Turning tables
One manage to make lose those who wanted to win unfairly. taoscopy.com
Biting Through21
Face conflicts head-on to clear blockages; decisive action breaks through obstacles.
↓ Line 1
The situation is difficult, but it is necessary to endure it without complaint.
↓ Line 4
Facing tough challenges requires caution and perseverance to avoid harm.
↓ Splitting Apart23
Unraveling structures; necessary endings. Prepare for new beginnings. Embrace the change, allowing the old to fall away.
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 1
Legge: The first line, dynamic, shows one with his feet in the stocks and deprived of his toes. There will be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: His feet are fastened in the stocks so that his toes disappear. No blame.
Blofeld: The feet are shackled so that they may not walk -- no error is involved! [This line suggests that extreme firmness would not be culpable at this time.]
Liu: His feet are put in the stocks. It will injure his toes. No blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Shoes locked-up, submerging the feet. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: Wearing stocks on the feet and with cut off feet; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Wearing stocks stopping the feet, there is no blame.
Wu: He wears a pair of shackles, which covers his toes. There is no error.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: There is no walking to do evil. Wilhelm/Baynes: He cannot walk. Blofeld: This method is used to prevent evil-doers from progressing in their wickedness. Ritsema/Karcher: Not moving indeed. Cleary (2): Means not acting. Wu: The light punishment warns him not to walk the wrong path again.
The Master said:The inferior man is not ashamed of what is not benevolent, nor does he fear to do what is not righteous. Without the prospect of gain he does not stimulate himself to what is good, nor does he correct himself without being moved. Self-correction, however, in what is small will make him careful in what would be of greater consequence; and this is the happiness of the inferior man. It is said in the I Ching, "His feet are in the stocks, and he is disabled in his toes - there will be no further occasion for blame."
Legge: The first and last lines of the hexagram are undergoing punishment which is inflicted by the other lines. Line one's offense is minor, and he is confined to the stocks to prevent him from making it worse.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, the man receives a mild sentence as a warning for a small offense.
Wing: Since this is only your first departure from the right path, only a mild punishment is forthcoming. This should serve the purpose of early Reform.
Editor: To be deprived of one's toes is to be unable to move -- the toes (or feet in some translations) are found in seven hexagrams, and all but one appear in the first line which indicates the beginning of movement. The idea is to nip a bad choice in the bud before it gains momentum. Sometimes the line can refer to circumstances beyond one's control which prevent one from taking an ill-considered or harmful action.
Even the venerable Church Fathers had to admit that evil is not only unavoidable but actually necessary in order to avert a greater evil... Punishment is also an evil and just as much a transgression as crime. It is simply the crime of society against the crime of the individual. And this evil, too, is unavoidable and necessary. Jung --Letters
A. You are held fast to prevent mistakes. Comprehension or growth is effected through restricted circumstances.
B. Circumstances impede or prevent action.
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.
23 Splitting Apart
Other titles: Splitting Apart, The symbol of Falling or Flaying, Peeling Off, Decay, Flaying, Stripping Away, Intrigue, Deterioration, Collapse, Fracturing, Tearing, Disintegration, Ruin, Unraveling, "Can refer to a physical parting. Making a secure foundation." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge:Disintegration means that it is not advantageous to make a movement in any direction whatever.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Splitting Apart. It does not further one to go anywhere.
Blofeld: Peeling off. At present, there is no goal (or destination) which can be sought with advantage. [Peeling off in the sense of getting rid of hindrances (or hinderers) one after another. The first four lines of this hexagram symbolize a process of ridding ourselves progressively of all those upon whom we are accustomed to rely, for the powers of darkness are in the ascendant and no one can be trusted. However, in the long run, virtue triumphs, as indicated by line five, and ultimately we are all the more esteemed for our steadfastness, as can be seen from line six.]
Liu: Decay. It is unfavorable to undertake anything.
Ritsema/Karcher:Stripping not Harvesting: possessing directed going. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of something outmoded or worn out. It emphasizes that eliminating what has become unusable is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Flaying: Not beneficial to have someplace to go.
Cleary (1):Stripping away does not make it beneficial to go anywhere.
Cleary (2): … It is not beneficial, etc.
Wu: Tearing indicates that it is not advantageous to have any undertaking.
The Image
Legge: The image of a mountain adhering to the earth forms Disintegration. Superiors therefore strengthen their inferiors to secure the peace and stability of their own position.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The mountain rests on the earth: the image of Splitting Apart. Thus those above can ensure their position only by giving generously to those below.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes a mountain resting upon the earth. The truly great shower generosity upon those under them to enable them to live in peace and comfort. [The upper and lower trigrams, mountain and Earth, symbolize the Superior Man and the people in his care.]
Liu: The mountain stands on the earth, symbolizing Decay. Those above should act with benevolence toward those below. Then there will be peace and security.
Ritsema/Karcher: Mountain adjoining with-respect-to earth. Stripping. Using munificence above to quiet the position below.
Cleary (1): Mountains are joined to the earth. Those above secure their homes by kindness to those below.
Wu: The mountain is subordinated to the earth; this is Tearing .Thus those above treat those below with liberal rewards to secure their own positions.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge:Disintegration means overthrowing or being overthrown: the magnetic lines attack the dynamic line at the top in order to change it into one of themselves. It is unwise to move in any direction because inferior elements are now increasing in power. The superior man, observing this, stops all forward movement. He defers to the exigency of the time, realizing that increase and decrease, ripeness and decay are cyclic rhythms.
Legge:Disintegrationis the symbol of falling or causing to fall, and refers to the process of decay or overthrow in both the natural and political worlds. The figure consists of five yin lines below and one yang line on top. Decay has begun at the bottom and crept upward. The hexagram symbolizes the ninth month when summer has passed and the year is about to fall into the sterile arms of winter. In the political world, inferior men have gradually displaced good men until only one remains. The lesson for him is to wait because the power operating against him is too strong. Eventually a change for the better will appear. The specific image is that of a bed and its occupant, and the symbolism describes the attempts made to overthrow him. The lower trigram of Docility and the upper trigram of Keeping Still suggest to the superior man of line six how he can best deal with the prevailing circumstances. The situation is not hopeless -- winter is followed by spring, night by day, and the waning moon soon grows full again. So will it be in the course of human affairs.
The idea behind the Image is that a mountain has the earth for its foundation. If the earth is thick, the mountain preserves its height. So it is with the sovereign and people.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment:Disintegration means do not act.
The Superior Man stabilizes his responses and seeks tranquility.
The twenty-third hexagram is the inverse ofReturn, the hexagram immediately following it. Each figure depicts an opposite pole in a cyclic progression. Here the old cycle has disintegrated to the point of dissolution. The following hexagram depicts theReturnto the beginning of a new cycle.
The first four lines of Disintegration show the gradual erosion of a position or frame of reference, symbolized by a bed or couch. The inferior forces creep up from below like termites to undermine a solid foundation. The fifth line shows a gathering of forces for a potentially positive transformation, and the top line suggests the first stages of this transformation. The implication is that times of disintegration needn't always be regarded as negative, or a foregone conclusion. We still have the choice to alter conditions in our favor.
That the superior man "strengthens his inferiors" to insure the stability of his position, means that one stabilizes one's psychological situation by defusing the causes of rebellion -- safeguard the foundation where it is weak. Hexagram number forty-three, Resoluteness, is a negative picture of this figure, and the message in the Image is very similar: "The superior man does not hoard his wealth, but shares it with his subordinates." The idea is subtle -- it doesn't mean to indulge your weaknesses, but to monitor them encouragingly so that they may become transformed into positive forces.
Whenever we go deep enough toward the core of a sub- personality, we find that the core -- which is some basic urge, or need -- is good. For practical purposes, this can be considered an absolute. No matter how many layers of distortion may surround it, the basic need, the basic motivation, is a good one -- and if it becomes twisted, it was because of not being able to express itself directly. The real core -- not what the sub- personality wants, but what it needs -- is good. A basic purpose of the coordination phase is to discover this central urge or need, to make it conscious, and to find acceptable ways in which it can be satisfied and fulfilled. And, provided we have sufficient understanding and skill, it can be satisfied -- if not fully, at least enough to maintain the process of growth. James Vargiu -- Subpersonalities