Distinguishing between good and evil
One receives more dishonest proposals than sincere offers. taoscopy.com
Deliverance40
Release from tension and obstacles. Break free, adapt, and embrace change. Find relief in newfound clarity.
↓ Line 2
Success comes from eliminating negative influences. Persistence in this effort is rewarded.
↓ Line 4
Free yourself from minor hindrances, and trustworthy allies will appear.
↓ Line 6
Taking decisive action against a high target leads to success. Boldness and precision are rewarded.
↓ Splitting Apart23
Unraveling structures; necessary endings. Prepare for new beginnings. Embrace the change, allowing the old to fall away.
Original Readings
40 Deliverance
Other titles: Deliverance, The Symbol of Loosening, Release, Eliminating Obstacles, Taking-apart, Untangled, Solution, Dissolution, Relief, Unloose, Release of Tension
Judgment
Legge:Liberation finds advantage in the southwest. When the operation is completed, a return to stability brings good fortune. If operations are incomplete, it is best to finish them quickly.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Deliverance. The southwest furthers. If there is no longer anything (Sic) where one has to go, return brings good fortune. If there is still something (Sic) where one has to go, hastening brings good fortune.
Blofeld: Release. The west and south are favorable. Those with nothing to gain from going forward will find good fortune by turning back; those who do have much to gain from going forward must hasten to be sure of doing well. [This is not a time to stay where we are. If we have no good reason to advance, it is best to retreat.]
Liu: Liberation. The southwest benefits. If there is nothing for one where one has to go, then returning brings good fortune. If there is something in a place where one can go, then going quickly leads to good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Taking-apart. Harvesting: Western South. Without a place to go: one's coming return significant. Possessing directed going: Daybreak significant. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of reflection and release from tension. It emphasizes that analyzing and understanding things in order to be delivered from compulsion is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Untangled: Beneficial to the southwest; there is nowhere to go; his coming in return is auspicious; there is someplace to go to spend the night; auspicious.
Cleary (1): For liberation, the southwest is beneficial. When going nowhere, the return brings good fortune; when going somewhere, promptness brings good fortune.
Cleary (2): For solution, the southwest is beneficial. Going nowhere, coming back is fortunate, etc.
Wu: Relief indicates advantage in the southwest. If he undertakes to do something without a cause, it will be auspicious for him to return to his former station. If he undertakes to do something with a cause, it will be auspicious for him to do it early.
The Image
Legge: Liberation shows a thunderstorm clearing the atmosphere. The superior man, in accordance with this, forgives errors and deals gently with crimes.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Thunder and rain set in: the image of Deliverance. Thus the superior man pardons mistakes and forgives misdeeds.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes thunder and rain bringing release. The Superior Man tends to forgive wrongs and deals leniently with crimes. [The component trigrams suggest that a certain amount of forceful action is required.]
Liu: Thunder and rain come, symbolizing Liberation. The superior man forgives errors and pardons criminals.
Ritsema/Karcher: Thunder, rain, arousing. Taking-apart. A chun tzu uses forgiving excess to pardon offenses.
Cleary (1): Thunder and rain act, dissolving. Thus do superior people forgive faults and pardon crimes.
Cleary (2): Thunder and rain – solution. Etc.
Wu: There come thunder and rain; this is Relief. Thus the jun zi pardons inadvertent transgressors and extenuates (Sic) criminal offenders.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Liberation shows the trigram of Movement above the trigram of Danger -- through movement there is an escape from peril. An early movement to the southwest wins the allegiance of the masses and returns the state to normalcy and equilibrium. When heaven and earth are freed from the grasp of winter, we have thunder and rain. When these come, the buds of the fruit-producing vegetation begin to open. Great indeed are the phenomena in the time ofLiberation.
Legge: The written Chinese character for Liberation is the symbol of unloosing -- untying a knot or unraveling a complication. This hexagram denotes a condition in which the obstruction and difficulty of the preceding figure have been removed. The lesson is how this new and better state of the kingdom should be dealt with. If no tasks remain to be completed, the sooner things resume their normal course the better. If further operations are necessary, let them be accomplished without delay. The K'ang-hsi editors say that moving to the south and west is the same as returning to normality.
Thunder and rain clear the atmosphere, and a feeling of oppression is relieved. The images of springtime in the Confucian commentary refer to the gentle policy of a conquering ruler who forgives the opposition of those who cease to offer resistance.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Do what obviously needs to be done and return to stability as soon as possible.
The Superior Man forgives, forgets, and bears no grudges. (i.e., Stability is more important than fixing blame or haggling over who is right.)
If the thirty-ninth hexagram of Impasse is turned upside down it becomes the fortieth hexagram of Liberation or Deliverance. The two figures represent opposite situations: if Impasse creates tension, then Liberation releases it. The upper trigram of Movement ascends to escape from the lower trigram of Danger, giving us an unambiguous image of freedom and relief.
Apart from all personification, the whole of space in which life finds itself has a malevolently spiritual character, and the "demons" themselves are as much spatial realms as they are persons. To overcome them is the same thing as to pass through them, and in breaking through their boundaries this passage at the same time breaks their power and achieves the liberation from the magic of their sphere. H. Jonas --The Gnostic Religion
Legge's commentary in the preceding hexagram explains that the "southwest" is the direction of "earth," the fertile lowland where life is natural and uncontrived. Confucius tells us here that an early move in this direction will win the "allegiance of the masses." Psychologically interpreted, this refers to the inner kingdom of the psyche, where “the masses” are the drives, emotions and archetypal complexes which make up our being. The symbolism suggests a conscious freeing up of inner tension.
These forces, therefore, must not be left to run wild, but should be disposed of in harmless ways or, better still, used for constructive purposes: creative activities of various kinds; the rebuilding of our personality, contributing to our Psychosynthesis. Roberto Assagioli -- Psychosynthesis
Line 2
Legge: The second line, dynamic, shows its subject catch, in hunting, three foxes, and obtain the yellow (golden) arrows. With firm correctness there will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: One kills three foxes in the field and receives a yellow arrow. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Blofeld: With one yellow arrow, he killed three foxes in the field. [Three birds with one stone.] Righteous persistence will bring good fortune.
Liu: One catches three foxes in the field and gains a yellow (golden) arrow. To continue brings good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: The fields, catching three foxes. Acquiring a yellow arrow. Trial: significant.
Shaughnessy: In the fields bagging three foxes, and getting a yellow arrowhead; determination is auspicious.
Cleary (1): Catching three foxes on a hunt, having golden arrows, correctness brings good fortune.
Cleary (2): Catching the third fox on a hunt, finding a yellow arrow, etc.
Wu: The hunter bags three foxes and finds a yellow arrow. It will be auspicious with perseverance.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The good fortune is because he holds the due mean.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The good fortune is due to its attaining the middle way. Blofeld: The good fortune of being able to steer a middle course. Ritsema/ Karcher: Acquiring centering tao indeed. Cleary (2): Attaining the way of balance. Wu: Because he takes a middle road.
Legge: The second line is dynamic, but the place is magnetic, so his strength is tempered. As the correlate of the ruler in line five, he is an officer striving to bring about deliverance and pacify the subdued kingdom. He is compared to a hunter who disposes of inferior men, represented by the three foxes. He receives the yellow arrows, the instruments of war or hunting, whose color is correct and whose form is straight. The K'ang-hsi editors say that while straight-forwardness, symbolized by the arrows, is the first duty of an officer, if he doesn't temper that quality by pursuing the due mean, symbolized by their yellow color, and instead proceeds by main force to remove what is evil, he will provoke indignation and rebellion.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man proceeds at a proper pace and with moderation to remove the designing individuals, who influence the ruler through flattery and obstruct public progress.
Wing: The situation may be in the hands of inferior individuals who use unworthy methods to influence those in authority. You must now be particularly straightforward and virtuous while discrediting their efforts. Good fortune.
Editor: 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. Yellow: Color of the mean, of the sun – suggests wisdom which comes from clarity: balanced perception. Fox: Common Asian symbol for evil, especially its wily or tricky aspects. Three: Symbol of dialectical synthesis or completion, as is the concept of the mean. The line images a situation in which careful discrimination perceives the elements of a problem.
Therefore, the doubts which have arisen in your heart out of ignorance should be slashed by the weapon of knowledge. Armed with yoga, O Bharata, stand and fight. Bhagavad-Gita
A. Balanced insight into the situation differentiates and eliminates harmful elements.
B. Bull’s-eye! – your suspicions are confirmed.
Line 4
Legge: To the subject of the fourth line, dynamic, it is said: "Remove your toes. Friends will then come, and there will be mutual confidence between you."
Wilhelm/Baynes: Deliver yourself from your great toe. Then the companion comes, and him you can trust.
Blofeld: A fumbled release. Put your trust in the friend(s) who will come. ["A fumbled release" is the result of my attempt to make something of three Chinese words -- "release" and "thumb" (or "big toe") joined by a grammatical particle with various possible meanings. Whether my guess is right or not, the commentary on the line makes it clear that the omen is not a fortunate one. Happily, an awkward situation will be relieved by the arrival of a friend (or friends).]
Liu: Loosen your big toe. When your friend comes, you can trust each other.
Ritsema/Karcher: Taking-apart and-also the thumbs. Partnering culminating, splitting-off conforming.
Shaughnessy: Untangling his hemlock; a friend arrives and returns this.
Cleary (1): Releasing your big toe, when the companion comes, then trust.
Cleary (2): Remove your big toe. When a companion comes, then you trust.
Wu: He unties his big toes. This will bring the trust of his friends.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The places of this line and of the third and first are all inappropriate to them. Wilhelm/Baynes: The place is not the appropriate one. Blofeld: A fumbled release is indicated by the unsuitable position of this line. Ritsema/Karcher: Not-yet an appropriate situation indeed. Cleary (2): You are not yet in the right position. Wu: Because he is out of place.
Legge: Line four is dynamic in a magnetic place, and his correlate is magnetic in a dynamic place. Such a union will not be productive of good. In the symbolism line one becomes the toe of line four. The K'ang-hsi editors say that "Line four is neither central nor in his correct place. He has line one for a correlate and line three for his close associate -- both of whom are magnetic in dynamic places. Hence it is said that they are all in places inappropriate to them."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man removes the inferior people who have attached themselves to him and have even become indispensable in some respects. This is a necessary prelude to great attainments. Their departure will enable him to cultivate friends with similar views and mutual confidence.
Wing: There are people who attach themselves to you for reasons of their own. This is a parasitic relationship, which may become habitual. You should liberate yourself from this kind of entanglement, since it repels others who might be valuable allies in your endeavors.
Editor: The respective meanings of lines one and four are derived from their correlation with each other. Note that this correlation is seen as favorable to line one, but unfavorable to line four. There are seven lines in theI Chingwhich mention toes, and all except the present one are first lines. In this case the toe referred to is the first line, which is magnetic in a dynamic place during a time of liberation from peril or stagnation. This suggests that from the point of view of line four, his magnetic correlate in the first place is a liability to be discarded. As regards the immanent assistance of "friends," Wilhelm comments that "the present line and the [dynamic line] in the second place are friends of kindred nature, jointly rendering loyal help to the ruler in the fifth place." Since line two is the only other dynamic line in the hexagram and is portrayed as a "hunter who disposes of inferior men," such help is obviously advantageous. As confusing as all this seems to be, the essential idea is clear enough: free yourself of a compulsion or entanglement in order to obtain help. (A toe either gives us the impetus to move or obstructs movement when we stumble over it.) Perhaps it represents a timid, conservative or over-cautious attitude which is holding us back.
It takes a great leap of imagination to conceive of this ego position. We are so much in the habit of taking our conscious selves for granted that our sense of ourselves seems to us the primary fact from which all other experiences arise merely secondarily. We find it difficult to regard the subjective experience of "I" as in any way secondary, as something through which some objective "other" -- namely, a "not-I," an objective psychic stratum -- brings itself to experience as consciousness, as a focal point of the total field in terms of space and time. E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
A. Liberate yourself from egotism and allow the trustworthy insights of the Self to guide you.
B. Control your compulsive fear or anxiety and success will come of itself.
C. The image suggests that perhaps you have fallen in with bad company – abandon inferior influences.
Line 6
Legge: In the sixth line, magnetic, we see a feudal prince with his bow shooting at a falcon on the top of a high wall, and hitting it. The effect of this action will be in every way advantageous.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The prince shoots at a hawk on a high wall. He kills it. Everything serves to further.
Blofeld: The prince shot an arrow and killed a hawk perching on a high wall. Everything is favorable!
Liu: A duke shoots a hawk on the high wall and catches it. Everything is beneficial.
Ritsema/Karcher: A prince avails-of shooting a hawk, tending- towards the high rampart's above. Without not Harvesting: catching it.
Shaughnessy: The duke herewith shoots a hawk on the top of a high wall, bagging it; there is nothing not beneficial.
Cleary (1): The prince shoots at a hawk on a high wall and gets it, to the benefit of all.
Wu: The duke aims his arrow at a hawk perching on a high city wall. He bags the predator. Nothing is disadvantageous.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Thus he removes the promoters of rebellion. Wilhelm/ Baynes: Thereby he delivers himself from those who resist. Blofeld: This means that he was able to liberate himself from perverse men. Ritsema/ Karcher: Using Taking- apart rebelling indeed. Cleary (2): The lord shoots the hawk to solve the conflict. Wu: To relieve the threat of sedition.
The Master said: "The falcon is a bird of prey; the bow and arrow is a weapon of war; the shooter is a man. The superior man keeps his weapon concealed about his person, and waits for the proper time to move; doing this, how should his movement be other than successful? There is nothing to fetter or embarrass movement, and hence when he comes forth, he succeeds in his object. The language speaks of movement when the instrument necessary to it is ready and perfect."
Legge: Line six is the highest line in the figure, but not the place of the ruler. Hence he appears as a feudal duke, who carries out the idea of the figure against inferior men.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Using hitherto concealed, ready, and perfect instruments, the man removes the powerful promoter of obstruction and rebellion.
Wing: Prepare yourself to forcefully dispense with a great adversary. This is done with careful planning and clever timing. This is a formidable enemy so you must be constantly alert. When you have removed this obstacle to your progress, everything that you attempt will succeed.
Editor: The line does not lend itself to the usual gender symbolism. Prince: Minor official -- the ego. Bow: The tension and release of aimed power -- conceptualization. Arrow: Perception, realization, that which pierces the heart of the matter. Hawk/Falcon: A predator bird. Swedenborg says: "Birds signify such things as relate to the understanding, and thence to thought and deliberation." The hawk, then, is aggressive, dangerous thinking. Confucius calls him a "promoter of rebellion," hence: undisciplined thinking, the source of an illusion. Wall: From the outside, it defines a space, outlines a perimeter; from the inside, it is protection from what lies outside: a division between one state or condition and another. A "high" wall suggests the realm of thought, ideas. The wall is the threshold, and the falcon is the guardian of the threshold.
Now the mind flies forth like an arrow from a cross-bow, to be the arbiter of right and wrong. Now it stays behind as if sworn to an oath, to hold on to what it has secured. Chuangtse
In this quote from Chuangtse, the first sentence describes the action of the prince, and the second sentence describes the function of the threshold guardian -- in this case the hawk. The line suggests the elimination of an illusion which thereby liberates one to explore a whole new realm of thought or experience.
A. Attain liberation by identifying and eliminating a dangerous entrenched thought, idea, attitude, concept or limiting belief which has been preventing a resolution of the matter at hand.
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