Condemning the lack of manners
One will come by to talk about someone who misbehaved. taoscopy.com
Increase42
Growth and progress: Favorable conditions and efforts lead to increase and success. Be generous, share your gains, and stay humble.
↓ Line 1
The beginning of Increase is a time of great potential. Taking initiative leads to success.
↓ Line 2
Support from others and perseverance lead to great success and recognition.
↓ Line 4
Being balanced and communicative leads to influence and the ability to enact change.
↓ Line 5
True kindness and sincerity bring ultimate good fortune and recognition.
↓ Before Completion64
Completing a task doesn’t guarantee rest. Remain vigilant, attentive to evolving situations, ready to adapt and act as needed.
42 Increase
Other titles: The Symbol of Addition, Gain, Augmenting, Help from Above, Benefit, Advantage, Profit, Expansion
Judgment
Legge: Increase denotes advantage in every movement which shall be undertaken -- it will be advantageous even to cross the great stream.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Increase. It furthers one to undertake something. It furthers one to cross the great water.
Blofeld: Gain. It is favorable to have in view some goal (or destination) and to cross the great water (or sea).
Liu:Increase. It is of benefit to set forth. It is of benefit to cross the great water.
Ritsema/Karcher: Augmenting , Harvesting: possessing directed going. Harvesting: wading the Great River. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of increase and advance. It emphasizes that expanding the quantity and quality of your involvement is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to augment!]
Shaughnessy:Increase:Beneficial herewith to have someplace to go; beneficial to find the great river.
Cleary (1): For Increase, it is beneficial to go somewhere; it is beneficial to cross great rivers.
Wu: Gain indicates an advantage in having undertakings and in crossing a big river.
The Image
Legge: Wind over thunder -- the image of Increase. When the superior man perceives good, he moves toward it; when he perceives his faults, he eliminates them.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Wind and thunder: the image of Increase. Thus the superior man: if he sees good, he imitates it; if he has faults, he rids himself of them.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes wind and thunder. The Superior Man, seeing what is good, imitates it; seeing what is bad, he corrects it.
Liu: Wind and thunder symbolize Increase. When the superior man discovers good, he follows it. When he has errors, he corrects them.
Ritsema/Karcher: Wind, thunder. Augmenting. A chun tzu uses visualizing improvement, by-consequence shifting. A chun tzu uses possessing excess, by-consequence amending.
Cleary (1): Wind and thunder increase. Thus do superior people take to good when they see it, and correct whatever faults they have.
Wu: Wind and thunder make Gain. Thus, when the jun zi sees a good deed, he improves his own at once; when he realizes he is making a mistake, he corrects it at once.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Increase shows the upper trigram brilliantly decreased to augment the lower. What descends from above reaches to all below, and the satisfaction of the people is without limit. Advantage in movement is shown in the blessings dispensed by the second and fifth lines from their correct positions. The action of Wood shows that it is advantageous to cross the great stream. Through the trigrams of Movement and Humility there is unlimited daily advancement -- heaven dispenses and earth produces, and all proceeds according to the requirements of the time.
Legge: Increase has the opposite meaning to hexagram number forty-one, Compensating Sacrifice [Decrease]. What king Wen had in mind was a ruler or a government operating to dispense benefits to the people and increase their resources. The two important lines in the figure are the correlates two and five. The general auspice of the hexagram is one of being successful in one's enterprises and of overcoming the greatest difficulties.
The formation of the trigrams here is the reverse of that in the preceding hexagram. The people are full of pleasure in the labors of the ruler for their good. "The action of Wood" in the Confucian commentary refers to the upper trigram, which is the symbol of Wind and Wood. From wood boats are made on which the great stream may be crossed. In three hexagrams, this, fifty-nine and sixty-one, in which this is the upper trigram, we find mention made of crossing the great stream. In the Image thunder and wind are seen to increase one another, and their combination gives the idea of Increase.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Take advantage of your opportunities.
The Superior Man recognizes his duty and rectifies his mistakes. Or: "Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative."
If the ego's sacrifices for the good of the Work are described in the previous hexagram, here we see the inverse image of that figure in which it is the Self who bestows its blessings upon the psyche. The one implies the other -- in the words of an old Blues lyric: "If you don't put somethin' in, you can't get nothin' out..." The forty-first and forty-second hexagrams are intimately related, and in their interaction portray the active progress of the Work. To paraphrase the last sentence of the Confucian commentary: "The Self dispenses and the ego produces, and all proceeds according to the requirements of the time."
If a man continually weighs his actions and aims at the mean, he is in the highest of human ranks. In that way, he will come close to God and will attain what belongs to Him. This is the most perfect of the ways of worship. Maimonides -- Eight Chapters
Line 1
Legge: The first line, dynamic, shows that it will be advantageous for its subject in his position to make a great movement. If it be greatly fortunate, no blame will be imputed to him.
Wilhelm/Baynes: It furthers one to accomplish great deeds. Supreme good fortune. No blame.
Blofeld: The time is favorable for undertaking great works -- sublime good fortune and no error!
Liu: It is beneficial to undertake a great enterprise. Sublime good fortune. No blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Harvesting: availing-of activating the great, arousing. Spring significant, without fault.
Shaughnessy: Beneficial herewith to do the great creation; prime auspiciousness; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): It is beneficial to act so as to do great work: this is very auspicious and blameless.
Cleary (2): It is beneficial to undertake to do great work. If it turns out very well, there is no blame.
Wu: It is beneficial to do farming. There is great fortune, no error.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Though it is not for one in so low a position to have to do with great affairs. Wilhelm/Baynes: Those below do not use it for their own convenience. Blofeld: What is said about sublime good fortune and freedom from error means that those below do not complain of having too much to do. [This suggests that others will now work for us gladly.]Ritsema/Karcher: The below, not munificent affairs indeed. Cleary (2): It is not for those in low positions to be deeply concerned with affairs. Wu: A person in this position is not suitable to do a delicate task.
Legge: Line one is dynamic, but his low position might seem to prevent him from any great enterprise. Favored as he is, however, by the general idea of the hexagram, and responding to his proper correlate in the fourth line, it is natural that he should make a movement. Great success will make his rashness irrelevant. The Confucian commentary says that "one in a low position should not move in great affairs" -- not a son, it is said, while his father is alive, nor a minister while his ruler governs, nor a member of an official department while its head directs its affairs. If such a one does initiate such an affair, only great success will excuse his rashness.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, the man receives help from on high. He should use it to accomplish something correspondingly worthwhile. Success will cause his rashness to be forgotten.
Wing: You are blessed with the energy to approach a large task, which at any other time you may have avoided or not even considered. Success is yours if your goal is worthwhile and can Benefit others. Consider this carefully. In this way your reputation will remain above reproach.
Editor: Despite the confusing Confucian commentary, this is one of the very few lines in the entire Book of Changes that counsels unconstrained movement. Psychologically interpreted, action taken in the matter at hand will be in accordance with the will of the Self.
One must seek out what one's True Will is, and do it -- irrespective of whether it is convenient or not. Once one’s true will is found, to implement it will require change, and change is always painful -- or always appears so. Gareth Knight -- Qabalistic Symbolism
A. Decisive action may be taken now.
B. Archetypal forces ("those below") cooperate with the ego to effect positive action.
C. "Go for it!"
Line 2
Legge: The second line, magnetic, shows parties adding to the stores of its subject ten pairs of tortoise shells whose oracles cannot be opposed. Let her persevere in being firm and correct, and there will be good fortune. Let the ruler, having the virtues thus distinguished, employ them in presenting her offerings to God, and there will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Someone does indeed increase him; Ten pairs of tortoises cannot oppose it. Constant perseverance brings good fortune. The king presents him before God. Good fortune.
Blofeld: There was one who enriched him to the extent of ten PENG or tortoise shells (2,100 of them) and who would accept no refusal -- unwavering persistence in a righteous course brings good fortune! The King sacrificed to the Supreme Lord of Heaven [From the point of view of divination, this can be taken to mean that we are about to benefit either from our earlier devotions or from some sacrifice either to moral principles or to the public good.] -- good fortune!
Liu: Someone enriches him with twenty tortoises. He cannot refuse. Perpetual continuance brings good fortune. The king makes a presentation to God. Good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Maybe Augmenting's ten: partnering's tortoise. Nowhere a controlling contradiction. Perpetual Trial significant. Kinghood availing-of presenting tending- towards the supreme, significant.
Shaughnessy: Someone increases it by ten double-strands of turtles; you cannot deflect it; permanent determination is auspicious. The king uses aromatic grass to Di; auspicious.
Cleary (1): One gains ten sets of tortoise shells, and none can oppose. Perpetual correctness is auspicious. It is good for the king to serve the lord.
Cleary (2): … It bodes well to be always correct. It bodes well for the king to make offerings to God.
Wu: He may be presented with ten pairs of tortoise shells and may not decline the gift. Being constantly persevering is auspicious. The king makes offerings to the Supreme Being in heaven. Auspicious.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: ("Parties add to her stores") -- they come from beyond her immediate circle to do so. Wilhelm/Baynes: This comes from without. Blofeld: The one who enriched him came from elsewhere. Ritsema/ Karcher: Originating-from outside, coming indeed. Cleary (2): What one is given comes from outside. Wu: Because it comes from without.
Legge: Compare this line with line five of hexagram number forty-one, Compensating Sacrifice. Line two is magnetic, but in the center, and is the correlate of line five. Friends give her the valuable gifts mentioned. "That is," says Kuo Yung (Sung Dynasty) "men benefit her. The oracles of the divination (i.e., the favorable spirits) benefit her also. And finally, when the ruler sacrifices to God, God accepts. Heaven confers benefit from above." Line five, as the proper correlate here, is among the contributing parties, but others beyond will be won to take part with him.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The ensuing gains issue naturally from the inner goodness of the man, who is in harmony with the highest laws of the universe.
Wing: Because you are receptive to worthwhile aims and energies, you are successful in your endeavors. You may think of it as exceptionally good luck. You can maintain the momentum of this fortunate time if you preserve the normal structure of your life. Do not become rash or overly confident.
Editor: If we reverse this hexagram it becomes number forty- one, Compensating Sacrifice,and this line (now "upside down") becomes line five of that figure, with a meaning nearly identical to this one. (See the commentary on 41:5 for the significance of the tortoise shells.) It is also interesting to note that in each case the changing line (either 42:2 or 41:5) changes its respective hexagram to number sixty-one, Inner Truth. Kuo Yung's mention of "favorable spirits" bringing increases to the recipient of this line is reminiscent of the legions of angels said to appear at the birth or inception of a new and positive force into spacetime:
And suddenly with the angel there was a great throng of the heavenly host, praising God and singing: "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace to men who enjoy his favor." Luke 2: 13-14
A. Extraordinary benefits accrue from outside your immediate awareness. The Work bears fruit if you maintain your will and devotion.
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, magnetic, shows its subject pursuing the due course. Her advice to her prince is followed. She can with advantage be relied on in such a movement as that of removing the capital.
Wilhelm/Baynes: If you walk in the middle and report to the prince, he will follow. It furthers one to be used in the removal of the capital.
Blofeld: He walked up the center of the hall and informed the Prince of his fealty. It is favorable to be entrusted with the task of removing the capital.
Liu: If you are moderate in your conduct, people will follow you. It is beneficial to be dependent or move to a new place.
Ritsema/Karcher: Center moving. Notifying the prince, adhering. Harvesting: availing-of activating depending-on shifting the city.
Shaughnessy: In the middle of the ranks reporting to the duke to follow; beneficial herewith to make a family and to transfer the state.
Cleary (1): When balanced action is openly expressed, the public follows. It is beneficial to use a support to move the nation.
Cleary (2): Balanced action openly expressed is followed impartially. It is beneficial to use this as a basis to move the center of operations.
Wu: When his approach is central, the prince will value his counsel. It will be beneficial to counsel the prince on relocating the capital.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Her only object is the increase of the general good. Wilhelm/Baynes: "If you report to the prince, he will follow," because his purposes are thereby increased. Blofeld: He reported his fealty so as to be of use in carrying out the Prince's will. Ritsema/Karcher: Using Augmenting purpose indeed. Cleary (2): Open expression of impartial following is because of the beneficial aim. Wu: his goal is to benefit the state.
Legge: Line four is the place of the minister -- next to the ruler. She is magnetic, but her position is appropriate, and since she follows the due course, her ruler listens to her and even supports the most critical movements. Changing the capital from place to place was frequent in feudal China. That of Shang, which preceded Chou, was changed five times.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: As the mediator between the prince and his followers, the man renders proper advice on the distribution of benefits. If he does not retain portions for selfish purposes and follows a moderate course, he will retain the confidence of all for executing critical projects.
Wing: You have the opportunity to act as a mediator between someone in a higher position than yourself and those below you, whom you represent. If you express yourself in a reasonable manner and make Benefit to all concerned the first priority of your interests, your advice will be followed. This influential position can have far-reaching effects.
Editor: This is an image of trustworthiness. All the translators except Legge emphasize the idea of moderation, or "walking in the middle." Wilhelm and Liu also make it a conditional statement: “If” you follow the middle way, etc.
The ego has both to exert and to restrain its power drive, not only in respect to inner and outer entities but in respect also to its own position and needs as conscious center. This means that the function of the ego is not only one of controlling but of balancing and directing...It has the task of emotional integration of experience, that is, of adaptation to the inner world by realizing itself in relation to the Self, to the total functioning authority. E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
A. Balanced devotion to the Work will ensure the reciprocity of inner forces. A new seat of power may thus be created within the psyche.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, dynamic, shows its subject with sincere heart seeking to benefit all below. There need be no question about it; the result will be great good fortune. All below will with sincere heart acknowledge his goodness.
Wilhelm/Baynes: If in truth you have a kind heart, ask not. Supreme good fortune. Truly, kindness will be recognized as your virtue.
Blofeld: Be confident (or sincere) and kind, but refrain from asking questions and you will enjoy sublime good fortune. Faithfulness (or sincerity) and confidence are virtues proper to us.
Liu: If you are sincere and benevolent in your heart, without consulting, there will be great good fortune. People will trust your benevolent character.
Ritsema/Karcher: Possessing conformity, a benevolent heart. No question, Spring significant. Possessing conformity, benevolence: my actualizing tao.
[Actualize-tao: ...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.]
Shaughnessy: There is a return with a kind heart; do not question it; prime auspiciousness. There is a return that treats kindly my virtue.
Cleary (1): When there is truthfulness and a benevolent heart, there is no need to ask – it is very auspicious. Truthfulness and benevolence are charismatic qualities in oneself.
Cleary (2): There is sincerity to benefit the mind. Do not ask – it is very auspicious. There is sincerity granting one’s rewards.
Wu: Having confidence in his people and being benevolent-hearted, he enjoys great auspiciousness without asking for it. His people return his kindly virtue by placing their confidence in him.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He gets what he desires on a great scale. Wilhelm/ Baynes: You have attained your purpose completely. Blofeld: The whole of this passage presages the fulfillment of what is willed. Ritsema/Karcher: Actually no questioning it. The great acquiring purpose indeed. Cleary (2): Do not question it. Great achievement of what is intended. Wu: He asks no questions. His goal is amply realized.
Legge: Line five is dynamic, in its fitting position, and central. It is the seat of the ruler, who has his proper correlate in line two. Everything good, according to the conditions of the hexagram, may be said of him.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Without asking for recognition and gratitude, the man in a high position benefits those below. He acts from the inner necessity of acknowledged goodness.
Wing: A true kindness on your part, something you did or will do without thought of your own gain, will bring you recognition.
Editor: The image suggests a cornucopia of power flowing to meet that which is receptive to it. If this is the only changing line the new hexagram becomes number twenty-seven, Nourishment. Literally: “Increasebrings about Nourishment.” Sincere: Heartfelt, true. Heart: Center, core, source. All below: Unconscious complexes, components of the psyche, etc.
Jung uses the term Self to represent the center of psychic awareness that transcends ego consciousness and includes in its scope all the vast reaches of the psyche that are ordinarily unconscious; it therefore is not merely a personal consciousness but a nonpersonal one as well. Achievement of this level has been regarded by most of the great religions of the world as the supreme goal. It is expressed in such terms as “finding the God within." For the Self, the center of this new kind of consciousness is felt to be distinct from the ego and to possess an absolute authority within the psyche. It speaks with a voice of command exerting a power over the individual as great as that of the instincts. M.E. Harding -- Psychic Energy
A. The image suggests the Self bringing increase to its satellites.
64 Before Completion
Other titles: Before Completion, The Symbol of What is not yet Past, Not-yet Fording, Not Yet Completed, Tasks yet to be Completed, Not yet, Yet to be, Before the End, Mission yet Unaccomplished, A State of Transition
Judgment
Legge: Unfinished Business suggests successful progress, butif the young fox that has nearly crossed the stream gets his tail wet, there will be no advantage.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Before Completion. Success. But if the little fox, after nearly completing the crossing, gets his tail in the water, there is nothing that would further.
Blofeld: Before Completion -- success! Before the little fox has quite completed its crossing of the ice, its tail gets wet. [This implies that we are to expect a setback in our plans.] No goal (or destination) is favorable now. [Hence this is a time for waiting and for drawing in our horns. That the LAST of the sixty-four hexagrams should be Before Completion rather than After Completion (#63) may seem surprising until it is recalled that there is nothing final about it; the cycle of change continues, passing from hexagram #64 onto the first hexagram, and so on eternally.]
Liu: Before Completion. Success. A young fox almost across wets his tail in the water. Nothing benefits.
Ritsema/Karcher: Not-yet Fording, Growing. The small fox, a muddy Ford. Soaking one's tail: without direction: Harvesting. (Without direction: Harvesting, WU YU Li: no plan or direction is advantageous; in order to take advantage of the situation, do not impose a direction on events.) [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of being on the edge of an important change of situation. It emphasizes that waiting and accumulating energy to begin the upcoming move is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy:Not Yet Completed: Receipt; the little fox at the point of fording, wets his tail; there is no place beneficial.
Cleary (1): Being as yet unsettled is developmental. A small fox, having nearly crossed the river, gets its tail wet, does not succeed.
Cleary (2): Being unsettled leads to success. A little fox, almost crossing, gets its tail wet. Nothing is gained.
Wu:Mission yet Unaccomplished indicates pervasiveness. A little fox almost makes it crossing the river, but gets its tail wet. Nothing is gained.
The Image
Legge: Fire over water -- the image ofUnfinished Business. The superior man carefully discriminates among the qualities of things, and the different positions they naturally occupy.
Wilhelm: Fire over water: the image of the condition before transition. Thus the superior man is careful in the differentiation of things, so that each finds its place.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes fire above water. The Superior Man takes care to distinguish between things before arranging them in order.
Liu: Fire above water symbolizes Before Completion. The superior man carefully distinguishes things, and puts them in their appropriate place.
Ritsema/Karcher: Fire located above stream. Not-yet Fording. A chun tzu uses considering to mark-off the beings residing on-all-sides.
Cleary (1): Fire is above water, not yet settled. Thus superior people carefully discern things and keep them in their places.
Cleary (2): Fire over water – unsettled.
Wu: There is fire above water; this is Mission yet Unaccomplished. Thus the jun zi makes careful distinction of things and their proper places of being.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Progress and success are suggested by the magnetic fifth line in the ruler's place. Although he has nearly crossed the stream, the young fox has not yet escaped from the midst of danger and calamity. Getting his tail wet means that the end does not reflect the intent of the beginning. Although the places of the different lines are not those appropriate to them, yet a dynamic and a magnetic line always respond to each other.
Legge:Unfinished Businessis the reverse of Completion: it means that the successful accomplishment of the matter at hand has not yet been realized; the crossing of the great stream is as yet incomplete.
Some have wished that theI Chingmight have concluded with Completion, and the last hexagram have left us with the picture of human affairs all brought to good order. But this would not have been in harmony with the idea of change. Again and again it has been pointed out that we find in the book no idea of a perfect and abiding state. Just as the seasons of the year change and pursue an ever-recurring round, so it is with the phases of society. The reign of order has peaked and declined, and this hexagram calls us to renew the struggle to make things right again. It deals with the conduct necessary to secure this result.
Not one of the lines in the hexagram is in its correct place -- all the dynamic lines are in magnetic places, and the magnetic lines are in dynamic places. At the same time, each of them has a proper correlate, so there is the possibility of some progress.
The symbol of the fox suggests a want of caution on the part of those who try to remedy prevailing disorders. They are unsuccessful and thereby get themselves into trouble. Line two represents this state of mind -- he is dynamic in a magnetic place in the center of the trigram of Peril. He is restless, and attracted by his magnetic correlate in the fifth place, he will be incautious in taking action. The outcome of the issue will be different than what was intended at the beginning.
The trigram of Water is below, and Fire above, showing how the two principles cannot act on each other profitably. This symbolizes the unregulated condition of general affairs now prevailing.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Although many achievements fuel our growth, the ego is only the facilitator, not the doer. To ignore this truth creates negative consequences: don't destroy the Work!
The Superior Man critically examines the situation and re-checks his priorities.
This hexagram represents the time before the climax of a cycle, just as the preceding figure symbolizes the time after the climax (and hence the transition to a new beginning). The Work is by no means "almost over" -- the lines all match as correlates, but every one of them unites "upside-down," so to speak. (Turn the hexagram over, and then they are in perfect correlation.) That the superior man "discriminates among the qualities of things, and the different positions they naturally occupy" means that he knows that the correct positions of the lines (the ones they "naturally occupy") are as in hexagram number sixty-three, not this one.
This "backward correlation of lines" is arguably a fair image of the relationship of thoughts and feelings in the average human psyche. The stresses of life are what eventually break up these mismatched correlates through endless cycles of stimulus and response until they finally all unite correctly in a hypothetical "Completion of the Great Work." That this is an ideal rather than a humanly attainable goal is suggested in this quote from Shao Yung:
The principle of the Way finds its full development in Heaven; the principle of Heaven, in Earth; the principle of Earth, in the myriad things; and that of the myriad things, in man. One who knows how the principles of Heaven, Earth, and all things find their full development in man can give full development to his people.
For all practical purposes, it is wisest to aspire to attainable completions and realize that the Work's "full development" is the Self's, not the ego's responsibility.
To strive for perfection is a high ideal. But I say: "Fulfill something you are able to fulfill rather than run after what you will never achieve." Nobody is perfect. Remember the saying: "None is good but God alone" [Luke 18:19], and nobody can be. It is an illusion. We can modestly strive to fulfill ourselves and to be as complete human beings as possible, and that will give us trouble enough. Jung -- The Tavistock Lectures
The Judgment suggests that before any climax or resolution there may still exist an indeterminate amount of free choice to influence the outcome -- only the specific circumstances can suggest how much or how little. As always, the choices are defined within the structure of the situation. The magnetic ruler in the fifth place implies that a favorable outcome is possible, but only through clear perception and willpower can it come about.
The conditional interpretation (boldface italics added) in both Legge's and Wilhelm's translation of the Judgment is necessary for its text to make sense. Note that Ritsema/Karcher define "Without direction: Harvesting" as: "No plan or direction is advantageous; in order to take advantage of the situation, do not impose a direction on events." This is a common oracle response, and sharpens the meaning here. Line one depicts the negative consequences of ignoring the Judgment’s explicit message.