Respecting human beings
One pays attention to those who have suffered serious harm. taoscopy.com
Biting Through21
Face conflicts head-on to clear blockages; decisive action breaks through obstacles.
↓ Line 2
One must be firm and resolute to overcome obstacles, but should not be overly harsh.
↓ Line 3
Challenges are tough and may lead to minor setbacks, but persistence will lead to no lasting harm.
↓ Line 4
Facing tough challenges requires caution and perseverance to avoid harm.
↓ Line 6
Being overly rigid or harsh can lead to misfortune and loss of understanding.
↓ Peace11
Harmony and prosperity arise when opposites attract and balance is maintained. Positive energies are in alignment, and collaborative efforts lead to growth and advancement. Embrace peace and cooperation for continued success.
21 Biting Through
Other titles: Biting Through, Gnawing, The Symbol of Mastication and Punishment by Pressing and Squeezing, Gnawing Bite, Severing, Chewing, Punishment, Reformation, Reform, Differentiation, Discrimination, Making a Distinction, Getting the message "Something which should be, or has to be bitten through. This is essentially the legal hexagram. When asking about a man's intentions, he is probably married." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Success is found in Discernment. The restrictions of the law bring advantage.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Biting Through has success. It is favorable to let justice be administered.
Blofeld: Gnawing. Success! The time is favorable for legal processes. [The concept of gnawing is suggested by the component trigrams, which are regarded (owing to the arrangement of their lines) as not commingling; they are as separate from each other as the upper and lower jaw when something tough is being gnawed.]
Liu: Chewing: Success. It benefits to administer justice. [Chewing indicates success through hard work. Those who get this hexagram will have trouble in the beginning.]
Ritsema/Karcher:Gnawing Bite, Growing. Harvesting: availing of litigating. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of confronting a tenacious obstacle. It emphasizes that biting through and picking things clean until the essential is revealed is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: gnaw and bite through!]
Shaughnessy: Biting and chewing: Receipt; beneficial to use a court case.
Cleary (1):Biting through is developmental. It is beneficial to administer justice.
Cleary (2): Biting through is successful. It is beneficial to apply justice.
Wu: Discernment is pervasive. It will be advantageous to exact punishments.
The Image
Legge: The images of thunder and lightning form Discernment. Thus the ancient kings promulgated their laws and framed their penalties with intelligence.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Thunder and lightning: The image of Biting Through. Thus the kings of former times made firm the laws through clearly defined penalties.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes lightning accompanied by thunder. The ancient rulers, after making their legal code perfectly clear to all, enforced the laws vigorously. [The firm and yielding lines more or less alternate; or the lower trigram can be regarded as filled with the power of thunderous force, while the upper trigram, representing beauty, is soft and yielding. (Li, the upper trigram, stands for lightning as well as for fire, beauty, etc.) I do not know what the ancient Chinese views on thunder and lightning were; it appears from this that they were regarded as two forces which, like steel and flint, emitted brilliance when brought into sharp contact with each other. A pair of trigrams both with yielding centers is not felt to be a good arrangement; that it nevertheless favors the process of the law may have been suggested to the writer of the Text by the fact that the weak lines (morally weak people?) are fully contained by the strong (prison walls, warders and so forth?)]
Liu: Thunder and lightning symbolize Chewing. The ancient kings made the laws and clarified the penalties.
Ritsema/Karcher: Thunder, lightning. Gnawing Bite. The Earlier Kings used brightening flogging to enforce the laws.
Cleary (1): Thunder and lightning, biting through. Thus did the kings of yore clarify penalties and proclaim laws. [Those who administer laws should emulate the ancient kings in first clarifying them before executing them, in order to avoid mistakenly injuring life.]
Wu: Thunder and lightning form Discernment. Thus the ancient kings made just punishments and upheld the law of the land.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The existence of something between the jaws gives rise to the name Discernment-- union by means of biting through the intervening article. The dynamic and magnetic lines are equally divided in the figure. Movement is denoted by the lower trigram, and Clarity by the upper -- thunder and lightning uniting in them, and having brilliant manifestation. The magnetic fifth line is in the center, and acts in her high position. Although she is not in her proper place, this is advantageous for the use of legal constraints.
Legge: Discernment means literally "union by gnawing." The figure consists of undivided lines in the top, bottom and fourth places -- giving the image of open jaws with something in them "being gnawed." When the object has been bitten through, the upper and lower jaws come together in union -- hence: " Union by gnawing." Remove the obstacles to union and high and low will meet together in understanding. The force exerted by gnawing suggests the idea of legal constraints.
The equal division of the dynamic and magnetic lines is seen by taking them in pairs, though the order of the first pair is different from the other two. The magnetic fifth line is the ruler of the hexagram, indicating that judgment is tempered by leniency.
Ch'eng-tzu says that thunder and lightning are always found together, and hence their trigrams go together to give the idea of union intended in Discernment: one trigram symbolizing majesty and the other intelligence.
Cleary (1): Practice of the Tao is like administering justice: Discerning true and false, right and wrong, is like the judge deciding good and bad; getting rid of falsehood and keeping truth, so as to preserve essence and life, is like the [just] administration rewarding the good and punishing the bad, so as to alleviate the burden of injustice.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Further the Work through careful Discernment between what is true and false, right and wrong, correct and incorrect.
The Image portrays the connection between cause and effect, where consequences are always based on the inexorable laws of nature.
To bite is to comprehend, and to bite through is to make distinctions. The top and bottom lines of the hexagram represent the upper and lower jaws, and both bear images of restriction and punishment. Each of the lines between them portrays some version of biting through flesh. Hence, the jaws define the general problem, and the teeth differentiate the details.
The symbol of losing teeth has the primitive meaning of losing one's grip because under primitive circumstances and in the animal kingdom, the teeth and mouth are the gripping organ. If one loses teeth, one loses the grip on something. Now this can mean a loss of self-control, etc. The English word grip is contained in the German word begriff (conception or notion). The Latin word conceptio means the same, i.e., catching hold of something, having a grip on something. Jung -- Letters
In I Ching symbolism, the "ancient kings” are always synonymous with spiritual authority. Analogous to gods or cosmic forces, their "laws" are like the laws of karma or of nature -- inexorable in their outcome. Therefore, the punishment theme in the hexagram warns us that a lack of Discernment in the matter at hand has built-in penalties: i.e., "Get the message or suffer the consequences.”
Behold, sin and punishment are one, and the fire of punishment is the fire that refines my works. Even in the sinner I am the actor, and I, too, am the sufferer in the experience of punishment. P.F. Case -- The Book of Tokens
To receive this hexagram without changing lines indicates a need to make some important distinctions in the matter at hand. “Figure it out” might make a good alternate title at such times. Cleary’s Taoist note on the image (“Those who administer laws should emulate the ancient kings in first clarifying them before executing them, in order to avoid mistakenly injuring life”) is a clear admonition to get all of your facts straight before proceeding with your inquiry. That you don’t know or understand something is implied.
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
The twenty-first hexagram turned upside down becomes the twenty-second. The message for the superior man in the Image of each concerns the enforcement of law. What is the relationship between Discernmentand Persona in such a context? The component trigrams of these two figures also make up hexagrams number fifty-five, Expansion of Awareness and number fifty-six, Transition.The messages for the superior man in each of these figures also relate to litigation. Why? What do the four hexagrams suggest about the nature of the Work?
Line 2
Legge: The second line, magnetic, shows one biting through soft flesh, and going on to bite off the nose. There will be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Bites through tender meat, so that his nose disappears. No blame.
Blofeld: Gnawing flesh so that the nose is hidden in it --no error! [The meaning of this line is not at all obvious. The Chinese additional commentaries take it to mean that we may do a little harm to our own interests but that we shall not deserve blame for what happens.]
Liu: Biting the skin, his nose is cut. No blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Gnawing flesh, submerging the nose. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: Biting flesh and cutting off the nose; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Biting skin, cutting off the nose, etc.
Cleary (2): Biting through the skin, destroying the nose, etc. [This is investigating principle and gradually penetrating.]
Wu: He bites through a skin burying his nose in it, etc. [This makes it easy for him to judge the case like biting through a soft skin …The judgment seems to have cautioned mildly not to over-judge an easy case.]
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She is mounted on the dynamic first line. Wilhelm/
Baynes: He rests upon a hard line. Blofeld: This is indicated by the position of the line (a yielding one) above a firm one. Ritsema/Karcher: Riding a solid indeed. Cleary (2): Riding on strength. Wu: He is riding on a yang.
Legge: Line two is appropriately magnetic in a central place, therefore her action should be effective. This is shown by her biting through the soft flesh -- an easy thing. Immediately below, however, is a strong offender represented by the first line. Before he will submit it is necessary to bite off his nose. Punishment is the rule, and it must be continued and increased until the end is secured. Ch'eng-Tzu says: "Being mounted on the dynamic first line means punishing a strong and vehement man, when severity is required, as is denoted by the central position of the line."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The hardened sinner must be punished severely to secure the desired ends. Although indignation often goes too far in meting out punishment, it may still be just.
Wing: Punishment and retribution come swiftly and thoroughly to the person who continues in wrong behavior. Even though it may seem overly severe, it will effectively bring about Reform. Finally, there is no mistake in this.
Editor: This is an interestingly ambiguous line which admits of more than one interpretation. I have always taken the hexagram as symbolic of the process of differentiation, so the following associations come from that perspective: Bite: To "get your teeth into" something is to get a grip on it, to comprehend it. Flesh: Meat, food, nourishment -- the raw material, data or experience of the situation at hand. Soft: Easily bitten and penetrated. An easy discrimination. Nose: Intuition, subtle discrimination, as: "I smell a rat.” The various translators indicate that the nose is either injured or buried in the meat, suggesting that the intuitive faculty is damaged or obscured by an overly easy act of mental discrimination. A simplistic comprehension goes too far, but since the idea of "No Blame" is attached to the line this seems to be a natural consequence of the situation. A syllogism might go like this: "Drunk drivers are bad. George is a drunken driver, therefore George is bad.” This is the easy discrimination. The subtlediscrimination is that George, normally a modest drinker, was required by his Embassy job to drink toasts with the Russian ambassador and he miscalculated his capacity to hold his liquor. The easy distinction over-rides the subtle one because the offense is serious enough to require a severe punishment. The line can sometimes suggest the squabbles of lawyers, and the differences between the spirit and letter of the law.
The world of the soul and the realms of the spirit can only be known to him whose inner senses are awakened to life. The things of the body are seen through the instrumentality of the body, but the things of the soul require the power of spiritual perception. F. Hartmann -- Paracelsus: Life and Prophecies
A. An oversimplification is better than a total illusion: half-true is better than totally false.
B. Suggests a conclusion based upon simplistic reasoning. You only see the obvious: seek the subtle hidden within the obvious.
C. “There is more to the subject than meets the eye.”
Line 3
Legge: The third line, magnetic, shows one gnawing dried flesh, and meeting with what is disagreeable. There will be occasion for some small regret, but no great error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Bites on old dried meat and strikes something poisonous. Slight humiliation. No blame.
Blofeld: Gnawing dried meat, he was poisoned, but not severely enough to indispose him for long -- no error! [This line presages trouble through no fault of ours which will not, however, incapacitate us for long.]
Liu: By chewing dried salt meat one gets poisoned. Small humiliation, but no blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Gnawing seasoned meat. Meeting poison. The small abashed. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: Biting dried meat and meeting with poison; small distress; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Biting on dried meat, running into poison. There is a little shame, but no blame.
Wu: He bites dried salted meat and gets an unpleasant aftertaste. There will be slight regret, but no error. [A yin in a yang position makes his judgment hard like biting on dried cured meat. The “unpleasant aftertaste” may suggest he is biting more than he can chew, he faces rowdy offenders, or he has a little rough time. But he makes no error.]
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She meets with what is disagreeable and hurtful -- her position is not the proper one for her. Wilhelm/Baynes: The place is not the appropriate one. Blofeld: His being poisoned is indicated by the unsuitable position of this line. Ritsema/Karcher: Situation not appropriate indeed. Wu: His position is improper.
Legge: Line three is magnetic in a dynamic place. Her action will be ineffective, and is symbolized by gnawing through tough meat only to taste something rancid. Since punishment is the rule in this hexagram, the auspice is not all bad.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man lacks sufficient power and authority and the culprit does not submit to him. It is like biting through old dried meat and coming upon something poisonous. Some humiliation results but no blame.
Wing: You lack sufficient power and authority to bring about Reform. Your attempts meet with indifference, and you may feel humiliated at your ineffective actions. Yet Reform is necessary, and therefore your endeavors are justified.
Editor: In his commentary Wilhelm emphasizes that "the matter at issue is
an old one.” A magnetic line in a dynamic place suggests weakness or passivity which is unable to deal very effectively with a long-standing problem. Implicit also is the idea of confronting something disagreeable within one's own psyche.
For there are very many kinds of evil which formed the delight of his former life, that is of the old life. These evils cannot all be subdued at once and together; for they cleave tenaciously, since they have been inrooted in the parents for many ages back, and are therefore innate in man, and are confirmed by actual evils from himself from infancy. Swedenborg -- Arcana Coelestia
A. You seem impotent in coming to grips with an old issue. Recognition and acceptance of this are the first steps toward initiating needed reforms.
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, dynamic, shows one gnawing the flesh dried on the bone, and getting the pledges of money and arrows. It will be advantageous for him to realize the difficulty of his task and be firm -- in which case there will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Bites on dried gristly meat. Receives metal arrows. It furthers one to be mindful of difficulties and to be persevering. Good fortune.
Blofeld: Gnawing dried meat on the bone, he found a metal arrow-head embedded in it -- remaining determined in spite of difficulties will bring good fortune!
Liu: By chewing on dried gristle one gains golden arrows. Firmness and hard work benefit. Good fortune.
Shaughnessy: Biting dry preserved meat, and getting a metal arrowhead; determination about difficulty is auspicious.
Cleary (1): Biting bony dried meat, one gets the wherewithal to proceed. It
is beneficial to work hard and be upright: this leads to good results.
Wu: He bites dried bony meat and gets a golden arrow. There will be good fortune if he realizes the advantage of being firm in a difficult time. [With inference (Sic) to what he is biting, he also has a hard time reaching his verdict… The Confucian Commentary is somewhat critical of his ability.]
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: His light has not yet been sufficiently displayed. Wilhelm/Baynes: He does not yet give light. Blofeld: However, no ray of the good fortune here indicated is visible as yet. [Whatever good fortune is on its way to us is not visible as yet. In other words, the situation looks more gloomy than it is, so we must follow our course with firmness.] Ritsema/Karcher: Not yet shining indeed. Wu: Because he has not shown brilliance.
Legge: Of old in a civil case, both parties brought to the court an arrow in testimony of their rectitude, after which they were heard. In a criminal case they in the same way each deposited thirty pounds of gold, or some other metal. The fourth-line judge who receives these pledges is responsible for "gnawing through” a difficult case and rendering a just verdict. Though dynamic, he is in a magnetic place, and hence the cautionary warning. "His light has not been sufficiently displayed" means that there is still something for him to do. He has to realize the difficulty of his position and be firm.
Anthony: Here we begin to see success in our effort to punish: the other person begins to relate to us correctly. But, this is only a first step; we must avoid the temptation to rush back to a comfortable and careless relationship that would collapse our work. Our tendency is either to be steeled in perseverance or relaxed in an easy relationship with others. If we can, instead, be neutral and persevering, be neither soft nor hard, but open, cautious and careful, we will “bite through” the obstacles to a correct fellowship with others.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Great obstacles in the form of strong opponents require the man to
make difficult judgments. All goes well if he cautiously perseveres.
Wing: The task facing you is indeed difficult. That which you must overcome is in a powerful position. Be firm and persevering once you begin. Good results come only by being alert and exercising continuous effort.
Editor: The fourth yang line is the object being gnawed in the pictorial symbolism of the hexagram. Flesh: Meat, food, nourishment -- the raw material, data or experience of the situation. Dried: Tough, hard to chew and digest -- difficult to differentiate, sort-out or comprehend. Metal:Metal usually symbolizes the mental faculties -- intellect, discernment, etc. It can also refer to allied components of the psyche, such as the will, as in: "He has a will of iron.”Arrow: The arrow has associations similar to the sword -- the discriminating function. To shoot an arrow into the heart of the matter is to pierce its essence, to comprehend it completely. Light: (From Confucian commentary): Clarity, comprehension, understanding. Overall, the implication is that you are not yet clear-minded enough to deal decisively with the situation at hand.
Jung's development of new symbolic categories can be compared with a similar approach initiated by the modern physicist. In both cases the subject matter defies comprehension in accustomed rational categories; hence symbolic "working models" or working hypotheses, such as the archetype or the atom, had to be set up in order to describe as adequately as possible the way an otherwise indescribable unknown acts in the world of matter. E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
A. Although you do not understand the situation completely, in dealing with it you will receive the insights needed for its resolution. Proceed with the awareness of difficulty.
B. The answer is implicit within the question.
C. Figure it out for yourself.
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, dynamic, shows one wearing the cangue, and deprived of his ears. There will be evil.
Wilhelm/Baynes: His neck is fastened in the wooden cangue, so that his ears disappear. Misfortune.
Blofeld: He wears a wooden cangue which hides his ears -- misfortune!
Liu: His neck is put in the wooden collar. His ear is injured. Misfortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Wherefore locking-up submerging the ears? Pitfall.
Shaughnessy: Carrying a cangue on the shoulders and with a cut-off ear; inauspicious.
Cleary (2): Wearing a cangue destroying the ears is unfortunate.
Wu: He wears a cangue that covers his ears. There will be foreboding.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He wears the cangue and is deprived of his ears -- he hears, but will not understand. Wilhelm/Baynes: He does not hear clearly. Blofeld: This implies dullness of hearing or intellect. [This suggests that, for the present, we should not put much trust in our own judgment.] Ritsema/Karcher: Understanding not brightened indeed. Cleary (2): Means not listening clearly. Wu: Because he hears, but does not heed.
From the Great Treatise: If acts of goodness be not accumulated, they are not sufficient to give its finish to one's name; if acts of evil be not accumulated, they are not sufficient to destroy one's life. The inferior man thinks that small acts of goodness are of no benefit, and does not do them; and that small deeds of evil do no harm, and does not abstain from them. Hence his wickedness becomes great till it cannot be pardoned. This is what theI Ching says, "He wears the cangue and his ears are destroyed: there will be evil."
Legge: The action of the hexagram has passed, and here we have one still persisting in wrongdoing. He is a strong criminal, wearing the cangue and deaf to counsel. Of course the auspice is evil.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man is deaf to repeated warnings. Evil accumulates, as he thinks, "Small sins do no harm.” His guilt grows until it cannot be pardoned.
Wing: A person who cannot recognize his own shortcomings will drift farther and farther from the path. A person who is no longer on the path cannot understand the warnings of others. The original text states: "There will be evil.”
Editor: Webster's Third New International Dictionary defines "Cangue" as: "A wooden collar three or four feet square used in oriental countries for confining the neck and sometimes also the hands for punishment.” It is a more severe analogue of the stocks mentioned in the first line of the hexagram.
He who rejects discipline despises his own self; he who listens to correction wins discernment. Proverbs 15: 32
A. You haven't gotten the message and must suffer the consequences of your lack of comprehension.
B. "Deaf to counsel." Stubborn illusions prevent you from making a connection.
11 Peace
Other titles: Peace, The Symbol of Successfulness, Prospering, Pervading, Greatness, Tranquility, Prosperity, Conjunction, Major Synthesis, Hieros Gamos, Holy Marriage, "Yang supporting yin and going to meet each other. Good prospects for a marriage or partnership." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Harmony shows the inferior departed and the great arrived. There will be good fortune with progress and success.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Peace. The small departs, the great approaches. Good fortune. Success.
Blofeld: Peace. The mean decline; the great and good approach -- good fortune and success! [In the following hexagram (Divorcement), where the trigrams symbolize heaven and earth in what would appear to be their normal positions, that arrangement is held to be disastrous; whereas here, where they seem to be upside down, everything is propitious. This may be because heaven above earth is held to imply that the two are existing separately without the intercourse which is the root of all growth; whereas here their intercourse is so absolute that heaven is actually supporting earth.]
Liu: Peace. The small is departing, the great is arriving. Good fortune. Success.
Ritsema/Karcher: Pervading . The small going, the great coming. significance Growing. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of prospering and expanding. It emphasizes that continually spreading this prosperity through communicating is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Greatness: the little go and the great come; auspicious; receipt.
Cleary (1): The small goes, the great comes. This is auspicious and developmental.
Cleary (2):Tranquility … Getting through auspiciously.
Wu:Prosperity shows that the small stays outside and the great stays inside. It will be auspicious and pervasive.
The Image
Legge: The intercourse of heaven and earth -- the image of Harmony.The wise ruler models his laws upon the principles of heaven and earth, and enforces them for the people's benefit.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Heaven and earth unite: the image of Peace. Thus the ruler divides and completes the course of heaven and earth; he furthers and regulates the gifts of heaven and earth, and so aids the people.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes heaven and earth in communion. [The component trigrams illustrate the kind of close intercourse just alluded to. This is surely the only way of depicting it under the circumstances, for any mingling of their component lines would produce quite different trigrams having no reference to heaven and earth.] It is as though a mighty ruler, by careful regulation of affairs, has brought to fruition the way of heaven and earth. In harmony with the sequence of their motions, he gives help to people on every hand.
Liu: Heaven and earth are unified, symbolizing Peace. The ruler reforms and completes the way of heaven and earth; He observes the appropriate methods of heaven and earth to direct the people.
Ritsema/Karcher: Heaven and Earth mingling. Pervading. The crown-prince uses property to accomplish Heaven and Earth's tao. The crown-prince uses bracing to mutualize Heaven and Earth's propriety. The crown-prince uses the left to right the commoners.
Cleary (1): When heaven and earth commune, there is tranquility. Thus does the ruler administer the way of heaven and earth and assist the proper balance of heaven and earth, thereby helping the people.
Cleary (2): … So as to influence the people.
Wu:Prosperity results from the interaction of heaven and earth. The king uses the wealth of the nation to achieve the ways of heaven and earth and to support their designs, so as to bring the sentiments of the people to the center.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Harmony shows the union of heaven and earth, and all things consequently united -- high and low, superior and inferior are all in accord. The lower trigram is made up of dynamic lines, and the upper of magnetic lines: strength is within, devotion is without; the superior man is inside and increasing, the inferior man is outside and decreasing.
Legge: The Judgment refers to the structure of the hexagram, with the three dynamic lines below, and the three magnetic lines above. The former are "the great," active and vigorous; the latter are "the inferior," passive and yielding. In many editions of theI Chingbeneath the hexagram of Harmonythere appears hexagram number fifty-four,Propriety, which becomes Harmonyif the third and fourth lines exchange places. A situation in which the motive forces are represented by three dynamic, and the opposing by three magnetic lines, must be progressive and successful.Harmonyis called the hexagram of the first month of the natural spring, when for six months the forces of growth are in ascendance.
Canon McClatchie translates: "The Image means that heaven and earth have now conjugal intercourse with each other, and the upper and lower classes unite together."
Ch'eng-tzu says on the Image that a ruler should frame his laws to operate like the seasons, so that the people exist within the structure of a natural rather than an arbitrary order.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Harmony depicts the waning of egotistical illusions and the waxing of true potential.
The Superior Man allows his inner virtue to rule the psyche.
Without changing lines, Harmony suggests a fruitful union of opposites and consequent state of balance in the matter at hand.
Wilhelm translates the opening phrase of the Confucian commentary as: "Heaven and earth unite." Blofeld renders it: "The celestial and terrestrial forces have intercourse and all things are in communion with one another." Legge has already called attention to McClatchie's version of: "Heaven and earth have now conjugal intercourse with each other."
This image is one of the most universal symbols produced by the human psyche: the sexual union of Spirit and Matter (heaven and earth). This is the hieros gamos or holy marriage of alchemy, the union of Shiva and Shakti in Hinduism, the conjoined male and female deities in tantric Buddhism, the syzygies of Gnosticism and the union of heaven and earth in the Kabbalah.
The notions of the couple and the sacred marriage held a very important place in ancient Chinese religious thinking. Every sacred power was twofold, male and female; but since only one half of the sacred couple was generally enclosed in any one sanctuary, the ritual was directed at reconstituting the whole... The complete being is male and female; since most men neglect or repress their feminine nature, they are out of balance; their male aggressiveness comes to the fore, and their whole vitality suffers. There can be no true Holiness without a prior revitalization of femininity. M. Kaltenmark --Lao Tzu and Taoism
Psychologically, the condition pictured by this hexagram is a metaphor for a high state of integration within the psyche. Here it is described in alchemical and Jungian terminology:
The hermetic vessel is oneself. In it the many pieces of psychic stuff scattered throughout one's world must be collected and fused into one, so making a new creation. In it must occur the union of the opposites called by the alchemists the coniunctio or marriage... (This union), in psychological terms corresponds to man with his feminine soul, the anima, or to a woman with her masculine counterpart, the animus -- the union in each case constituting the inner marriage, the hieros gamos by which the individual must become whole. M.E. Harding --Psychic Energy
To receive this hexagram does not necessarily mean that one has attained such a high integration, but it might indicate a step in that direction. The ultimate hieros gamos only occurs after all of the scattered and mismatched forces within the psyche have been brought together in correct alignment -- in I Ching terms, when all of the lines are in their proper places with proper correlates as imaged in hexagram number 63, Completion. Until this final union there are innumerable "lesser" conjunctions which must first take place -- a fact recognized in tantric yoga:
The final goal of the tantricist is to reunite the two contrary principles -- Shiva and Shakti -- in his own body. When Shakti, who sleeps, in the shape of a serpent, at the base of his body, is awoken by certain yogic techniques, she moves through a medial channel by way of the chakras up to the top of the skull, where Shiva dwells, and unites with him. The union of the divine pair within his own body transforms the yogin into a kind of "androgyne." But it must be stressed that "androgynization" is only one aspect of a total process, that of the reunion of the opposites. Actually, Tantric literature speaks of a great number of "opposing pairs" that have to be reunited. Mircea Eliade -- Myths, Rites, Symbols
The establishment of the " Kingdom of Heaven on Earth" is yet another metaphor for this process of psychic unification. Here is the Kabbalistic version:
It is by the establishment of the celestial on the terrestrial, or of heaven upon earth, that the house of the King (humanity) will become united and the King will rejoice thereat, for then the two kingdoms will become one and then the new and living way will become opened to those who make themselves susceptible and receptive of the Higher and Diviner life... When these two worlds become united and blended together they are symbolized by the union of the male and female, the one being the complement of the other. The Zohar
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Legge points out that many editions of the I Chingassociate hexagram number fifty-four,Propriety, with this figure. What do the changing third and fourth lines ofPropriety imply about the role of the ego in the Work? The traditional name forPropriety is "The Marrying Maiden" -- how does that relate to the concept of the holy marriage in Harmony? Compare the Judgments and Images of the two hexagrams and the role of the superior man in each. Note also the lesson implied when lines two and five in Harmony unite to make hexagram number sixty-three, Completion.