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The Marrying Maiden54
Proceed cautiously, recognizing limitations and external influences. Adapt to circumstances with humility and patience, but remain aware of your own path and intentions.
↓ Line 2
Even with partial vision, one can see clearly. Perseverance in solitude can lead to progress.
↓ Line 3
Accepting a lower status can lead to a form of union, but it may not be fulfilling.
↓ Abundance55
Abundance and prosperity surround you, but be mindful not to let them lead to arrogance or distraction. Stay focused and genuine in the present moment to make the most of your opportunities.
Original Readings
54 The Marrying Maiden
Other titles: The Marrying Maiden, The Symbol of the Marriage of the Younger Sister, Marriageable Maiden, The Marrying Girl, Subordinate, The Second Wife, Converting Maidenhood, Returning maiden, Making a young girl marry, Marrying a young girl, Marrying a Maiden, Unilateral Action, Impropriety, Improper Advances, "Deals with life and death, sex and birth. It contains a warning about a person or situation. It deals essentially with discrimination. The first step on the Path without which we are useless." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge:Propriety indicates that action will be evil, and in no wise advantageous.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The Marrying Maiden. Undertakings bring misfortune. Nothing that would further.
Blofeld:The Marriageable Maiden. Advance brings misfortune. No goal (or destination) is now favorable.
Liu: The Marrying Girl. Undertaking leads to misfortune. Nothing benefits.
Ritsema/Karcher: Converting Maidenhood, chastising: pitfall. Without direction: Harvesting. [Without direction: Harvesting: ... In order to take advantage of the situation, do not impose a direction on events.] [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of the changing status of someone who cannot control their circumstances. It emphasizes that finding a real field of activity through accepting this imposition is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy:Returning maiden: To be upright is inauspicious; there is no place beneficial.
Cleary (1): Making a young girl marry: To go on will lead to misfortune; no profit is gained.
Cleary (2):Marrying a young girl. To go on an expedition leads to misfortune, with nothing gained.
Wu: Marrying a Maiden indicates that it will be foreboding to make moves. There is nothing to be gained.
The Image
Legge: The waters of a Marsh with Thunder over it form the hexagram of Propriety. The superior man, in accordance with this, having regard to the far-distant end, knows the mischief that may be done at the beginning.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Thunder over the lake: the image of The Marrying Maiden. Thus the superior man understands the transitory in the light of the eternity of the end.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes thunder over a pool. The Superior Man knows that, to achieve an enduring end, he must be aware of his mistakes at the beginning.
Liu: Thunder over the lake symbolizes the Marrying Girl. The superior man knows the cause of error, and persists in his virtue to the end.
Ritsema/Karcher: Above marsh possessing thunder. Converting Maidenhood. A chun tzu uses perpetually completing to know the cracked.
Cleary (1): There is thunder above a lake, making a young girl marry. Thus superior people persist to the end and know what is wrong.
Cleary (2): Thunder over a lake – Marrying a young girl. Developed people consider lasting results and know what is wrong. [The way developed people handle things is that before they take the time to ask how to start something, they first consider lasting results. If they think of lasting results, they know what is wrong with acting prematurely, like marrying an immature girl. If you understand the meaning of this, you can apply it to government and to contemplating mind as well.]
Wu: There is thunder above the marsh; this is Marrying a Maiden. Thus, the jun zi in the pursuit of lasting excellence realizes the flaws and corrects them.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In the marriage of a young bride the proper relationship between heaven and earth is seen. Nothing could grow or flourish if heaven and earth did not unite. The marriage of a young bride is therefore both the commencement and goal of humanity. But here the desire of pleasure employs movement to attain union. This action will be evil because the lines are in inappropriate places, and the magnetic three and five are mounted on dynamic lines.
Legge: The Chinese phrase for this hexagram might be equivalent to the English "giving in marriage,” but there are some special meanings in this case which must be understood. The Judgment gives a bad auspice because the trigram of the Youngest Daughter is beneath the trigram of the Eldest Son. Since the action of the hexagram begins with the lowest trigram, we have two violations of propriety. First, the marriage is initiated by the woman and her friends. She goes unilaterally to her future home instead of the bridegroom coming to fetch her. Second, the parties are unequally matched -- there is too great a disparity in their ages. In addition, all the lines in the hexagram except the top and the bottom are in places inappropriate for them. Some commentators insist that the symbol of the contracting of a marriage in this hexagram sets forth some principles which should obtain in the relation between a ruler and his ministers.
The growth of things in nature from the interaction of heaven and earth is analogous to the increase of mankind through the interaction between male and female in marriage. The K'ang-hsi editors reconcile this good auspice with the unfavorable Judgment by saying: "The interaction of the yin and yang cannot be dispensed with, but we ought to be careful about it in the beginning in order to prevent mischief in the end.” The error here is that the desire for the marriage originated with the lady, and that she is heedless of the disparity in their ages.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Propriety means that unilateral action is inappropriate.
The Superior Man understands that the Work is guided from within, and that choices which ignore this truth can only retard its progress. (Present actions originate future consequences: pay heed to your choices.)
The traditional name for this hexagram is The Marrying Maiden -- a title which does not convey to modern western readers the subtlety of its symbolism. Blofeld says: "This hexagram is, on the whole, a most unfortunate omen ... We must not suppose that it deals only with marriage. What is said about the maiden symbolizes in some way or other what we may expect for ourselves within the context of our enquiry." The figure is certainly difficult, but "unfortunate" only if its import is resisted or denied: any portrayal of our situation which eliminates illusion (however painful the realization), must be regarded as a positive lesson.
Although the Confucian commentary describes this hexagram in terms of self-seeking aspiration, the wretched protagonist of the figure is not invariably culpable, and neither Judgment nor Image imply this. In addition to being at the very bottom of the social pecking order, the maiden is portrayed as half-blind, crippled and a "slave." Although condemned by the commentators for importuning a marriage that would raise her status, a close reading of the lines reveals that only the sixth place suggests possible impropriety -- the others all contain advice about how one of extremely low status should cope with restricted circumstances. The hexagram therefore can deal with either of two possible conditions: those involving Proprietyand those involving Making-do as an adaptation to adversity.
In the first instance, it is useful to compare the symbolism here with that of the preceding hexagram of Gradual Progress. There we see the organic progression of the Work allegorized as the proper marriage of a young woman. In this case, Gradual Progress has been turned upside down and the symbolism reversed: this young woman improperly pursues a marriage on her own initiative. Psychologically interpreted, it can be regarded as an image of the ego pushing its own agenda or desire for union.
The ego may move in directions and toward actions that are at variance with the intentions and standards of the Self ... The mature adult needs to recognize eventually his or her relative limitedness vis-à-vis the "Self- field" and the cosmic organism of which s/he is but a cell. We are subject to the ordering and growth intents of the entelechy of the whole. E. C. Whitmont -- The Alchemy of Healing
To recognize our `relative limitedness “vis-à-vis the Self-field” is to renounce our claim to unilateral action. Though the ego ardently desires a marriage with the Self, only the Self can initiate such a union. Chou Tun I, an early Neo-Confucian, makes an observation which illuminates Legge's Image:
"The superior man, in accordance with this, having regard to the far-distant end, knows the mischief that may be done at the beginning. The most important things in the world are tendencies. Tendencies may be strong or weak. If a tendency is extremely strong, it cannot be controlled. But it is possible to control it quickly if one realizes that it is strong. To control it requires effort. If one does not realize early enough, it will not be easy to apply effort.”
To receive this hexagram without changing lines can be an admonition to examine your motives and actions in the matter at hand. Where are you out of line? If no obvious impropriety is involved, it could also portray an essentially impotent predicament. At such times Ritsema/Karcher's synopsis bears repetition: "This hexagram describes your situation in terms of the changing status of someone who cannot control their circumstances. It emphasizes that finding a real field of activity through accepting this imposition is the adequate way to handle it.”
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Compare Propriety with hexagram number fifty-three, Gradual Progress, then compare them both with hexagram number thirty-one,Initiative. What are the similarities in their ideas? Now look at hexagrams number eleven, seventeen and twenty-two and observe the over-all philosophy which begins to emerge.
Line 2
Legge: The second line, dynamic, shows her blind of one eye, and yet able to see. There will be advantage in her maintaining the firm correctness of a solitary widow.
Wilhelm/Baynes: A one-eyed man who is able to see. The perseverance of a solitary man furthers.
Blofeld: The one-eyed man can see. Righteous persistence brings advantage to the recluse. [It is not unusual for a one-eyed man to see, more or less, or for a recluse to benefit from persistence in his meditations and devotions; neither of them symbolizes anything at all remarkable.]
Liu: A one-eyed man can see. It benefits the solitary man to keep quiet.
Shaughnessy: The blind are able to see; beneficial for a dark man to determine.
Cleary (1): The one-eyed can see. It is beneficial to be chaste as a hermit.
Wu: It is like looking with one injured eye. It is advantageous to having a recluse’s perseverance.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: She has not changed from the constancy proper to a wife. Wilhelm/Baynes: The permanent law is not changed. Blofeld: As yet, no change occurs in the ordinary course of events. Ritsema/Karcher: Not-yet transforming the rules indeed. Cleary (2): The benefit of the chastity of a hermit is not changing the norm. Wu: He has not yet deviated from his course.
Legge: Line two is dynamic in a magnetic place, and her correlate is magnetic in a dynamic place. Both, however, are central in their respective trigrams. With a weak correlate, line two can't do much in the discharge of her duties, but if she thinks only of her husband, like the widow who will die rather than marry again, such devotion will have its effect and reward. Though blind in one eye, she still manages to see -- devoted loyalty in an officer will compensate for many disadvantages.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Devoted loyalty on the part of the man will compensate for many weaknesses on the part of his associates as well.
Wing: The situation is disappointing. It is up to you, alone, to carry on the original vision. Such devotion and loyalty will ultimately bring progress.
Editor: The line does not lend itself to the usual gender designations used in this book. Blofeld's Confucian commentary: "As yet, no change occurs in the ordinary course of events” suggests that although we may not perceive or understand what is going on, we still haven't violated the Work. Legge's rendition of "the firm correctness of a solitary widow” implies virtuous abstinence -- not giving one's energy to any force that would compromise our integrity.
It is high time we realized that it is pointless to praise the light and preach it if nobody can see it. It is much more needful to teach people the art of seeing. For it is obvious that far too many people are incapable of establishing a connection between the sacred figures and their own psyche: they cannot see to what extent the equivalent images are lying dormant in their own unconscious. In order to facilitate this inner vision we must first clear the way for the faculty of seeing. How this is to be done without psychology, that is, without making contact with the psyche, is, frankly, beyond my comprehension. Jung -- Psychology and Alchemy
A. The situation has yet to clarify -- go it alone until the way becomes clear.
B. Partial vision is better than none. Remain uncommitted, and do not depart from your accustomed routine.
Line 3
Legge: The third line, magnetic, shows the young woman who was to be married off in a mean position. She returns and accepts an ancillary position.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The Marrying Maiden as a slave. She marries as a concubine.
Blofeld: From being a servant, the marriageable maiden becomes a concubine. [Again, a small advance is made, but nothing very satisfying is won.]
Liu: The marrying girl is to be a maidservant. She marries as a concubine.
Ritsema/Karcher:Converting Maidenhood: using hair-growing. Reversing Converting: using the junior-sister.
Shaughnessy:The returning maiden with consorts turns around and returns with younger sisters.
Cleary (1): When the bride-to-be seeks, it will be the little sister who is married instead.
Wu: The marrying of the young woman is being put on hold. Instead, her younger sister is married in her place.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: This is shown by the improprieties indicated in the line. Wilhelm/ Baynes: She is not yet in the appropriate place. Blofeld: Her former state is indicated by the unsuitable position of this line. Ritsema/Karcher: Not- yet appropriate indeed. Cleary (2): The bride-to-be who seeks is not right. Wu: Because her position is improper.
Legge: The third line is magnetic in a dynamic place at the top of the trigram of Frivolity. She is of so mean a character and such a slave of passion that no one will marry her. She returns and accepts the position of a concubine.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: It is preferable to be a concubine rather than a slave. The inferior person enters into situations incompatible with self-esteem, in pursuit of joys that cannot be attained legitimately.
Wing: To attain your desires, it will be necessary for you to compromise your Self.
Editor: There are at least two interpretations of this line: one portrays moving from an abject position (slavery) to accept a correct, albeit still subservient role. On the other hand, the line can suggest an attempt at a union or synthesis which is unstable or premature: The imbalances within the situation cause its dynamics to be re-adjusted at a lower level than desired. An inherent instability cannot be maintained no matter how much we want it to be otherwise.
Those who do not seek release from the bondage of the instinctive drives by the road of inner development remain the slaves of their own passionate desirousness or suffer the sterility resulting from its ruthless repression. In any time of crisis these persons have no power to curb their own barbaric reactions. M.E. Harding --Psychic Energy
A. An image of modestly improving one's position -- better a servant than a slave.
B. "You can't always get what you want” – accept the best alternative.
C. Don't compromise yourself.
55 Abundance
Other titles: Abundance, Fullness, The Symbol of Prosperity, Greatness, Abounding, Richness, Prolific, Fruitful, Luxuriant, Zenith, Affluence, Correct Action, Lucid Behavior, "Generally means that one will have enough for one's needs with a little over. Does not mean large wealth as a rule." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Expansion of Awareness means progress and development. When the king is enlightened there is no need to fear a change. Let him be as the sun at noon.
Wilhelm/Baynes:Abundance has success. The king attains abundance. Be not sad. Be like the sun at midday.
Blofeld:Abundance -- success! The King inspires them. Do not be sad; it is fitting to be like the sun at its zenith. [Abundance in itself is often good; but it is generally followed by the waning of what was abundant; moreover, as we shall see, there can be abundance of darkness, or anything else unpleasant. (The Judgment itself) may be taken as an auspicious omen.]
Liu: Greatness. Success. The king attains greatness, without sadness; he should be like the sun at midday.
Ritsema/Karcher:Abounding, Growing. The king imagining it. No grief. Properly sun centering. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of profusion and abundance reaching culmination. It emphasizes that exuberantly increasing things to their fullest is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: Abundance: Receipt; the king approaches it; do not be sad. It is proper for the middle of the day.
Cleary (1): Richness is developmental. Freedom from worry when the king is great is suited to midday.
Cleary (2):Richness is success; a king attains this. Do not worry. Take advantage of the sun at noon.
Wu: A sage king will attain abundance. There is no need to worry, for he knows the expedience of observing the midday sun.
The Image
Legge: The superior man, in accordance with this, decides cases of litigation, and apportions punishments with exactness.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Both thunder and lightning come: the image of Abundance. Thus the superior man decides lawsuits and carries out punishments.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes thunder and lightning occurring simultaneously. The Superior Man decides law suits and inflicts the necessary penalties.
Liu: Thunder and lightning coming together symbolize Greatness. The superior man judges lawsuits and imposes punishments.
Ritsema/Karcher: Thunder, lightning, altogether culminating. Abounding. A chun tzu uses severing litigating to involve punishing.
Cleary (1): Thunder and lightning both arrive, abundant. Thus do superior people pass judgment and execute punishment.
Cleary (2): Thunder and lightning both come in richness. Thus do leaders pass judgments and execute punishments.
Wu: Thunder and lightning come together; this is Abundance. Thus the jun zi decides the verdicts and exacts the punishments.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The greatness of Expansion of Awareness is due to Movement directed by Clarity. Although the king has attained this state, he must still make it greater. But there is no need for anxiety -- let him be as the sun at noon: let his clarity shine on all under the sky. As soon as sun and moon reach zenith their light begins to wane. The intercourse of heaven and earth alternates between abundance and scarcity. It waxes and wanes according to the seasons. How much more so with men or spiritual forces! [Ritsema/Karcher translate "spiritual forces" [Kuei Shen] as: "The whole range of imaginal beings both inside and outside the individual; spiritual powers, gods, demons, ghosts, powers, fetishes." -- Ed.]
Legge: The written Chinese character denoting Expansion of Awarenessis the symbol of being large and abundant -- a condition of prosperity. In human affairs, prosperity often gives place to its opposite. The lesson of the hexagram is to show how the ruler may preserve the prosperity of his state and people. The component trigrams show Motive Force under the direction of Intelligence. A ruler with these attributes will not fail to maintain the progress and development of his kingdom. He is told not to be anxious, but to study how he may always be like the sun at its zenith, cheering and enlightening all.
It must be noted that a change has been introduced in this hexagram in explaining the symbolism of the lines. Normally, for two lines to have a correct relationship one must be female (magnetic) and the other male (dynamic). Here two dynamic male lines make a proper correlation in the first and fourth places.
In the Image, lightning appears as the natural phenomenon of which Clarity is the symbol in the lower trigram. The virtues of Clarity and Movement are required of the superior man in judging litigation.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Don't grieve when the truth hurts: a loss of illusion is a gain in awareness. Once truly attained, enlightenment cannot be lost, it can only be increased.
The Superior Man acts with clarity by accurately evaluating cause and effect. [Or: The objective assessment of any contradiction is the road to comprehending it.]
The fifty-fifth hexagram is very intriguing in that it appears to have a misleading title in the original Chinese, which is usually translated as Abundance,Fullness, Prosperity, etc. All of the internal clues, plus empirical experience with the figure have convinced me that the title Expansion of Awareness is a more accurate description of the forces operating in this hexagram. Here is my reasoning:
First, the component trigrams of Clarity and Movement portray action directed by clear comprehension, as well as awareness itself in motion or expansion. The title of Abundance seems misleading because it suggests a relatively static condition, whereas the combined trigrams in the figure symbolize Clear Movement. These trigrams appear in reverse sequence in hexagram number twenty-one, Discernment, which symbolizes the act of comprehending -- a dynamic function of consciousness described in the Image here as a quest for justice: "Thus the superior man decides lawsuits and carries out punishments." (Wilhelm) Notice also that the message for the superior man in this Image is almost identical with that in Discernment:"Thus the kings of former times made firm the laws through clearly defined penalties." (Wilhelm) The ancient kings can always be taken as symbolic of archetypal forces (the "gods"), so their laws are those of nature, not of humankind. Interpreted broadly, both messages counsel us to: "Comprehend the law of Tao, or suffer the penalties of ignorance." Which is to say: "expand your awareness."
Second, note the message in the Judgment. Most of the translators render this by comparing the king at the peak of his power with the sun at the peak of its illumination at noon. The sun is the symbol of clarity and enlightenment, and the sun at its zenith therefore symbolizes a high point of awareness.
Third, notice that lines two, three and four depict an eclipse of the sun through its waxing, full and waning phases. This suggests ignorance gradually evolving toward comprehension, which is finally attained in line five. The progression in the hexagram is from ignorance to clarity, and then in line six, ignorance within clarity -- i.e., an image of one who remains obtuse while surrounded by the light of illumination.
Fourth, the combined trigrams of shock and light (thunder and lightning) suggest a sudden and numinous illumination: the sort of en-light-enment (expansion of awareness) described by Yogis:
Suddenly, with a roar like that of a waterfall, I felt a stream of liquid light entering my brain through the spinal cord ... The illumination grew brighter and brighter, the roaring louder, I experienced a rocking sensation and then felt myself slipping out of my body, entirely enveloped in a halo of light ... I was no longer myself, or to be more accurate, no longer as I knew myself to be, a small point of awareness confined in a body, but instead was a vast circle of consciousness in which the body was but a point, bathed in light and in a state of exaltation and happiness impossible to describe. Gopi Krishna --Kundalini, the Evolutionary Energy in Man
It is possible that the written character translated into English as Abundance has these associations in Chinese. Unfortunately, the title of Abundance itself does not immediately suggest in the English language the ideas that are integral in the symbolism of the hexagram.