Getting one's breath back
One calms down when learning that others will not come. taoscopy.com
Decrease41
Simplify and reduce. Embrace minimalism to gain clarity and focus on what truly matters. Letting go can bring unexpected abundance.
↓ Line 2
Steadfastness is advantageous, but taking on new ventures may lead to trouble. By maintaining one's own resources, one can support others.
↓ Line 3
In a group, resources may be stretched thin, but solitude can lead to new alliances.
↓ Line 4
Reducing one's own shortcomings encourages others to approach with joy, leading to harmonious relationships.
↓ Line 5
External support is assured and unstoppable, leading to great success and prosperity.
↓ Line 6
Gaining without causing loss to others is blameless. Continued effort brings success, and one may gain assistance, though personal independence may be compromised.
↓ Revolution 49
Embrace transformation and change, recognizing the need for renewal. Be decisive and aware of timing, facilitating progress within yourself and your environment.
41 Decrease
Other titles: Decrease, The Symbol of Lessening, Loss, Diminishing, Reduction, Diminution of Excesses, Decline, Bringing into Balance, Dynamic Balance, Sacrifice, "Not necessarily material loss. Can mean decreasing the lower self to increase the higher." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Compensating Sacrifice means that sincerely maintained rectitude brings great success. Action is appropriate if one's sacrifice is sincere -- even two baskets of grain, though there be nothing else, may be offered.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Decrease combined with sincerity brings about supreme good fortune without blame. One may be persevering in this. It furthers one to undertake something. How is this to be carried out? One may use two small bowls for the sacrifice.
Blofeld: Loss accompanied by confidence -- sublime good fortune and no error! It is favorable to have in view some goal (or destination). If there is doubt as to what to use for the sacrifice, two small bowls will suffice.
Liu:Decrease with sincerity: great good fortune, no blame. One may continue. It is beneficial to go somewhere. How can this (decrease with sincerity) be done? One may use two bamboo containers of grain for a sacrifice.
Ritsema/Karcher: Diminishing, possessing conformity. Spring significant. Without fault, permitting Trial. Harvesting: possessing directed going. Asking-why: having availing of. Two platters permit availing-of presenting. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of sacrifice and loss. It emphasizes that lessening yourself and decreasing your involvements is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: There is a return; prime auspiciousness; there is no trouble. It can be determined. Beneficial to have someplace to go. Why use two tureens; you can use aromatic grass.
Cleary (1): Reduction with sincerity is very auspicious, impeccable. It should be correct. It is beneficial to go somewhere. What is the use of the two bowls? They can be used to receive.
Cleary (2): … It is beneficial to have somewhere to go, etc … They can be used for presentation.
Wu: Loss indicates that with confidence there will be great fortune, no error, perseverance, and advantage to have undertakings. What to use in offerings? Two boxes of grain are adequate.
The Image
Legge: The image of a mountain and beneath it the waters of a marsh form Compensating Sacrifice. The superior man, in accordance with this, restrains his wrath and represses his desires.
Wilhelm/Baynes: At the foot of the mountain, the lake: the image of Decrease. Thus the superior man controls his anger and restrains his instincts.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes a marshy lake at the foot of a mountain. The Superior Man keeps his anger under control and is moderate in his desires.
Liu: The lake beside the mountain symbolizes Decrease. The superior man curbs his indignation and restricts his desires.
Ritsema/Karcher: Below mountain possessing marsh. Diminishing. A chun tzu uses curbing anger to block the appetites.
Cleary (1): There is a lake under a mountain, reducing it. Thus does the superior person eliminate wrath and cupidity.
Cleary (2): Lake below a mountain – Reducing. Thus do developed people eliminate anger and greed.
Wu: There is a marsh below the mountain; this is Loss. Thus the jun zi mitigates his anger and restrains his desires.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In Compensating Sacrificethe lower trigram is diminished to increase the upper, and the flow is upward. The two baskets of grain accord with the time. There is a time when the strong should be diminished and the weak strengthened. Decrease and increase, overflowing and emptiness, take place in harmony with the demands of the time.
Legge: Ch'eng-tzu says: "Every diminution and repression of what we have in excess to bring it into accordance with right and reason is comprehended under Compensating Sacrifice. If there is sincerity in doing this it will lead to success and happiness, and even if the offering is small, yet it will be accepted."
The K'ang-hsi editors say: "What is meant by diminishing in this hexagram is the regulation of expenditure or contribution according to the time. This would vary in a family according to its poverty or wealth, and in a state according to the abundance or scantiness of its resources. If one supplements the insufficiency of his offering with the abundance of his sincerity, the insignificance of his two baskets will not be despised."
The waters of a marsh are continually rising up in vapor to bedew the hill above it, and thus increase its verdure. What is taken from the marsh gives increase to the hill.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: A sacrifice creates equilibrium.
The Superior Man sacrifices his appetites to a higher principle.
The traditional name for this hexagram is Decrease, but the lines and commentary all describe a compensating exchange of forces to attain equilibrium. The idea of "sacrifice" is mentioned in the Judgment, and that also might make a good title, though the image of two baskets of grain suggests a balancing scale: a "compensating" device. In this hexagram, the flow of energy moves from below upwards -- the waters of the lake or marsh are dispersed to enrich the mountain. In psychological terms we think of the ego sacrificing or decreasing its autonomy to achieve psychic equilibrium with the Self: we forfeit something valuable to obtain something even more valuable. Without this quid pro quo, the concept of sacrifice is meaningless and irrational.
A sacrifice is meant to be a loss, so that one may be sure that the egoistic claim no longer exists. Therefore the gift should be given as if it were being destroyed. But since the gift represents myself, I have in that case destroyed myself, given myself away without expectation of return. Yet, looked at in another way, this intentional loss is also a gain, for if you can give yourself it proves that you possess yourself. Nobody can give what he has not got. Jung -- Transformation Symbolism in the Mass
Compare the Image message from hexagram number 15, Temperance with the notion of a compensating balance: "The superior man, in accordance with this, diminishes his excesses to augment his insufficiencies, thus creating a just balance." We are reminded of another "Temperance" -- the 14th Arcanum of the Tarot, which depicts an angel pouring water from one vessel into another: "compensating." A comparison of its symbolism with that of hexagram number 41 yields many insights:
The Path of ... TEMPERANCE, leads from ... the Personality [ego] to the Higher Self ... The whole experience is one of preparation of the Personality [ego], and the body in which it is operating, to deal with an influx of Light which would be devastating to a system unready to handle such energy. Most important here is the monitoring of progress, the continual testing from above. It is the angel here which is at once the Higher Self and the initiatory forces of Nature, which pours the elixir from vase to vase. This is an ongoing process of testing; measuring to see how much the physical vehicle can bear. R. Wang --The Qabalistic Tarot
Without belaboring the point, we can see that all sacrifice is a kind of remuneration: it couldn't be otherwise in an interconnected universe. The Image instruction for the superior man to “control his anger” is also echoed in the Temperance card. This relates to:
...an aspect of the Mysteries only rarely discussed, and certainly germane to the Twenty-Fifth Path [the Kabbalistic equivalent of the relationship between lines one and four in this hexagram]: this is the very real hostility often felt by the student toward the Path itself, as he works day after day and seems to be getting nowhere. Such hostility and frustration is in itself a major test; it is part and parcel of the work prior to the emergence of inner proofs. -- Ibid
"Decrease with sincerity" (Liu) refers to one's continuous sacrifice for the goals of the Work, and "curbing anger" (Ritsema/Karcher) is how one handles the archetypal forces evoked when the decrease seems endless and you've yet to receive anything in return. Like any other hexagram, Compensating Sacrifice can symbolize an infinity of possible situations, but psychologically speaking we can first regard it as an image of sacrifice for the purpose of attaining a balance of power within the psyche. Without the sacrificial devotion of the ego, the Self cannot attain its will; and if the Self can't make it, the ego is doomed by default.
Line 2
Legge: The second line, dynamic, shows that it will be advantageous for its subject to maintain firm correctness, and that action on his part will be evil. He can give increase to his correlate without taking from himself.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Perseverance furthers. To undertake something brings misfortune. Without decreasing oneself, one is able to bring increase to others.
Blofeld: Persistence in a righteous course brings reward, but to advance (or go anywhere) now would bring misfortune. This is not a time for decreasing but for augmenting.
Liu: To continue is beneficial. Undertakings bring misfortune. Without decrease, without increase.
Ritsema/Karcher: Harvesting Trial. Chastising: pitfall. Nowhere Diminishing, augmenting it.
Shaughnessy: Beneficial to determine; to be upright is inauspicious. Not decreasing it, but increasing it.
Cleary (1): It is beneficial to be correct. An expedition is inauspicious. No reduction or increase of this. [If you do not know when enough is enough and go on reducing and increasing, you will reactivate the human mentality and thus obscure the mind of Tao … It is because the strong energy is balanced, not biased or lopsided, that there is no more reduction or increasing to be done.]
Cleary (2): … Increase it without reduction.
Wu: It is advantageous to be firm and correct, but foreboding to go ahead. His decision of not taking a loss will benefit the other. [It may be justifiable for the below to support the above in a very moderate way in time of Loss, but it would be unacceptable by asking the below to give up all of its possessions … to satisfy the above.]
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: His central position gives its character to his aim. Wilhelm/Baynes: It has the correct mean in its mind. Blofeld: The central position of this line in the lower trigram indicates that persistence will be rewarded by the fulfillment of what is willed. Ritsema/Karcher: Centering using activating purposes indeed. Cleary (2): The balance that characterizes its aim. Wu: He is to remain central.
Legge: Line two is dynamic and in the central place. But he is in the place of a magnetic line, and should maintain his position without moving to help his fifth line correlate. Maintaining his own firm correctness is the best way to give assistance. " His aim" is to abide where he is and help the fifth line by the exhibition of firm correctness.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man renders faithful service without sacrificing himself. Forfeiting one's dignity and personality to do the bidding of a person of high rank is shameful.
Wing: When aiding others, be certain to maintain your sense of dignity. If the nature of your task diminishes your strength or compromises your principles, or if you sacrifice your personality to please your superior, you are acting shamefully. Only efforts that do not diminish your Self are worthwhile.
Editor: This line changes the hexagram to number twenty- seven, Nourishing, the corresponding line of which carries a similar message, i.e., the idea that one's impetus to act is incorrect. Lines one and three each show some variation of active compensating (balancing) going on. Here in line two, which is the center of the lower trigram, action is inappropriate. It is the fulcrum or point of balance which must remain stationary. Note the subtle differences in the various translations of the last sentence. You decide.
The Sage uses his mind like a mirror. It remains in its place passively, and it gives back what it receives without concealment. Therefore it can overcome things without distorting them. Chuangtse
A. You serve the Work best now by remaining in place. Willpower, non-action and example are all the assistance that is required.
B. Maintain the status-quo.
Line 3
Legge: The third line, magnetic, shows how of three men walking together, the number is diminished by one; and how one, walking, finds his friend.
Wilhelm/Baynes: When three people journey together, their number decreases by one. When one man journeys alone, he finds a companion.
Blofeld: If three set forth together now, one will be lost on the way; whereas one man going forth alone will find company.
Liu: Three people walking together will lose one. When one walks alone, he will meet a friend.
Ritsema/Karcher: Three people moving, by-consequence Diminishing the-one-person. The-one-person moving. By-consequence acquiring one's friend.
Shaughnessy: If three men move then they will decrease by one man; if one man moves then he will obtain his friend.
Cleary (1): Three people traveling are reduced by one person; one person traveling finds a companion.
Cleary (2): … One person traveling gets companionship.
Wu: When three persons walk, one will be left out. When one walks alone, he will find a friend.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: When three are together, doubts arise among them. Wilhelm/Baynes: If a person should seek to journey as one of three, mistrust would arise. Blofeld: It is well to travel alone now, as three would give rise to suspicion. Ritsema/Karcher: Three by-consequence doubting indeed. Cleary (2): When one person travels, three then doubt. Wu: Three would create doubts.
The Master said: "Heaven and earth come together, and all things take shape and find form. Male and female mix their seed, and all creatures take shape and are born. In the Book of Changes it is said: `When three people journey together, their number decreases by one. When one man journeys alone, he finds a companion.' This refers to the effect of becoming one."
Legge: Chu Hsi says that the lower trigram was originally three yang lines, like "three men" walking together, and that the third line was removed and made into the topmost line of the upper trigram which was originally three yin lines. This exchange of places between lines three and six maintains their proper correlation and suggests the proper pairing of affinities. The K'ang-hsi editors observe that this line is true not only of three men, but of many repetitions of thought or action.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: A close bond is possible only between two persons. A group of three engenders jealousy. The lone man finds a complementary companion.
Wing: The closest bonds are now possible only between two persons. Groups of three create jealousy and mistrust and will eventually splinter. Yet someone who remains alone becomes lonely and will seek a companion. It is time to strike a proper balance.
Editor: The original condition described by Chu Hsi is an image of hexagram number eleven, Harmony, which represents the correct union of male and female forces. Psychologically the Syzygy archetype is suggested: the proper pairing of male and female which is seen in its supreme state in the hieros gamos or holy marriage. (See commentary on hexagram eleven for further detail.) A dialectical process is also implied.
God unfolds himself in the world in the form of syzygies (paired opposites), such as heaven/earth, day/night, male/female, etc ... At the end of this fragmentation process there follows the return to the beginning, the consummation of the universe through purification and annihilation. Jung -- Aion
A. The image suggests a sorting-out of affinities to attain balance or unity. Forces are seeking their natural level.
B. "Birds of a feather flock together."
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, magnetic, shows its subject diminishing the ailment under which she labors by making the subject of the first line hasten to her help, and make her glad. There will be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: If a man decreases his faults, it makes the other hasten to come and rejoice. No blame.
Blofeld: He reduced the number of ills besetting him and thus hastened the arrival of happiness -- no error!
Liu: If he decreases his sickness (or faults) quickly, he will be happy. No blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Diminishing one's affliction. Commissioning swiftly possesses rejoicing. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: Decreasing his illness; serving ends has happiness; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Reducing sickness, causing there to be joy quickly, there is no fault.
Cleary (2): Reducing the ailment causes there to be joy soon. No blame.
Wu: His illness is alleviated and conditions are quickly improved. There is joy. No error.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: This is a matter for joy. Wilhelm/Baynes: It is indeed something that gives cause for joy. Blofeld: A reduction of troubles is in itself a cause for happiness. Ritsema/Karcher: Truly permitting rejoicing indeed. Cleary (2): Reducing the ailment is a matter of joy. Wu: Capable of alleviating his illness is a cause for joy.
Legge: Line four is magnetic in a magnetic place, like someone ailing and unable to perform her proper work. But her first line correlate is strong, and is made to hasten to four's relief. The joy of the line shows her desire to do her part in the work of the hexagram.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: As a consequence of giving up his bad habits, the man attracts the help of well-disposed friends.
Wing: If you can now locate your shortcomings and bad habits and make a serious attempt to decrease them you will be approached by friends and helpers. A humble attitude on your part will open the way to progressive interaction and joy.
Editor: The full meaning of this line is best evoked by comparing it with its first line correlate. All translations render line four in the imagery of decreasing one's faults (or illness). That is: rid yourself of error and happiness will come to you. Legge's version depicts incapacity which is overcome through a correct union with line one. Taken in this sense, the line can symbolize the Self (line four, upper trigram of Heaven) gaining from the ego's sacrifice in spacetime (line one, lower trigram of Earth). Whatever the context of your query, the image here is of a harmonization of forces to bring about balance.
Man is a materialized thought; he is what he thinks. To change his nature from the mortal to the immortal state he must cease to hold fast in his thoughts to that which is illusory and perishing, and hold on to that which is eternal. F. Hartmann --Paracelsus: Life and Prophecies
A. A decrease in error is an increase in truth.
B. The elimination of imbalance promotes union; the elimination of illusion makes room for joy.
C. The one above (the Self) accepts your aid, endorses your action, etc.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, magnetic, shows parties adding to the stores of its subject ten pairs of tortoise shells, and accepting no refusal. There will be great good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Someone does indeed increase him. Ten pairs of tortoises cannot oppose it. Supreme good fortune.
Blofeld: There was one who enriched him to the extent of ten PENG of tortoise shells (2,100 of them) and who would accept no refusal -- sublime good fortune!
Liu: He is enriched by twenty tortoises and he cannot refuse. Great good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Maybe augmenting's ten: partnering's tortoise. Nowhere a controlling contradiction. Spring significant.
Shaughnessy: Increasing it by ten double-strands of turtles; you cannot deflect it; prime auspiciousness.
Cleary (1): One is given a profit of ten pairs of tortoise shells. None can oppose. Very auspicious.
Wu: He may be presented with ten pairs of tortoise shells and may not decline the gift. This is great fortune.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: This is due to the blessing from above. Wilhelm/Baynes: The supreme good fortune comes from its being blessed from above. Blofeld: Good fortune coming from those above. Ritsema/Karcher: Originating-from shielding above indeed. Cleary (2): Help from above. Wu: He has been blessed from heaven.
Legge: Line five is the seat of the ruler, who is here humble, and welcomes the assistance of her correlate in line two. She is a ruler whom all her subjects of ability will rejoice to serve in every possible way, and the result will be great good fortune.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Fate has marked the man for good fortune. Nothing opposes him. He needs fear nothing.
Wing: You are marked by fate. Nothing stands in the way of this. It comes about through refined inner forces that have led you into this situation. Fear nothing. Good fortune.
Editor: The most ancient method of divination in China involved the use of tortoise shells (Plastromancy). The yarrow stalk and coin methods didn't come into vogue until after King Wen committed the I Ching to writing. At the time that this line was composed then, to receive ten pairs of tortoise shells was a very numinous gift -- perhaps equivalent to "having God on your side.” The "blessing from above” is mentioned by some commentators as a reference to the oracles obtained through divining with the tortoise shells, and could be construed as an endorsement of your interpretative skills. This line changes the hexagram to number sixty-one,Inner Truth, the corresponding line of which expresses the idea of a beneficial synthesis of forces.
Good fortune is a god among men, and more than a god. Aeschylus
A. A great reward -- the context of your query will tell you what it is.
B. Beneficial energy is on its way.
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, dynamic, shows its subject giving increase to others without taking from himself. There will be no error. With firm correctness there will be good fortune. There will be advantage in every movement that shall be made. He will find ministers more than can be counted by their clans.
Wilhelm/Baynes: If one is increased without depriving others, there is no blame. Perseverance brings good fortune. It furthers one to undertake something. One obtains servants but no longer has a separate home. [Through perseverance and zealous work a man wins success and finds helpers as they are needed. But what he accomplishes is not a limited private advantage; it is a public good and available to everyone… There are loyal helpers, but not for promoting family interests.]
Blofeld: Gain which causes no loss to others involves no error. Persistence in a righteous course brings good fortune. It is favorable to have in view some goal (or destination). He obtains followers but not a family (or home).
Liu: If one increases (gains) without anyone decreasing (losing), no blame. To continue brings good fortune. It is beneficial to go somewhere else; one will find a helper after leaving home.
Ritsema/Karcher: Nowhere Diminishing, augmenting it. Without fault. Trial: significant. Harvesting: possessing directed going. Acquiring a servant, without dwelling.
Shaughnessy: Not decreasing it, but increasing it; there is no trouble; determination is auspicious; there is someplace to go; obtain a servant without family.
Cleary (1): Not reducing or increasing this is faultless. Correctness brings good fortune. It is beneficial to go somewhere. Getting a servant, there is no house. [The mind of Tao is the master, the human mind is the servant. When the mind of Tao is in charge of things, every step, every undertaking, is celestial design; personal desires do not arise, and even the human mind transforms into the mind of Tao: “getting a servant, there is no house” … This is returning to ultimate good by reduction.]
Cleary (2): Increase without reduction, and there will be no blame. Correctness leads to good results. There is somewhere to go. Getting an administrator without a house. [To increase the third yin, it is necessary not to reduce the top yang. This is because the third yin as an administrator is in the position of “losing one’s home in the service of the country,” but the top yang perceives the sincerity of this lone journey, so this is “great attainment of the objective,” and the third yin considers this “getting companionship.” This is called “increase without reduction.”]
Wu: His wishes of not taking a loss will benefit others. No error. Perseverance brings auspiciousness. It is advantageous to have undertakings. His subordinates are so dedicated to their assignments that they act as if they had no families.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He obtains his wish on a grand scale. Wilhelm/Baynes: He attains his will in great measure. Blofeld: The first sentence presages the complete fulfillment of what is willed. Ritsema/Karcher: The great acquiring purpose indeed. Cleary (2): Increase without reduction is great attainment of the objective. Wu: His aspiration is fully realized.
Legge: Line six has been changed from a magnetic to a dynamic line from line three. He has received the greatest increase and will carry out the idea of the hexagram in the highest degree and style. He can increase others without diminishing his own resources, and the benefit will be incalculable. Ministers will come to serve him, and not one from each clan only, but many. Ch'eng-tzu says on line six: "Dwelling on high and taking nothing from those below him, but on the contrary giving more to them, the superior man accomplishes his aim on a grand scale. The aim of the superior man is simply to be increasing what others have -- that and nothing else.”
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man increases in power and dispenses blessings to the world without diminishing his own resources. Everyone willingly serves him because he does not siphon off resources to his private advantage.
Wing: Expand your goals to encompass a more universal pursuit. In this way others will lend support. Your successes will lead you to a new public awareness. You may find this social position and responsibility a desirable new life-style and a benefit to many.
Editor: There is a conceptual disagreement between Legge's rendition of this line and that of the other translators. Legge: “increasing others while not decreasing oneself.” Wilhelm: “increasing oneself without decreasing others.” Cleary’s Buddhist version is the most neutral: “increase without reduction.” My understanding of the hexagram is that it depicts a process of active compensation -- the continuous give and take of life which maintains a fair equilibrium: neither pole imbalances the other. Psychologically interpreted, the sentence about the “servant but no home,” suggests the creation of a kind of Psychic Commonwealth in which all the complexes have become integrated enough to abandon their partisan interests and serve the intentions of the Self. The ego as an administrator or servant is essential for the attainment of this.
Insofar as analytical treatment makes the “shadow” conscious, it causes a cleavage and a tension of opposites which in their turn seek compensation in unity. Jung –Memories, Dreams, Reflections
It may be thought that a few initiates living life according to principle could have little effect on the vast mass of people living their lives in various degrees of chaos, seeking only after pleasure and profit rather than principle. The point is, though, that a life lived with talismanic intention has far greater force than one that has its patterns based, not on spiritual reality, but on day to day physical expediency. Gareth Knight -- Qabalistic Symbolism
A. A harmonious alliance or balance of power is created through the wise apportionment of energy and resources.
B. It costs you nothing to benefit the situation.
C. Increase without decrease.
49 Revolution
Other titles: Revolution(s), Transformation, Skinning, The Bridle, The Symbol of Change, Molting, Leather, Skin, Molt, Cut Off, Changing, Radical Change, Overthrowing
Judgment
Legge: Metamorphosis is believed in only after it has been accomplished. Firm correctness abolishes regret and brings successful progress.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Revolution. On your own day you are believed. Supreme success, furthering through perseverance. Remorse disappears.
Blofeld: Revolution. Not before the day of its completion will men have faith in it -- sublime success! Determination in a righteous course brings reward; regret vanishes! [Very often, this means renovation, as of character, etc. But it may also mean exactly what it says; Confucius, though he regarded loyalty to the ruler as one of the highest virtues, recognized that evil men forfeit their right to rule by their excesses, and it is probable that this notion antedates him by many centuries.]
Liu: Revolution. When the appropriate day comes, the people will believe in it. Great success. It is beneficial to continue. Remorse vanishes.
Ritsema/Karcher: Skinning; before-zenith sun, thereupon conforming. Spring Growing Harvesting Trial. Repenting extinguished. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of stripping away a protective cover. It emphasizes that radically changing and renewing the way you present yourself is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy:The Bridle: on the si day then return; prime receipt; beneficial to determine; regret is gone.
Cleary (1): Inrevolution, the sun of the self is truth: This is creative, developmental, fruitful, and perfect. Regret vanishes. [In old texts when it says that the alchemical elixir is in people, but first they have to refine the self and wait for the proper time, this means to make a radical purge of all the pollution of past influences and not let any flaws remain in the heart.]
Cleary (2):Change is believed in on the day it is completed. It is very successful, beneficial if correct. Regret vanishes.
Wu: Reform indicates that revolution will become credible when the time is ripe. In this way, it is great and pervasive and advantageous to be persevering. Regret will disappear.
The Image
Legge: A fire in the marsh -- the image of Metamorphosis. The superior man synchronizes his astronomical calculations to clarify the times and seasons.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Fire in the lake: the image ofRevolution. Thus the superior man sets the calendar in order and makes the seasons clear.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes fire rising from a marshy lake. The Superior Man regulates the calendar and thus ensures that men are clear about times and seasons.
Liu: Within the lake, fire -- this symbolizes Revolution. The superior man makes a calendar, clearly arranging the seasons.
Ritsema/Karcher: Marsh center possessing fire. Skinning. A chun tzu uses regulating time-reckoning to brighten the seasons.
Cleary (1): There is fire in a lake, changing. Thus do superior people make a calendar and clarify the seasons.
Cleary (2): Fire in a lake – changing. Leaders make calendars to define the seasons.
Wu: There is fire below the marsh; this is Reform. Thus, the jun zi is inspired to develop a calendrical system for keeping time.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In Metamorphosis, Water and Fire extinguish each other. When two daughters with opposing viewpoints live together, change is inevitable; but after the change is accomplished, faith is accorded to it: Clarity brings good cheer and progress through what is correct. When a transformation is properly accomplished, all occasion for regret disappears. Heaven and earth undergo their changes, and the four seasons complete their functions. The rulers of old transformed the state in accordance with the will of heaven and in response to the wishes of men. Great indeed is what takes place in a time of change.
Legge: The written character translated as Metamorphosis is used here in the sense of changing. Originally used for the skin of an animal or bird, it received the significance of changing at a very early time. The figure deals with the subject of changes which are called for in the state of the country. The necessity for change is recognized, and hints are given as to the spirit and manner in which they should be brought about.
The Judgment assumes that change is viewed by people generally with suspicion and dislike, and therefore should not be made hastily. [This can refer to inner complexes, habits, etc. – Ed.] When the necessity for change has been proven beforehand and subsequently carried out with firm correctness, then the issue will turn out satisfactorily.
The lower trigram is the symbol for Fire and the upper for Water. Water extinguishes fire, and fire dries up water. Each "changes" the other. The lower trigram is also the second daughter and the upper is the youngest daughter. In the scheme of the trigrams these two are seen to be mutually incompatible.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Hidden within its cocoon the caterpillar becomes a butterfly -- who would believe it until the Metamorphosis was complete?
The Superior Man recognizes that celestial sequences create changes only when they are due; he therefore acts in accordance with the requirements of the times.
The forty-ninth hexagram makes an analogy between the natural Metamorphosisof animal pelts and the proper way to regard radical changes in government. Lines one, five and six all refer to skin, and two, three and four refer to politics. The general idea is that radical transformations occur at their own natural pace -- they cannot be successfully forced any more than eggs can be made to hatch before their time. The Image makes this point in its reference to the celestial correlation of the seasons.
There is a time for everything,
A time for every occupation under heaven:
A time for giving birth,
A time for dying;
A time for planting,
A time for uprooting what has been planted (etc)...
Ecclesiastes 3: 1-2
Once one assumes conscious responsibility for the Work, there comes a long and indefinite period in which one labors unceasingly without any visible results at all. Dream images and I Ching meditations will indicate that progress is being made, but the ego's life in spacetime consists of seemingly fruitless labor in the service of a transcendental ideal. This is a universal experience -- it happens to everyone who undertakes the Work. In the Western Mystery Tradition it is known as the Dark Night of the Soul. (See Hexagram Number-36 for further insights into this unavoidable phenomenon.)
The Personality undergoes a willful "death,” surrendering everything that it believes itself to be. Most difficult is that this total surrender of life, this initiatory sacrifice, must precede the experience of cosmic awareness. One is required to give up the totality of one's being, one's very life, in relative darkness, yet in the faith that there will be a resurrection into the Light. R. Wang -- The Qabalistic Tarot
Psychologically interpreted, Metamorphosis means that changes are taking place in the unconscious psyche, but don't expect them to manifest until their growth is complete. The ego must recognize this and persevere with the Work, even when "common sense" counsels otherwise. It is a period of probation and trial, and many there are who fail the test.
There is no short cut without impeding growth or setting the flow pattern of the Soul back, until each physical or psychological function has been correctly connected or developed ... Many aspirants do not perceive this law and become impatient and even lose faith when Providence seems to be holding back. Nothing occurs outside its time as it is part of a sequence in the great cosmic cycle that unfolds the Grand Design of Existence. Z.B.S. Halevi -- Kabbalah and Exodus
If there is any consolation in this terrible ordeal, it is that others have made the journey before you, and survived. Keep the faith that, in the imagery of this hexagram, the lower trigram of Clear Perception following the upper trigram of Cheerfulness will lead you through the most challenging of all transformations.
Where the issue of ultimate meaning is constellated, transformation will eventually occur, even though only by way of a great deal of suffering. E. C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest