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Revolution 49
Embrace transformation and change, recognizing the need for renewal. Be decisive and aware of timing, facilitating progress within yourself and your environment.
↓ Line 1
At the beginning of a revolution, it is wise to remain cautious and not act prematurely.
↓ Line 2
When the time is right, taking action leads to success and is without fault.
↓ Line 4
With the right approach, doubts vanish, and support is gained, leading to positive change.
↓ Line 5
A person of great influence can inspire trust and confidence through their actions alone.
↓ Pushing Upward46
Steady growth and progress through perseverance and effort. Step-by-step advancement leads to success.
Original Readings
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
Line 1
Legge: The first line, dynamic, shows its subject as if he were bound with the skin of a yellow ox.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Wrapped in the hide of a yellow cow.
Confucius/Legge: He should in his circumstances be taking action. (Sic.) Wilhelm/Baynes: One should not act thus. Blofeld: Such aids to strength are necessary, for this line cannot suit itself to its position. [We cannot adapt ourselves to the present situation; we must increase our strength so as to be able to combat it.] Ritsema/Karcher: Not permitted to use possessing activating indeed. Cleary (2): It will not do to use contrivance.Wu: Because he is not ready for any task.
Legge: Line one at the bottom of the figure may be taken as denoting change made at too early a period. He has no proper correlate or helper above, hence he is represented as tied up and unable to take any action.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, the man is under restraint. Premature offensive action will be unfortunate.
Wing: Restrain yourself. You don't really know if it is an appropriate time to act. Wait until you're sure. A little moderation will do a world of good now, whereas premature action will bring difficulties.
Editor: There is a proofreading error in the Confucian commentary on this line which is preserved in both the Dover and Mentor editions of Legge's translation. The comment should read: "He should ... not be taking action." The idea of the hexagram is molting, but at the beginning one is still wrapped in the protective skin of one's chrysalis. Try to remove a butterfly from its cocoon and you will surely kill it. The growth cycle must complete itself fully before the revolution can take place or the new order prevail. Sometimes the line can suggest the idea of being hidebound -- stuck in a mental cocoon of limiting beliefs. (Yellow is the color of clarity, intellect.) Hidebound: "Having an inflexible or ultraconservative character: bigoted, narrow." As always, the exact interpretation depends upon your intuition about the situation at hand.
No one except perhaps the wisest can perceive what lies within him, what is present at that point in a negative form, ready to manifest tomorrow or a million years from now. Z.B.S. Halevi -- An Introduction to the Cabala
A. The situation is still developing. The time is not right for action.
B. Hidebound thinking prevents lucid action.
Line 2
Legge: The second line, magnetic, shows its subject making her changes after some time has passed. Action taken will be fortunate. There will be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: When one's own day comes, one may create revolution. Starting brings good fortune. No blame.
Blofeld: On the day revolution is completed, to advance brings good fortune and is free from error. [We must not advance further until certain major changes have been completed.]
Liu: When the right day for revolution arrives, start. Good fortune. No blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Before-zenith sun , thereupon Skinning it. Chastising significant, without fault.
Shaughnessy: On the si day then bridle it; to be upright is auspicious; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): The sun of the self is the good fortune of expedition in revolution; no blame. [Emptying the mind and governing oneself, one understands revolution and can first get rid of personal desires... This is the revolution of emptying the mind to seek illumination.]
Cleary (2): On the day of completion, the change has taken place. An expedition leads to good fortune, without blame.
Wu: When the time is ripe, reform is in order. It will be auspicious to go forward with the plan. No error.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She makes her changes when some time has passed -- what she does will be a matter of admiration. Wilhelm/Baynes: Action brings splendid success. Blofeld: This line presages great blessings. [Unexpected good fortune.] Ritsema/Karcher: Moving possessing excellence indeed. Cleary (2): There is felicity in going. Wu: The action will be praiseworthy.
Legge: Line two is magnetic in her correct and central place in the center of the trigram of Clarity. Her proper correlate is the dynamic fifth line ruler. Let her take action in the way of change.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: After a series of unsuccessful attempts, the man's chance to make effective changes has come. He succeeds because of the requisite capabilities, thorough planning, and public confidence.
Wing: You have reached a point where change is both necessary and timely. To bring this about requires a strong vision of the ultimate outcome and a thorough commitment to your project, but with the correct inner attitude, you will meet with success. You will now find additional support in others.
Editor: This line is conditional and subject to misunderstanding if taken as an injunction for immediate action.Legge’s commentary and the Siu and Wing paraphrases misinterpret the timing covertly explicit here: the core idea is to prepare yourself now for a later change, not to take action now. This echoes the promise in Wilhelm's Judgment: "On your own day you are believed." Blofeld adds a prescient footnote to his translation: "We must not advance further until certain major changes have been completed.” Because the Work demands almost superhuman levels of restraint, one often receives this line as a kind of promise: " When the Work is completed you may begin to be active again in the world."
Kabbalah is an undramatic tradition that requires great patience and stability. One of the reasons for this tempo is that everyone has to mature his potential gradually and thoroughly at his natural pace. In this way his life's work unfolds at the right moment in his own and the cosmos's time. Z.B.S. Halevi -- Kabbalah
A. Prepare the groundwork for the changes you anticipate. Change will come when you're ready for it.
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, dynamic, shows occasion for repentance disappearing from its subject. Let him be believed in, and though he changes the existing ordinances, there will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Remorse disappears. Men believe him. Changing the form of government brings good fortune.
Blofeld: Regret vanishes and confidence is established. A change of government brings good fortune. [Taken out of its political context, this may presage a great change in some other walk of life.]
Liu: Remorse vanishes. People believe him. Changing the government brings good fortune.
Shaughnessy: Regret is gone; there is a return that changes the mandate; auspicious.
Cleary (1): Regret vanishes. With sincerity one changes destiny for the better. [If one is sincere in reforming oneself, while strong one can be yielding, and can transmute the temperament and not be constrained by yin and yang. This is the revolution of employing strength with flexibility.]
Cleary (2): Regret vanishes; there is trust. Changing one’s fate, there is good fortune.
Wu: Regret disappears. Confidence abounds. Revolution will be auspicious.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The good fortune of changing the ordinances is due to the faith reposed in his aims. Wilhelm/Baynes: Is due to the fact that one's conviction meets with belief. Blofeld: Good fortune in the sense that people will put their faith in our objectives. Ritsema/Karcher: Trustworthy purpose indeed. Cleary (2): Belief in the aim. Wu: Comes from the people’s trust in its purposes.
Legge: Line four is dynamic, but in the place of a magnetic line. This might vitiate any change he makes, but other conditions suggest a contrary effect: the line has passed from the lower trigram into the upper where water and fire come into contact. [e.g., Fire boils water, producing steam to do work. Ed.] In addition, the fourth place is that of the minister immediately below the ruler's seat. These considerations all demand action in harmony with the idea of change. Therefore, if he has secured the general confidence he can proceed with the greatest of changes -- even to change the dynasty -- with good results.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man succeeds in effecting changes because of inner firmness, adherence to higher ideals, coupled with adequate power.
Wing: A radical change is at hand. If your position is correct, your motives worthwhile and you are properly prepared, the new situation will bring great good fortune.
Editor: I have seldom received this line except in the conditional sense: "When the proper conditions of the situation are met, then one may act." Psychologically, when the inner complexes are finally convinced that you mean business they will cooperate and fall into line. To "change the existing ordinances" is to change your beliefs or attitudes. Ritsema/Karcher define "possessing conformity" as: "inner and outer are in accord; confidence of the spirits has been captured." They translate "amend" (i.e. "amending fate") as "fighting your own errors." This reflects Anthony’s observation: “Capricious demands from our inferiors…will have a bad effect.” (In Anthony’s paradigm, “our inferiors” relate to our habits, complexes, etc.) If this is the only changing line, the new hexagram created is number 63, Completion, suggesting that a major synthesis may be at hand if you’re careful.
Such a solution will not appear in the form of an intellectual conclusion or thought-out plan, but will arise in dream or phantasy in the form of an image or symbol, so unexpected and yet so apt that its appearance will seem like a miracle. Such a symbol has the effect of breaking the deadlock. It has power to bring the opposing demands of the psyche together in a newly created form through which the life energies can flow in a new creative effort. M.E. Harding --Psychic Energy
A. Things will change when your actions reflect your intent. When confidence is established one may proceed with one's plans.
B. A major transformation is possible now.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, dynamic, shows the great man producing his changes as the tiger does when he changes his stripes. Before he divines and proceeds to action, faith has been reposed in him.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The great man changes like a tiger. Even before he questions the oracle he is believed.
Blofeld: The great man accomplishes the change like a tiger; he is so confident that he does not need to employ divination. ["Like a tiger" and "like a leopard" do not have any connotation of fierceness. The striped skin of the former and the spotted hide of the latter symbolize brilliance and beauty respectively.]
Liu: The great man transforms himself like a tiger. Even before prediction by the oracle, people will believe him.
Ritsema/Karcher: Great People; tiger transforming. Not-yet an augury, possessing conformity.
Shaughnessy: The great man's tiger whip; not yet having prognosticated, there is a return.
Cleary (1): A great person changes like a tiger. There is certainty without divination.
Cleary (2): Great people change like tigers. There is certainty without augury.
Wu: The great man makes changes like a tiger. He is confident of success even without divination.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The beauty of the tiger's stripes becomes more brilliant. Wilhelm/Baynes: His marking is distinct. Blofeld: His accomplishing the change `like a tiger' means in a brilliantly civilized manner. Ritsema/ Karcher: One's pattern luminous indeed. Cleary (2): Their stripes are clear. Wu: His refinements are illustrious.
Legge: Line five has every quality proper to the lord of the hexagram, and his action will be in every way beneficial. He is symbolized by the tiger. The changes he makes are symbolized by the bright stripes of the tiger when it has just molted its coat.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The great man clearly shows the strong guiding principles behind his proposed changes. He retains the spontaneous support of the followers.
Wing: If you look around, you will find that your actions are spontaneously supported by others. You are in the correct position to bring great change to the situation. Trust your intuition in the matter.
Editor: Wilhelm renders the second sentence of the line as: "Even before he questions the oracle he is believed." Blofeld translates it as: "He is so confident that he does not need to employ divination." The image suggests a powerful, distinct and clear-cut transformation -- a situation so glaringly obvious that there is no room for doubt. If this is the only changing line, the new hexagram created is number 55, Expansion of Awareness, the Judgment of which states: "...When the king is enlightened there is no need to fear a change. Let him be as the sun at noon." (Legge). Or, "...The king attains abundance. Be not sad. Be like the sun at midday." (Wilhelm). In some situations the line can be interpreted as an admonition from the oracle that you are asking questions which you can figure out for yourself.
The lips of the king utter oracles, He does not err when he speaks in judgment. Proverbs 16: 10
A. A powerful confirmation or endorsement.
B. The situation is too obvious to require divination.
46 Pushing Upward
Other titles: The Symbol of Rising and Advancing, Ascending, Ascension, Rising, Promotion, Advancement, Sprouting from the Earth, Organic Growth
Judgment
Legge:Pushing Upward means successful progress. Have no anxiety about meeting with the great man. An advance to the south is fortunate.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Pushing Upward has supreme success. One must see the great man. Fear not. Departure toward the south brings good fortune.
Blofeld: Ascending. Supreme success! It is essential to see a great man, so as to banish anxiety. Progressing towards the south brings good fortune.
Liu: Ascending. Great Success. One should see a great man. Without fear. An expedition to the south leads to good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher:Ascending, Spring Growing. Availing-of visualizing Great People. No cares. The South, chastising significant. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of rising to a higher level. It emphasizes that setting a higher goal and working toward it step by step is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: ascend!]
Shaughnessy:Ascending: Prime receipt; beneficial to see the great man. Do not pity. For the southern campaign, auspicious.
Cleary(1): Rising is greatly developmental; it calls for seeing a great person, so there will be no grief. An expedition south brings good fortune.
Cleary (2):Rising is very successful, etc.
Wu:Ascension indicates great pervasion. It will be useful to see the great man. No anxiety. It will be auspicious to go south.
The Image
Legge: Wood growing in the earth -- the image of Pushing Upward. The superior man accumulates small increments of virtue until it becomes high and great.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Within the earth, wood grows: the image of Pushing Upward. Thus the superior man of devoted character heaps up small things in order to achieve something high and great.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes tress growing upwards from the earth. The Superior Man most willingly accords with virtuous ways; starting from small things, he accumulates a great heap of merit.
Liu: The wood grows in the earth, symbolizing Ascending. The superior man devotes his virtue to building things up from the small to the high and great.
Ritsema/Karcher: Earth center giving-birth-to wood. Ascending. A chun tzu uses yielding to actualize-tao. A chun tzu uses amassing the small to use the high great.
[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.]
Cleary (1): Trees grow on the earth, rising. Thus do superior people follow virtue, accumulating the small to lofty greatness.
Wu: Trees grow from earth; this is Ascension. Thus the Jun zi diligently cultivates his virtues little by little to become tall and large like trees growing.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The magnetic line ascends as opportunity permits. We have Flexibility, Obedience and a dynamic line below with his magnetic correlate above: this means successful progress. See the great man -- his will is accomplished in the south.
Legge: The character for this hexagram means advancing in an upward direction, or ascending. The figure symbolizes the promotion of an able officer to the highest pinnacle of distinction. The action of the dynamic second line is tempered by being in the magnetic central position of the lower trigram. As the representative of Pushing Upward he is forceful, yet modest and the magnetic fifth line ruler welcomes his advance. The officer therefore has the qualities that fit him to ascend as well as a favorable opportunity to do so.
After he has met with the "great man" in line five, advance to the south will be fortunate. Chu Hsi says that this is equivalent to "advancing forwards.” Since the south is the region of brightness and warmth, the progress will be easy and agreeable.
The lower trigram symbolizes Wood, and its weak first line is the root of a tree buried in the earth of the upper trigram. The gradual growth of this root pushes the trunk upward as the circumstances of time permit.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Ascend in accordance with the will of the Self. Turn toward clarity.
The Superior Man grows a little every day.
The image of the 46th hexagram is of a plant growing in the earth, gradually pushing upward toward the sun. That "an advance to the south is fortunate" means that as all plants turn southward toward the sun, their source of nourishment, so should we turn toward the light and clarity of the "great man" or Self within us.
The upward advancement of the Work is an organic process. There is no such thing as "instant enlightenment." The many stories and parables of instant Satori which are common in the Zen Buddhist tradition are actually just dramatic accounts of the final few moments' resolution that come after a lifetime of slow and patient devotion. The Work progresses at the pace of a tree -- what started out as an acorn eventually becomes a forest giant, but it doesn't happen overnight.
Remember ever that Mind in its entirety is ever the Builder. For it is step by step, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little, there a little, that the attaining is accomplished in the mental, the spiritual, the material applications of an entity in this material world. Edgar Cayce – Book of Changes
This slow growth is an accumulation of countless "gathering togethers" as depicted in the preceding hexagram, of whichPushing Upward is the upside-down image. It is estimated that an adult human being grows from a single cell to about one-hundred billion cells through a process of fifty-billion mitotic divisions. It is interesting to observe that "one-hundred-billion" is the scientific estimate of the number of stars in any given galaxy. If we apply the Hermetic Axiom: "As above, so below" to this relationship of macrocosm to microcosm we get the image of our solar system as a single atom in the "body" of a galactic entity.
That should put the Work into perspective!
Understand that thou art a second little world and that the sun and the moon are within thee, and also the stars. Origen --Homiliae in Leviticum