Having it both ways
One refrains from choosing so as not to offend others. taoscopy.com
Danger29
Face repeated challenges with courage and determination. Embrace setbacks as opportunities to build resilience. Stay true to your principles to navigate through difficulties.
↓ Line 3
This line suggests that when surrounded by danger, it is wise to pause and assess the situation before proceeding.
↓ Line 4
This line indicates that simplicity and modesty in difficult times can lead to contentment and avoid blame.
↓ Line 5
This line suggests maintaining balance and not overreaching in times of danger, which leads to stability and avoids blame.
↓ Duration32
Consistency brings endurance. Stay true to your path, create lasting habits, and cultivate patience for sustainable success.
29 Danger
Other titles: The Abysmal, The Symbol of Sinking, Water, The Abyss, Gorge, Repeating Gorge, Repeated Entrapment, Double Pitfall, Multiple Danger, Double Water, The Deep, Dark Forces, The Perilous Pit, "May not be as bad as it sounds, but whatever happens, remain true to yourself." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: The trigram of Danger, here repeated, shows the possession of sincerity, through which the mind is penetrating. Action in accordance with this will be of high value.
Wilhelm/Baynes:The Abysmal repeated. If you are sincere, you have success in your heart, and whatever you do succeeds.
Blofeld: Abyss upon abyss -- grave danger! All will be well if confidence is maintained and a sharp hold kept upon the mind; activities so conducted will win esteem.
Liu: Water doubled. Danger. Sincerity leads to success (peacefulness) in your heart and mind. You will succeed in your actions. [This hexagram means danger, misfortune, or entanglement in a difficult situation... You should be both careful and patient; do not struggle with all of the difficulties around you.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Repeating Gorge. Possessing conformity. Holding-fast the heart Growing. Movement possesses honor. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of a dangerous situation you cannot avoid. It emphasizes that taking the risk without reserve, the action of Gorge, is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: venture and fall!]
Shaughnessy: Repeated Entrapment: There is a return; the appended heart; receipt; in motion there will be elevation.
Cleary (1): In mastering pitfalls there is truthfulness; thus the mind develops. There is excellence in practice.
Cleary (2): In multiple danger, if there is sincerity, the mind gets through and action has value.
Wu:Entrapment indicates there is confidence. The heart of the matter is that it is pervasive. Actions taken in its accord will be commendable.
The Image
Legge: The image of water flowing on continuously forms the repeated trigram of Danger. The superior man, in accordance with this, maintains constantly the virtue of his heart and the sincerity of his conduct, and practices the business of instruction.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Water flows on uninterruptedly and reaches its goal. The image of the Abysmal repeated. Thus the superior man walks in lasting virtue and carries on the business of teaching.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes water flowing on and on and abyss upon abyss. [The trigram K'an is usually inauspicious; here it occurs in duplicate as the upper and the lower trigram; thus the implication is that we are beset by grave dangers from which, if we can escape them at all, the utmost skill and confidence will be required to extricate ourselves.] The Superior Man acts in accordance with the immutable virtues and spends much of his time instructing others in the conduct of affairs.
Liu: Water flows unceasingly into the depths symbolizing Water doubled. The superior man constantly preserves his virtue and practices his task of education.
Ritsema/Karcher: Streams reiterating culminating. Repeating Gorge. A chun tzu uses rules actualizing-tao to move. [A chun tzu uses] repeating to teach affairs. [Actualize-tao, TE: realize tao in action; power, virtue; ability to follow the course traced by the ongoing process of the cosmos... Linked with acquire, TE: acquiring that which makes a being become what it is meant to be.]
Cleary (1): Water travels, double water. Thus do superior people consistently practice virtue and learn how to teach.
Cleary (2): Water comes repeatedly – multiple danger. Developed people practice teaching by constant virtuous action. [This is in perfect accord with the Tiantai Buddhist teaching of knowing how to get through an impasse, the method of making an impasse itself into a way through; this is also the method of skillfully using natural ills.]
Wu: Water comes time and again; this is Entrapment. Thus the jun zi practices virtuous conduct and reviews didactics.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Danger repeated shows us one defile succeeding another. This is the nature of water -- it flows on, without accumulating its volume so as to overflow; it pursues its way through a dangerous defile, without losing its true nature. That the mind is penetrating is indicated by the dynamic line in the center. Advance in accordance with this will be followed by achievement. The dangerous height of heaven cannot be ascended; the difficult places of the earth are mountains, rivers, hills and mounds. Kings and princes arrange, by means of such strengths, to maintain their territories. Great indeed is the use of what is here taught about seasons of peril.
Legge: The trigram of Danger which is doubled to form this hexagram is the symbol of water, and means a pit, a perilous cavity or defile with water flowing through it. The trigrams consist of a dynamic central line between two magnetic lines. Together they symbolize danger -- how it should be encountered, its effects on the mind, and how to escape from it.
Liang Yin says: "Water stops at the proper time, and moves at the proper time. Is not this an emblem of the course of the superior man in dealing with danger?”
The K'ang-hsi editors say that to exercise one's self in meeting difficulty and peril is the way to establish and strengthen the character, and the use of such experience is seen in all measures for self-defense.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Commitment to the Work engenders a keen discernment of threatening situations and the factors which create them. With the ability to recognize the dangerous elements in a situation, success is assured.
The Superior Man maintains his connection with the Self and learns from the trials thus provided.
This is one of the first hexagrams that one learns to recognize by name and number, and it is usually received with trepidation. Like the Death card in Tarot, it is often interpreted as an evil omen, although a deeper understanding reveals opportunity rather than defeat in such images.
There is danger and suffering in the Work, but probably far less of it (in the long run) than in an ordinary unexamined life. Anguish in the service of purpose is ultimately tolerable -- it is the incredible suffering of ignorance that is truly tragic: all that pain and sorrow expended on worldly illusions!
The Confucian commentary provides some valuable insights concerning the defensive use of danger by kings and princes to protect their realms. To master a dangerous challenge before one can progress to a higher level of awareness is a classical theme of initiation: without it, the candidate would be destroyed by forces he wasn't ready to confront. (This is the purpose and meaning behind of the "Guardian of the Threshold" archetype.) Danger is evil or unfortunate only if one is intimidated by it -- correct behavior in accordance with the principles of the Work will always take you to your destination. The Self will seldom, if ever, give you a test that you cannot pass if you fully apply yourself. When it seems otherwise, bear in mind that failure often renders better lessons than success, or the illusion thereof.
A neurosis is by no means merely a negative thing, it is also something positive. Only a soulless rationalism reinforced by a narrow materialistic outlook could possibly have overlooked this fact. In reality the neurosis contains the patient's psyche, or at least an essential part of it; and if, as the rationalist pretends, the neurosis could be plucked from him like a bad tooth, he would have gained nothing but would have lost something very essential to him. That is to say, he would have lost as much as the thinker deprived of his doubt, or the moralist deprived of his temptation, or the brave man deprived of his fear. To lose a neurosis is to find oneself without an object; life loses its point and hence its meaning. This would not be a cure, it would be a regular amputation. Jung -- Civilization in Transition
Line 3
Legge: The third line, magnetic, shows its subject, whether she comes or goes, descends or ascends, confronted by a defile. All is peril to her and unrest. Her endeavors will lead her into the cavern of the pit. There should be no action in such a case.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Forward and backward, abyss on abyss. In danger like this, pause at first and wait, otherwise you will fall into a pit in the abyss. Do not act in this way.
Blofeld: Abyss upon abyss rears up and the danger is acute. He falls into a cranny and there is nothing he can do to help himself.
Liu: Water flows on and on. One is in the pit of the abyss. Danger. Do not act.
Ritsema/Karcher: Coming's Gorge, the Gorge. Venturing moreover reclining. Entering tending-towards the Gorge, the recess. No availing-of.
Shaughnessy: Bringing it so entrappedly, both steep and deep; entering the trap pit; do not use it.
Cleary (1): Coming and going, pitfall upon pitfall, dangerous and obstructed, going into a hole: Don’t act this way.
Wu: There is danger in coming and there is danger in going. The subject is in danger and is stopped from exiting. He enters into the depths of a pit and nothing useful will come out of it.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She will never in such circumstances achieve any success. Wilhelm/Baynes: Here any effort ends up as impossible. Blofeld: This presages our ultimate failure to accomplish anything at all. Ritsema/ Karcher: Completing without achieving indeed. Cleary (2): In the end there is no accomplishment. Wu: In the end nothing will be accomplished.
Legge: Line three is magnetic and occupies the place of a dynamic line. She is in an evil case. She goes and comes, moves up and down, backwards and forwards, making no advance. This can be of no use in extracting her from the danger.
Anthony: Every step leads to danger. Our attitude has brought out elements in others which further expose us to difficulty. We should take refuge in neutrality and disengagement until a way out shows itself.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man becomes entangled in danger at every turn. He should refrain from action, which only worsens the situation, and wait until the solution reveals itself.
Wing: You are surrounded by danger and you do not understand it. Any action will only make matters worse. Maintain your principles and wait for the solution to reveal itself.
Editor: Here is an image of raw panic -- the fear of a trapped animal: a bird in a house mindlessly battering itself against a plate-glass window. Hysteria is a grossly futile and incompetent response to stress: a demeaning lack of self- control. Get a grip on yourself!
Disquietude is always vanity, because it serves no good. Yes, even if the whole world were thrown into confusion and all things in it, disquietude on that account would be vanity. Saint John of the Cross
A. Stop right now! Calm down and wait it out.
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, magnetic, shows its subject at a feast, with simply a bottle of spirits, and a subsidiary basket of rice, while the cups and bowls are only of earthenware. She introduces her important lessons as her ruler's intelligence admits. There will in the end be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: A jug of wine, a bowl of rice with it; earthen vessels simply handed in through the window. There is certainly no blame in this.
Blofeld: A flagon of wine and a bamboo food-basket -- both. These objects were handed to him through a hole in the rock. To the very end he remains free from blame. [The terrible trouble in which we find ourselves occurs through no fault of ours; others are able to help us to some extent -- but it looks as though their help may serve only to prolong our agony.]
Liu: A jug of wine. Two bowls of food should be put into an earthen container and passed through the window. There is no blame in the end.
Ritsema/Karcher: A cup, liquor, a platter added. Availing-of a jar. Letting-in bonds originating-from the window. Completing, without fault.
Shaughnessy: Offering wine and tureens in pairs; use earthenware. Take in the angelica from the window; in the end there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): One jug of wine, two vessels. Use simplicity, sincerity, and openness, and in the end there will be no fault.
Cleary (2): A jug of wine with a ceremonial vessel of grain alongside. Use a plain cup; take in a pledge through the window. In the end there is no fault.
Wu: Using a jar of wine and a bamboo basket of food with ordinary table earthenware, he presents himself at the window. In the end, he will be blameless. [The judgment describes a person in a precarious position (the fourth) presenting himself in a simple way to his ruler (the fifth). The scene may also be viewed as a loyal minister offering his counsel to his king in time of crisis.]
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: This describes the meeting of the dynamic and magnetic lines. Wilhelm/Baynes: It is the boundary between firm and yielding. Blofeld: This passage is suggested by the nature of the line, which forms a border between yielding and firm. Ritsema/Karcher: Solid and Supple, the border indeed. Cleary (2): The border of hard and soft. Wu: The meeting of the strong and weak.
Legge: Line four is the magnetic minister who will get no help from her first line correlate. She can't avert the danger herself, but she is close to the fifth line ruler whom she cautiously enlightens with the sincerity of her simple nourishment. Consequently, there will be no error.
Anthony: The Sage, knowing that we are in danger, voluntarily comes to our aid. Consequently, we are enlightened by a breakthrough in our understanding.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man is without a sponsor because of the lack of impressive gifts. Ceremonial forms and expensive gifts are unnecessary, however, during periods of great urgency. Spurred on by unostentatious sincerity, he presents his thoughts directly to the chief. No error will result from this honest request for mutual help during times of peril.
Wing: Take the simple and direct approach to solving your problems and overcoming difficulties. Strive for clarity of mind. Do not clutter your actions with useless pretense, since it will only confuse the situation.
Editor: This image implies that the dangerous elements in the situation are caused by some kind of complexity -- vanity, bureaucracy, or Byzantine intellectualism perhaps. Whatever it is, a return to basics is indicated. While surrounded by a feast (of choices) one partakes only of simple nourishment (options).
In order to effect a constructive and lasting change in our lives we must strive toward a transformation of the potentially disrupting or disruptive complexes by reaching their archetypal cores. Such a transformation can occur only when we have gone beyond the personal dimension to the universal. This process is sustained by guidance from the objective psyche through dreams and fantasies. E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
A. Reduce the situation to its lowest common denominator and proceed from there.
B. Complexity demands patience. Nourish yourself on simplicity.
C. An educational process. The image suggests patience and gradual change.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, dynamic, shows the water of the defile not yet full, so that it might flow away; but order will soon be brought about. There will be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The abyss is not filled to overflowing. It is filled only to the rim. No blame.
Blofeld: The abyss is not filled to the brim; the flowing water maintains its level -- no error!
Liu: The water does not overflow its bounds. The waves are calm. No blame. [People will achieve their goals smoothly and without endangering themselves.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Gorge not overfilled. Merely already evened. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: The trap is not filled, but the sandbar has been flattened; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): The pit is not full, it has only reached level; there is no blame.
Cleary (2): The pit is not filled, only leveled. No blame.
Wu: Entrapment is not full. It is level and uneventful. There will be no blame.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The virtue indicated by the central situation is not yet sufficiently great. Wilhelm/Baynes: The central line is not yet great. Blofeld: This is because the line, being central to the upper trigram, indicates a level that is not too high. [The danger threatening whoever receives a moving line for the fifth place is relatively less serious than for many of the others whose enquiries are answered by this unfortunate hexagram.]Ritsema/Karcher: Centering, not-yet great indeed. Cleary (2): The center is not yet great. Wu: The center has not manifested its greatness.
Legge: Line five is dynamic in its proper place as ruler, and on the verge of deliverance from danger. The waters of the abyss will soon disappear and the ground be made level and smooth.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man is almost extricated, but remains in danger because of excessive ambition. He does not learn from the water's example of rising only to the lowest point of the rim to flow out of a ravine. He should not attempt great and apparently unattainable things but should only try to escape danger by following the path of least resistance.
Wing: Only struggle as much as necessary to extricate yourself from your problems. Overly ambitious persons who attempt more than they should may create further difficulties. It is indicated here that the danger will pass of its own accord.
Editor: This depicts the crest of the flood, or just before the crest. Psychologically, the water is contained, and the unconscious forces do not overwhelm the psyche. Legge's Confucian commentary ("The virtue indicated by the central situation is not yet sufficiently great") is not convincing in the context of what is imaged. Blofeld's rendition suggests a more credible interpretation: the rising waters are not great enough to overflow their banks. This gives an image of the strong fifth line ruler as centered and able to cope with the danger surrounding him. In other words, the cup is full, but not over-full. The situation is dangerous, but not overwhelming. The dark forces have reached their maximum power -- now they can only wane.
Who pent up the sea behind closed doors when it leaped tumultuous out of the womb... when I marked the bounds it was not to cross and made it fast with a bolted gate? Come thus far, I said, and no farther: here your proud waves shall break. Job 38: 8-11
A. Danger peaks and stabilizes. Though perilous, the situation is contained.
32 Duration
Other titles: Duration, The Symbol of Constancy, The Long Enduring, Constant, Persevering, Standing Fast, Continuity, Constancy in the Midst of Change, Holding Firm, "Get yourself into a fixed routine like the orbiting planets." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge:Consistency means successful progress without error through firm correctness. Movement in any direction is advantageous.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Duration. Success. No blame. Perseverance furthers. It furthers one to have somewhere to go.
Blofeld: The Long Enduring. Success and freedom from error! Righteous persistence brings reward. It is favorable to have in view some goal or destination.
Liu:Duration. Success. No blame. It benefits to continue. Going anywhere is advantageous.
Ritsema/Karcher:Persevering, Growing. Without fault. Harvesting Trial. Harvesting: possessing directed going. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of continuity and endurance. It emphasizes that continuing on and renewing the way you are following is the adequate way to handle the situation. To be in accord with the time, you are told to persevere!]
Shaughnessy: Constancy: Receipt; there is no trouble; beneficial to determine; beneficial to have someplace to go.
Cleary (1):Constancy is developmental. Impeccable. It is beneficial to be correct. It is beneficial to have a place to go.
Cleary (2):Constancy comes through without fault, beneficial insofar as it is correct. It is beneficial to have a place to go.
Wu: Constancy indicates pervasion. There will be no blame. It also indicates advantage of being persevering and having undertakings.
The Image
Legge: Thunder over wind -- the image of Consistency. The superior man stands firm and does not change his method of operation.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Thunder and wind: the image of Duration. Thus the superior man stands firm and does not change his direction.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes thunder accompanied by wind. The Superior Man stands so firmly that he cannot be uprooted.
Liu: Thunder and wind symbolize Duration. The superior man stands firm without changing direction.
Ritsema/Karcher: Thunder, wind, Persevering. A Chun tzu uses establishing, not versatility on-all-sides.
Cleary (1): Thunder and wind are perpetual. Thus does the superior person stand without changing places.
Cleary (2): Thunder and wind are constant; so do developed people stand without changing place.
Wu: A combination of thunder and wind forms Constancy. Thus the jun zi establishes himself by not changing his post.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Consistency means long continuance. The dynamic trigram of Thunder is above, and the magnetic trigram of Wind is below. Docility and Motive Force are in sympathetic communication because their dynamic and magnetic lines all correspond. When the motive power is spent it will begin again -- hence movement in any direction is advantageous. The sun and moon are consistent in their illumination, and the four sequential seasons are consistent in their cycles of growth. The sages are consistent in their work and all under heaven are transformed. When we examine this consistent perseverance the natural tendencies of heaven and earth are revealed.
Legge: The subject of the hexagram is perseverance in what is right, or in continuously acting out the law of one's being. It is seen as a sequel to the previous hexagram,Initiative. As that figure deals with the correct relations
between husband and wife, so this figure treats of the continuous observance of their respective duties. Initiativeconsists of the trigrams symbolizing the youngest son and youngest daughter and shows how the attraction and influence between the sexes is strongest in youth. Consistency on the other hand, consists of the trigrams symbolizing the oldest son and oldest daughter. This couple is more staid. The wife occupies the lower place, and their relationship is characterized by her submission. Given two parties, a magnetic and a dynamic in correlation, if both consistently observe what is correct and natural (i.e., the magnetic submissive and the dynamic firm), then good fortune and progress may be predicted for their course.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: The will to maintain the consistency of the Work assures progress in whatever direction it may take.
The Superior Man holds fast to the principles of the Work.
Wilhelm's title for this hexagram is Duration. I feel that the word Consistency best evokes the meaning of the figure. In an existence consisting of continuous change the only things that have duration are the principles upon which change is based. To adhere to these principles is to maintain consistency. Implicit here is a consistent balance of forces. Consistency in the Work means neither consistent action nor inaction, but an appropriate combination of the two principles as required by changing circumstances. The Confucian commentary alludes to this characteristic of the Work when it mentions the sun, moon and changing seasons as examples of forces which maintain their consistency within a context of continuous change.
Just as the moon at night reflects the light of the hidden sun, so in the Work the ego is always magnetic in relation to the dynamic Self. A moon that thought that it was the source of its light would be egregiously deluded, despite superficial appearances to the contrary; so too the ego that thinks that its powers come from anywhere but the Self.
Motives and standards of choice are not invented by the ego but are structured by the actualization of archetypal predispositions through personally acquired value standards. E. C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Note that all of the lines in the hexagram are generally unfavorable except two and five, and that when they both change places the hexagram becomes number thirty-one, Initiative. There is a profound lesson here which is best appreciated by meditating on the associations implied. The fact that each hexagram is the inverse of the other should not be forgotten.