One is tested positive because the others have been suspicious. taoscopy.com
Breakthrough 43
Break through obstacles with determination and clarity. Confront negativity openly while maintaining integrity and wisdom. The truth must be revealed, yet patience is required.
↓ Line 2
Stay vigilant and prepared, but do not let fear control you.
↓ Line 4
Struggles and difficulties are present, but following guidance can alleviate remorse.
↓ Line 6
Ignoring warnings and failing to act can lead to misfortune.
↓ The Family37
Focus on nurturing harmony in your community or family. Cultivate stability and mutual support by fostering open communication and shared values.
Original Readings
43 Breakthrough
Other titles: Break-through, The Symbol of Decision, Resolution, Determination, Parting, Removing Corruption, Eradication
Judgment
Legge: Recognizing the risks involved in criminal prosecution, justice demands a resolute proof of the culprit's guilt in the royal court. One informs one's own city that armed force is not necessary. In this way progress is assured.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Break-through. One must resolutely make the matter known at the court of the king. It must be announced truthfully. Danger. It is necessary to notify one's own city. It does not further to resort to arms. It furthers one to undertake something.
Blofeld: Resolution. When a proclamation is made at the court of the King, frankness in revealing the true state of affairs is dangerous. [In vital matters, frankness may prove dangerous.] In making announcements to the people of his own city, it is not fitting for the ruler to carry arms. [It is better to repose trust in our own people.] It is favorable to have some goal (or destination).
Liu: Determination. Someone is proud in the king's court, and the king trusts him. If one exposes the truth, danger. It must be told to one's own people. Using force does not benefit. It does benefit to do something else. [You must decide how to deal with a situation before it reaches a dangerous point, or things will take their own course and overwhelm you.]
Ritsema/Karcher:Parting, displaying tending-towards kingly chambers. Conforming, crying-out, possessing adversity. Notifying originates from the capital. Not Harvesting: approaching arms. Harvesting: possessing directed going. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of separation and diverging directions. It emphasizes that resolutely dividing your energies is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy:Resolution: Raised up at the royal court, returning crying out; there is danger. Announcing from the sky; not beneficial to regulate the belligerents; beneficial to have someplace to go.
Cleary (1): Parting is lauded in the royal court. The call of truth involves danger. Addressing one’s own domain, it is not beneficial to go right to war, but it is beneficial to go somewhere. [The royal court is the abode of the mind-ruler, where true and false are distinguished.]
Cleary (2): Decision is brought up in the royal court. A sincere statement involves danger, etc.
Wu:Eradication indicates a conceited pronouncement in the royal court on the one hand, and a concerted call for vigilance on the other. It is essential to make the danger known to the people, but not to resort to force now. It is advantageous to have undertakings.
The Image
Legge: The image of the waters of a marsh mounting over heaven forms Resoluteness. The superior man, in accordance with this, does not hoard his wealth, but shares it with his subordinates.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The lake has risen up to heaven: the image of Break-through. Thus the superior man dispenses riches downward and refrains from resting on his virtue.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes a marshy lake being drawn (sucked) towards the sky. The Superior Man distributes his emoluments to those below; dwelling in virtue, he renounces them.
Liu: The lake ascends to heaven, symbolizing Determination. The superior man distributes wealth below him, without displaying his favors.
Ritsema/Karcher: Above marsh with-respect-to heaven. Parting. A chun tzu uses spreading-out benefits to extend to the below. A chun tzu uses residing-in actualizing tao, by- consequence keeping-aloof. [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 what it is meant to be.]
Cleary (1): Moisture ascends to heaven, which parts with it. Thus do superior people distribute blessings to reach those below, while avoiding presumption of virtue. [After people get mixed up in temporal conditioning, the discriminatory consciousness takes charge of affairs; wine and sex distract them from reality, the lure of wealth deranges their nature, emotions and desires well forth at once, thoughts and ruminations arise in a tangle, and the mind-ruler is lost in confusion. Because habituation becomes second nature over a long period of time, it cannot be abruptly removed. It is necessary to work on the matter in a serene and equanimous way, according to the time: Eventually discrimination will cease, and the original spirit will return; the human mind will sublimate and the mind of Tao will be complete – again you will see the original self.]
Cleary (2): … If they presumed on their virtue, they would be resented.
Wu: The marsh rises to heaven; this is Eradication. Thus the jun zi distributes his emolument to those below and is loath to monopolize virtues.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Resoluteness is the symbol of displacing or removing. We see the dynamic lines displacing the magnetic line. The figure displays the attributes of Strength and Cheerfulness. There is displacement, but harmony continues. The exhibition of the criminal's guilt in the royal court is shown by the magnetic line mounted on five dynamic lines. The awareness of danger and appeal for justice makes the matter clear. If he has recourse to arms, what he prefers will soon be exhausted. When the advance of the dynamic lines is complete, there will be an end to displacement.
Legge:Resoluteness represents the third month when the last vestige of winter, represented by the sixth line, is about to disappear before the advance of summer. The single yin line at the top symbolizes an inferior man, a feudal prince or high minister who is corrupting the government. The five yang lines below are the representatives of good order. The lesson of the hexagram is how to remove corruption from the kingdom. He who would do this must do so by the force of his character more than the force of arms. Never forgetting the dangerous nature of his undertaking, he must openly denounce the criminal in the court and awaken general sympathy to his cause. Among his own adherents ("In his own city") he must prevent any tendency to resort to armed conflict. As a worthy statesman he is not motivated by private feelings.
Hu Ping-wen says: "If but a single inferior man is left, he is sufficient to make the superior man anxious; if but a single inordinate desire be left in the mind, that is sufficient to disturb the harmony of the heavenly principles. The eradication in both cases must be complete, before the labor is ended."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment:Resoluteness involves astute discernment of what is wrong and a discreet re-establishment of order without polarizing the situation. Be clear in your own strategy, but let common sense be your guide about how much you need to disclose to others. Avoid aggression at all costs.
The Superior Man maintains equilibrium by distributing his energy equitably -- he smoothes things out.
The forty-third hexagram is an image of the eradication of an inferior force from the situation at hand: five yang lines resolutely advance on the single yin line, which is about to be pushed out of the hexagram at the top. This is a negative image of the twenty-third hexagram, Disintegration, which shows the opposite situation of five lower yin lines undermining one upper yang line. It is instructive to compare the nearly identical message for the superior man in the Images of each of these figures. The idea is one of fostering an equitable distribution of energy within the situation -- Disintegration and the Resoluteness required to rectify it are extreme situations requiring extreme measures. Such extremes must always be neutralized through a justly distributed balance of forces.
It's not the concern of law that any one class in the city fare exceptionally well, but it contrives to bring this about for the whole city, harmonizing the citizens by persuasion and compulsion, making them share with one another the benefit that each class is able to bring to the commonwealth. And it produces such men in the city not in order to let them turn whichever way each wants, but in order that it may use them in binding the city together. Plato --The Republic
Compare the nuances of meaning in each translation of the Judgment. Wilhelm's is most radical, advising a direct (albeit dangerous), expose of what is wrong. Most of the others imply room for discretion about what needs to be revealed. Diplomacy is the art of knowing when full- disclosure only prevents resolution of the problem. Ritsema/Karcher allude to the proper mind-set required to manage such situations: "[A chun tzu uses] residing-in actualizing tao, by-consequence keeping-aloof." To "reside in actualizing tao," is to live directly from one's essence, and when this is associated with "keeping-aloof" we get an image of quietly rectifying a situation without revealing our purpose or strategy.
Psychologically interpreted,Resoluteness, like Disintegration, depicts an extreme situation which must first be rectified, then prevented from re-occurring through the maintenance of a just balance of power which is administered by the ego under the will of the Self.
Line 2
Legge: The second line, dynamic, shows its subject full of apprehension and appealing for sympathy and help. Late at night hostile measures may be taken against him, but he need not be anxious about them.
Wilhelm/Baynes: A cry of alarm. Arms at evening and at night. Fear nothing.
Blofeld: Though disturbed by cries in the night, he who is armed knows no fear. [It is well to be forearmed.]
Liu: A cry of warning. One arms at night against the unexpected without fear.
Ritsema/Karcher: Awe, an outcry. Absolutely-no night-time, possessing arms. No cares.
Shaughnessy: Softly crying out; at dusk and at night there are belligerents; do not pity them.
Cleary (1): If one is cautious and alert, though there be armed troublemakers in the night, one need not worry.
Cleary (2): When there is a cry of alert, even if there are attackers in the night, there is no worry.
Wu: There is a warning of violence at night, but nothing to worry.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He pursues the course of the due mean. Wilhelm/ Baynes: Despite weapons, no fear -- because one has found the middle way. Blofeld: Being armed and fearless is indicated by the central position of this line. Ritsema/Karcher: Acquiring centering tao indeed. Cleary (2): Because one has attained balance. Wu: Having the central position.
Legge: Line two is dynamic and central -- possessed with determination to do his part in the work of removal. But his eagerness is tempered by being in a magnetic place, and he is cautious. However artful they may be, no attempts to harm him will take effect.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man remains alert to unseen dangers at all times. Hostile measures against him will fail even at night because of his guarded alertness.
Wing: It is best now to develop a continuous caution and inner strength. Behave as though you are constantly in danger. Through intense awareness you gain in security and need not fear difficulties.
Editor: Psychologically, "late at night" is when consciousness is asleep and vulnerable and when autonomous forces within the psyche are most powerful. However, this line displays a strength that is balanced and conscientious: despite anxiety he is able to take care of himself. The line can be a warning to prepare yourself against approaching stress.
If by setting one's heart right every morning and evening, [a samurai] is able to live as though his body were already dead, he gains freedom in the Way. His whole life will be without blame, and he will succeed in his calling. Yamamoto Tsunetomo -- The Book of the Samurai
A. Vulnerable, yet protected: "Forewarned is forearmed."
B. Balanced perception protects the Work from the excesses of unconscious forces.
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, dynamic, shows one from whose buttocks the skin has been stripped, and who walks slowly and with difficulty. If he could act like a sheep led after its companions, occasion for repentance would disappear. But though he hear these words, he will not believe them.
Wilhelm/Baynes: There is no skin on his thighs, and walking comes hard. If a man were to let himself be led like a sheep, remorse would disappear. But if these words are heard they will not be believed.
Blofeld: His haunches have been flayed and he walks falteringly, though he could put an end to his shame by allowing himself to be dragged along like a sheep. Moreover, he puts no faith in the words of others. [Having recently suffered, we advance with hesitation and are unwilling to accept useful but rather humiliating assistance.]
Liu: He injures his thighs. He walks with difficulty. If he were to follow like a sheep, remorse would vanish. People will not believe his words when they hear them.
Ritsema/Karcher: The sacrum without flesh. One moves the resting-place moreover. Hauling-along the goat, repenting extinguished. Hearing words, not trustworthy.
Shaughnessy: The lips do not have skin; his movement is herky-jerky, pulling sheep; regret is gone; you will hear words that are not trustworthy.
Cleary (1): No flesh on the buttocks, not making progress. Leading a sheep, regret disappears. Hearing the words but not believing.
Cleary (2): With no flesh on the buttocks, one walks haltingly. Leading the sheep, regret disappears. The words heard are not believed.
Wu: His buttocks have no skin. He hobbles along. If he would lead away the sheep, there will be no regret; but he does not trust what he hears.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He is not in the place appropriate to him. He hears, but does not understand. Wilhelm/Baynes: There is no clear comprehension. Blofeld: Having no faith in the words of others shows lack of intelligence. Ritsema/ Karcher: Understanding not brightened indeed. Cleary (2): Being out of place. Not hearing clearly. Wu: His position is improper.He does not understand it.
Legge: Line four is not in the center, nor in a place appropriate for a dynamic line. He therefore will not be at rest, nor do anything to accomplish the work of the hexagram. He is symbolized as a culprit who has been whipped. Alone he can do nothing. If he could follow others, like a sheep led along, he might accomplish something, but he will not listen to advice.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man is restless and wishes to enforce his will by stubbornly pushing forward. But he meets with insuperable antagonisms. Advice to desist and to follow others is ignored.
Wing: As you continue to push forward, you meet with one obstacle after the next. Your resoluteness has reached a degree where you cannot stop yourself. If you would submit to the difficult times and allow others to lead, your problems would resolve themselves. Such advice is meaningless, however, since you cannot be led.
Editor: The image here is clearly one of willful stubbornness. The harsh indictment is mitigated somewhat by Legge's Confucian commentary -- "He hears, but does not understand.” With all of the goodwill in the world, it is still possible to receive this line, and the commentary takes some of the sting out of it by saying that you simply haven't gotten the message yet. The Self is a terrible archetype -- far more like the wrathful Yahweh than the forgiving Christ, and there are phases of the Work in which no matter what you do, it seems to be wrong. One must learn to live with this fact.
The Lord leads the willing; He drags the unwilling in his wake. A. Rothberg -- The Sword of the Golem
A. You create hardship for yourself through your own stubbornness.
B. You haven't gotten the message yet. You don't understand, yet insist on pushing ahead anyway.
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, magnetic, shows its subject without any helpers on whom to call. Her end will be evil.
Wilhelm/Baynes: No cry. In the end misfortune comes.
Blofeld: In the end, misfortune will come without warning.
Liu: Without a cry. Misfortune in the end. [If you get this line you will have difficulty in a new undertaking.]
Ritsema/Karcher: Without crying-out. Completing: possessing a pitfall.
Shaughnessy: There is no crying out; in the winter there is inauspiciousness.
Cleary (1): No call; in the end there is misfortune.
Wu: He has no one to call for help. It will be foreboding in the end.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: There is the misery of having none on whom to call-- the end will be that she cannot continue any longer. Wilhelm/Baynes: The misfortune of not crying out should in the end not be allowed to persist. Blofeld: This unheralded misfortune will be due to our failure to persist to the end. Ritsema/ Karcher: Without crying-out's pitfall. Completing not permitting long-living indeed. [Cry- out/outcry: HAO: call out, proclaim; signal, order, command; mark, label, sign.] Cleary (2): There cannot be growth at the end. [The five lines below epitomize the exhortations and admonitions of sages to the strong who gather together. Here one who is weak is at the top and even though correct is unable to call forth caution for preparedness, so in the end cannot grow.] Wu: The foreboding of having no one to call for help will come before long.
Legge: The subject of the sixth line, standing above, may be easily disposed of.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Just as victory is at hand, the man finds no helpers to eradicate the remaining evil. The evil conceals itself, only to spring up again at a later time.
Wing: Danger comes from a seed of evil in your own Self, perhaps a self-delusion or conceit that blinds you. Just when you feel you may relax your resolve and continue without helpers, it will cause you to err. Misfortune.
Anthony: We need not harbor anger or hold onto bad memories to remind ourself that the situation is unresolved… We must leave correction or punishment of the evil inferiors to the Sage as this is not our province of action…
Editor: Despite Legge's one-sentence dismissal of this line in his annotation, there is a great deal of ambiguity here. Notice the range of interpretations for the Confucian commentary: none of them say the same thing in English and Wilhelm's is so labored as to be virtually meaningless. These are strong clues that the text may be ambiguous in the original Chinese. Because Blofeld's translation of HAO (out-cry) as "warning" makes plausible sense, at its most neutral the line can depict an unexpected catastrophe. Also note that although blame is implied for line six via the symbolic structure of the hexagram, its actual text contains no value judgment, and as a magnetic line it remains correctly placed at the top. To complicate things even further, the message can be interpreted as either the elimination or the escape of an inferior force and, depending on the context of the question, one can meditate for hours to ascertain what exactly is meant. In a differentiated multiverse, there will always be forces requiring reconciliation and synthesis: nothing is ever "eradicated.” If this is the only changing line, the new hexagram becomes The Dynamic, with a corresponding line depicting the consequences of arrogance.
The shadow cannot be eliminated. It is the ever-present dark brother or sister. Whenever we fail to see where it stands, there is likely to be trouble afoot. For then it is certain to be standing behind us. The adequate question therefore never is: Have I a shadow problem? Have I a negative side? But rather: Where does it happen to be right now? When we cannot see it, it is time to beware! E.C. Whitmont -- The Symbolic Quest
A. The image suggests the disempowerment of an inferior force. [Quarantine without allies results in elimination of authority or influence. A negative, inferior force is terminated due to lack of support.]
B. The image suggests a sudden, unexpected misfortune of some sort.
C. The image suggests a demonically stubborn force which escapes rectification.
D. You are alone without allies in a vulnerable position or questionable endeavor.
37 The Family
Other titles: Family Life, Clan, Home, Linkage, Dwelling People, The Psyche, "May indicate a situation where the family can and should help." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: For the regulation of The Family, what is most advantageous is that the wife be firm and correct.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The Family . The perseverance of the woman furthers.
Ritsema/Karcher: Dwelling People. Harvesting: woman Trial. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of living and working with others in a common space. It emphasizes that caring for your relation with those who share this space and for the space itself is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: dwell with people!]
Shaughnessy: Family members: Beneficial for the maiden to determine.
Cleary (1): For people in the home it is beneficial that the woman be chaste. [In the human body, the vitality, spirit, soul, psyche, and intent all belong to yin and all take orders from the human mentality … When you refine away the human mind, the mind of tao spontaneously becomes manifest.]
Wu:The Family indicates that it is advantageous for a woman to be persevering. [This is a hexagram with its emphasis on women. Both constituent trigrams are feminine … Hence those who endeavor to be firm and correct will have advantages.]
The Image
Legge: Wind rising out of fire -- the image of The Family. The superior man speaks the truth and is consistent in his behavior.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Wind comes forth from fire: The image of The Family. Thus the superior man has substance in his words and duration in his way of life.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes wind rising from fire. The Superior Man's speech is full of substance and he behaves with constancy.
Liu: The wind coming out of the fire symbolizes The Family. The speech of the superior man should have substance, and his conduct be enduring.
Ritsema/Karcher: Wind originating-from fire issuing-forth. Dwelling People. A chun tzu uses words to possess beings and-also movement to possess perseverance.
Cleary (1): Wind emerges from fire, members of a family. Thus is there factuality in the speech of superior people, consistency in their deeds.
Cleary (2): … Developed people are factual in speech, consistent in action.
Wu: Wind comes forth from fire; this is The Family. Thus the jun zi speaks with facts and acts with perseverance.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In Family the wife is in her correct place in the lower trigram, and the husband in his correct place in the upper. That spouses occupy their correct positions shows the correct relationship between heaven and earth. The parents rule the family: let the father indeed be father, and the son son; let the elder brother be indeed elder brother, and the younger brother younger; let the husband indeed be husband, and the wife wife -- then the family will be in its correct state. Bring the family to that state, and all under heaven will be established.
Legge: The written Chinese character for Family simply means "a household," or "the members of a family." The lesson of the hexagram is the regulation of the family, effected by the cooperation of the husband and wife in their several spheres, and only needing it to become universal to secure the good order of the kingdom. The important place accorded to the wife is seen in the short sentence in the Judgment -- that she be firm and correct, and do her part well is essential for the family's proper regulation.
The wife is represented by line two and the husband is her proper correlate in line five. The relationship between heaven and earth is analogous to the relationship between husband and wife.
The second sentence of the Confucian commentary, more closely rendered, would be: "That in the family there is an authoritative ruler is a way of naming father and mother." This means that the assertion of authority in a family should be a correct balance of force and gentleness.
Anthony: The Family symbolizes correct relationships between people – the family unit, the spiritual family (the Sage and the student), and human groups generally. When these most basic relationships are correct, the world is made correct through the force of inner truth, through cultivation of the feminine component of our nature, and through persevering in a virtually menial position (from our ego’s viewpoint) so that our work can come to fruition. All this means to forgo striving and self-assertion, and to allow ourself to be led, while persevering in gentleness and devotion to our path.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: For the correct regulation of the psyche, what is most important is that the ego must be firm and correct.
The Superior Man lives his allegiance to the ideals of the Work.
Applying the Hermetic Axiom: "as above, so below," the relationships within a family are analogous to the relationships within a city-state, or a kingdom, and vice- versa:
Society centuries before the time of Confucius had been organized on the basis of family. In the early days of the Chou dynasty fiefs had been allotted to the feudal lords in a system of planned colonization. These feudal lords, linked to one another and to the royal house by marriage ties, took their families, retainers, peasants, artisans and soldiers to form self-sufficient colonies based on an agricultural economy and governed from well-fortified walled cities. These large family groupings of the nobility were preserved only so long as the relationships of parents to children, brothers to brothers, and masters to servants were effectively controlled. D.H. Smith -- Confucius
If the ideal city is like a family, then the analogy also holds for an individual -- here the comparison goes directly from city to psyche:
Have we any greater evil for a city than what splits it and makes it many instead of one? Or a greater good than what binds it together and makes it one? ... Then is that city best governed which is most like a single human being? Plato -- The Republic
Psychologically interpreted, the hexagram of The Family symbolizes the psyche, and the Confucian commentary tells us that when its inner components all assume their proper roles and functions, then the Work will come into fruition. ("All under heaven will be established.") The identical idea has been stated in Gnostic thought:
Jesus said to them: "When you make eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in the place of a hand, and a foot in the place of a foot, and an image in the place of an image, then shall you enter the Kingdom. The Gnostic Gospel According to Thomas
The husband is the analogue of heaven or the Self, and the wife is the analogue of earth or the ego. When the ego assumes its correct role as the magnetic servant of the Work, then inner transformations can take place. I have paraphrased the Judgment in terms of the necessity of the ego to follow the dictates of the Work, but one could alternately phrase it in terms of keeping emotional responses under control. For the wife to be "firm and correct" is to ensure that emotions, drives and appetites are not allowed to make decisions -- they are servants, not masters. This is the essence of the Work, and arguably the most reiterated idea in theI Ching.
The patient should be encouraged to use his mind, through observation and discrimination, to bring clearly into his awareness the irrational aspect of his drives and emotions, and also the possible drawbacks and harmfulness to himself and others of their uncontrolled manifestation … To act on the spur of an impulse, a drive or an intense emotion can very often produce undesirable effects which one afterwards regrets … Therefore, he should learn – by repeated experiment and effort – to “insert” between impulse and action a stage of reflection, of mental consideration of a situation, and of critical analysis of his impulse, trying to realize its origin, its source. R. Assagioli – Psychosynthesis
The thirty-seventh hexagram teaches us that the way to manage the emotions is no different than the proper management of aFamily. No wise parent can teach a child self-discipline by adopting the child's point of view: permissiveness, either with our children or our own primitive drives and passions, is a sure formula for disintegration. The Work demands that the ego hold the line on this issue -- indeed, it is the ego's only legitimate function.
We are dominated by everything with which our [ego] becomes identified. We can dominate and control everything from which we disidentify ourselves. R. Assagioli -- Psychosynthesis