind, through observation and discrimination, to bring clearly into his awareness the irrational aspect of his drives and emotions, and also the possible drawbacks and harmfulness to himself and others of their uncontrolled manifestation … To act on the spur of an impulse, a drive or an intense emotion can very often produce undesirable effects which one afterwards regrets … Therefore, he should learn – by repeated experiment and effort – to “insert” between impulse and action a stage of reflection, of mental consideration of a situation, and of critical analysis of his impulse, trying to realize its origin, its source. R. Assagioli – Psychosynthesis
The thirty-seventh hexagram teaches us that the way to manage the emotions is no different than the proper management of aFamily. No wise parent can teach a child self-discipline by adopting the child's point of view: permissiveness, either with our children or our own primitive drives and passions, is a sure formula for disintegration. The Work demands that the ego hold the line on this issue -- indeed, it is the ego's only legitimate function.
We are dominated by everything with which our [ego] becomes identified. We can dominate and control everything from which we disidentify ourselves. R. Assagioli -- Psychosynthesis