One responds to one's guests by showing them affection. taoscopy.com
The Wanderer56
Embrace the journey. Stay adaptable and attentive. Balance independence with humility. Success comes from accepting change and being resourceful.
↓ Line 1
Focus on what is important and avoid distractions to prevent misfortune.
↓ Line 2
Finding a temporary place of rest and support can lead to stability and assistance.
↓ Line 3
Unexpected events can lead to loss and instability; be prepared for challenges.
↓ Line 4
Temporary security is achieved, but there is still unease and potential for conflict.
↓ Line 6
Neglect and carelessness lead to loss and regret; maintain vigilance to avoid misfortune.
↓ Approach19
Openness and approachability bring success. Embrace others with sincerity and attentive leadership. Seize opportunities with confidence while recognizing the temporary nature of influence.
56 The Wanderer
Other titles: The Wanderer, The Symbol of the Traveler, The Exile, Sojourning, The Newcomer, To Lodge, To Travel, Traveling, The Stranger, Strangers, The Traveling Stranger, The Outsider, The Alien, The Gnostic, The Tarot Fool, Wandering, Homeless, Uncommitted, On Your Own, "Can refer to being out of one's element." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Transition means that small attainments are possible. If the traveling stranger is firm and correct, there will be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes:The Wanderer. Success through smallness. Perseverance brings good fortune to the wanderer.
Blofeld:The Traveler -- success in small matters. Persistence with regard to traveling brings good fortune.
Liu: The Exile. Small success. To continue leads to good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher:Sojourning, the small: Growing. Sojourning, Trial: significant. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of wandering journeys and living in exile. It emphasizes that mingling with others as a stranger whose identity comes from a distant center is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy:Traveling. Small receipt. Traveling; determination is auspicious.
Cleary (1): Travel is developmental when small; if travel is correct, it leads to good fortune.
Cleary (2): Travel has a little success. Travel is auspicious if correct.
Wu:Traveling indicates small pervasion. Perseverance will bring auspiciousness.
The Image
Legge: A fire on the mountain -- the image of Transition. The superior man exerts cautious wisdom in his punishments, and does not permit prolonged litigation.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Fire on the mountain: the image of The Wanderer. Thus the superior man is clear-minded and cautious in imposing penalties, and protracts no lawsuits.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes fire upon a mountain. The Superior Man employs wise caution in administering punishments and does not suffer the cases brought before him to be delayed.
Liu: Fire over the mountain symbolizes the Exile. The superior man is careful and clever in imposing punishments, and does not delay the cases brought.
Ritsema/Karcher: Above mountain possessing fire. Sojourning. A chun tzu uses brightening consideration to avail-of punishing and-also not to detain litigating.
Cleary (1): There is fire atop a mountain, transient. Thus superior people apply punishments with understanding and prudence, and do not keep people imprisoned.
Cleary (2): Fire on a mountain – traveling. Etc.
Wu: There is fire on the mountain; this is Traveling. Thus the jun zi exercises the utmost deliberations in exacting punishments such that prisoners will not be detained without cause.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge:Transition indicates that there may be some small attainment and progress -- the magnetic line occupies the central place in the upper trigram, and is obedient to the dynamic lines above and below it. We also have the attributes of Keeping Still connected with Intelligence in the lower and upper trigrams. Hence it is said that there may be some small attainment and progress. If the traveling stranger is firm and correct as he ought to be, there will be good fortune. Great is the time and great is the right course to be taken under these circumstances!
Legge: The written Chinese character for this hexagram denotes people traveling abroad, and is often translated as Strangers. The figure addresses itself to traveling strangers, and tells them how they ought to comport themselves through the cultivation of humility and firm correctness. By means of these they would escape harm, and make progress. The status of traveling stranger is seen as too low to expect great things of them.
It is assumed that the wanderer is in the position of the fifth line. The ideas of humility, docility, calmness and intelligence are derived from the attributes of the component trigrams. These are all characteristics which are proper to a stranger, and are likely to lead to advancement and attainment of his desires. Concerning the Image, K'ung Ying-ta comments: "A fire on a mountain lays hold of the grass, and runs with it over the whole space, not stopping anywhere long, and soon disappearing -- such is the emblem of the traveler."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: During a Transition, keep your willpower great and your expectations small.
The Superior Man sees clearly and does not embroil himself in complexity. He is clear-minded and cautious in judging the truth of the situation, maintaining detachment from the social milieu.
Wilhelm's translation of the title of this hexagram is The Wanderer. A wanderer is one who has no home, or who is between one home and another. This reminds us of the gnostic notion of the "Alien": the incarnate soul exiled to wander in the space-time dimension (i.e., this world).
The alien is that which stems from elsewhere and does not belong here ... The stranger who does not know the ways of the foreign land wanders about lost; if he learns its ways too well, he forgets that he is a stranger and gets lost in a different sense by succumbing to the lure of the alien world and becoming estranged to his own origin ... The recollection of his own alienness, the recognition of his place of exile for what it is, is the first step back; the awakened homesickness is the beginning of the return. Hans Jonas -- The Gnostic Religion
In the broadest interpretation then, the message in the Judgment: "If the traveling stranger is firm and correct, there will be good fortune" can refer to not becoming entangled in the affairs of this world in which we wander -- an idea emphasized in the first line. Ritsema/Karcher state it explicitly -- defining our challenge as "mingling with others as a stranger whose identity comes from a distant center." This is good general advice for anyone seriously engaged in the Work, since the "distant center" ("God," or the Self) represents the essence we incarnated to serve.
We are strangers in this world, and the body is the tomb of the soul, and yet we must not seek to escape by self- murder; for we are the chattels of God who is our herdsman, and without his command we have no right to make our escape. Pythagorean ethic
In more specific situations, the hexagram symbolizes a transitional phase. Lines two, three and four all depict "Inns" or temporary resting places (commonly experienced in dreams as images of hotels or motels). The symbolism is identical: the psyche is reflecting an interim situation during a state of Transition.
By definition, a transition is fluid and not yet fixed. Depending upon the choices made, one can go in different directions. In terms of consciousness, it is obvious that the transition can be from a lower state of awareness to a higher one, or vice-versa. Because a transition is an opportunity for deliberate choice-making, the Confucian commentary concludes with: "Great is the time and great is the right course to be taken under these circumstances!"
Lines one, three and six depict very negative situations involving ignorant, arrogant choices. We think of the ego blindly pushing the river of its desires, unable to see the unfortunate consequences it thereby engenders. Line two suggests a solid resting place during our journey, while line four depicts a tenuous, though not necessarily incorrect, similar situation. The fifth line counsels a kind of sacrifice to the ruler (the Self) which results in an eventual reward. The message is to let the Self guide you through a Transition.
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
Hexagram number fifty-six is the reverse of hexagram number fifty-five. Compare the role of the superior man in the Image of each figure. How are they the same? How are they different? What are the differences and similarities of the component trigrams of each hexagram, and how do they affect their respective meanings?
Notes, August 15, 2009: A new paraphrase of the Judgment and Image:
The Gnostic Alien. Small attainments are possible if the Alien keeps a clear head and maintains his self-discipline. The initiated Adept is intelligent, discreet, and displays vigilant wisdom: he maintains and protects his gnosis via cautious reserve in worldly disputes, eschewing needless contention. [He can do this because he knows that this is an illusory reality: a set-up, a trap, a Loosh factory created by the Demiurge.] A chun tzu uses brightening consideration to avail-of punishing and-also not to detain litigating. [In other words “do the work in the place in which you find yourself” quickly, and efficiently, with as few entanglements as possible under the circumstances. Shun new karma. Implicit is that this experience is preparation for the bodhisattva vow.]
Line 1
Legge: The first line, magnetic, shows the stranger mean and meanly occupied. It is thus that she brings on herself further calamity.
Wilhelm/Baynes: If the wanderer busies himself with trivial things, he draws down misfortune upon himself.
Blofeld: Trifling with unimportant matters, the traveler draws upon himself calamity.
Liu: If the exile dallies with petty matters, he will draw disaster on himself.
Shaughnessy: Traveling so trivially; this is the fire that he has taken.
Cleary (1): Restless in travel, this is the misfortune you get.
Cleary (2): Petty fussing on a journey brings misfortune.
Wu: The traveler complains about trivial things and he is poorly received.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Her aim has become of the lowest character, and calamity will ensue. Wilhelm/Baynes: Thereby his will is spent, and this is a misfortune. Blofeld: The calamity attendant upon having no will of our own. Ritsema/Karcher: Purpose exhausted, calamity indeed. Cleary (2): The misfortune of frustration. Wu: His small-mindedness causes poor reception.
Legge: Line one is magnetic in a dynamic place at the bottom of the hexagram, thus the unfavorable auspice. The meanness of the first line doesn't arise from the nature of her occupation, but from her mind and aim being emptied of all that is good and ennobling.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, the newcomer in a lowly position is occupying himself with disgraceful machinations. His aspirations invite troubles.
Wing: Do not assume a demeaning role in the general situation. Do not pay attention to trivial matters. This is not a way to gain entry into a group or situation. Maintain a dignified attitude about yourself. Through self-abasement you will only invite ridicule.
Editor: Legge's "Mean" is rendered by the other translators as: "trivial,""unimportant," and "petty." The Confucian commentaries are translated as a failure of willpower which brings about disaster. Implied is loss of purpose and hence of being unclear or ignorant of the situation at hand.
All men, from birth onward, live more by sensation than by thought, forced as they are by necessity to give heed to sense impressions. Some stay in the sensate their whole life long. For them, sense is the beginning and end of everything. Good and evil are the pleasures of sense and the pains of sense; it is enough to chase the one and flee the other. Those of them who philosophize say that therein wisdom lies. Like big earthy birds are they, prevented by their bulk from rising off the ground even though they have wings. Plotinus --The Enneads
A. Don't waste your energy on unimportant matters.
B. "Trivial pursuit."
Line 2
Legge: The second line, magnetic, shows the stranger occupying her lodging-house, carrying her means of livelihood, and provided with good and trusty servants.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The wanderer comes to an inn. He has his property with him. He wins the steadfastness of a young servant.
Blofeld: The traveler reaches an inn with his valuables still nestling safely in the bosom of his robe. He gains the loyalty of a young servant. [This implies that we need fear no loss upon our journey.]
Liu: The exile arrives at an inn. He carries valuables. He wins the loyalty of a young servant.
Ritsema/Karcher: Sojourning, approaching a resting-place. Cherishing one's own. Acquiring a youthful vassal: Trial.
Shaughnessy: In traveling having just lodged, he cherishes his belongings, getting the young servant's determination.
Cleary (1): Coming to a lodge on a journey with money in your pocket, you have attendants, yet are upright.
Cleary (2): Coming to an inn on a journey with supplies in hand, one gains the loyalty of a servant.
Wu: The traveler makes a stop with his valuable belongings and gets help from a trustworthy bellboy.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: With such servants she will in the end have nothing of which to complain. Wilhelm/Baynes: This is not a mistake in the end. Blofeld: There will be no trouble to the very end. Ritsema/Karcher: Completing without surpassing indeed. Cleary (2): After all there is no complaint. Wu: He is free from troubles.
Legge: Line two is magnetic, but in her proper and central place. Hence the traveler is represented as provided with everything she requires, and though the auspice is not mentioned, we must understand it as being good. Strong and trusty servants are the most important condition for the comfort and progress of the traveler.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man retains his inner sense of modesty and reserve. He acquires the necessary means of livelihood, a home, and good and trustworthy servants.
Wing: With confidence and self-possession you can attract support from new environments. Think of it as the personal gravity generated by the weight of your principles. Someone is ready to help you in your endeavors.
Editor: Psychologically interpreted, the image of a wandering stranger portrays the ego en-route to somewhere else -- transient, uncommitted, undergoing change. A lodging house or Inn is a temporary shelter, an interim point of view, a transitory state. Legge's "means of livelihood" (rendered as "valuables," "property,""belongings," “money” or “supplies” by the other translators), can be any wealth, gain, power, ability, or consolidation of psychic energy. Most translators qualify "servants" as "young servant." A young servant would symbolically suggest inexperienced, untried power or ability to do work. These images all suggest the consolidation of energy during a period of transition.
If the emphasis is on the temporary and transient nature of the worldly sojourn and on the condition of being a stranger, the world is called also the "inn," in which one "lodges"; and "to keep the inn" is a formula for "to be in the world" or "in the body." H. Jonas -- The Gnostic Religion
A. One preserves one's gains through a transition and obtains new and untried powers. You have everything you need to succeed.
Line 3
Legge: The third line, dynamic, shows the stranger, burning his lodging-house, and having lost his servants. However firm and correct he tries to be, he will be in peril.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The wanderer's inn burns down. He loses the steadfastness of his young servant. Danger.
Blofeld: Owing to the traveler’s lack of caution, the inn is burnt down and he no longer enjoys the young servant's loyalty. Persistence now would lead to trouble. [Our carelessness leads us into such difficulties that it would be folly to proceed.]
Liu: The inn where the exile stays burns down. He loses the loyalty of his young servant. To continue is dangerous.
Shaughnessy: In traveling burning his lodging, and losing his young servant; determination is dangerous.
Cleary (1): Burning the lodge on a journey, you lose your attendants. Even if righteous there is danger.
Cleary (2): Burning the inn on a journey, losing the servants, is dangerous even if one is upright.
Wu: The lodge is on fire. He loses the favor of his helper. He is in danger even persevering.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: By burning down his lodging-house he himself also suffers harm. When as a stranger, he treats those below him as the line indicates, the right relation between master and servant is lost. Wilhelm/Baynes: This is a loss for him personally. If he deals like a stranger with his subordinate, it is only right that he should lose him. Blofeld: Traveling on a downward path, our sense of duty and fitness is impaired. Ritsema/Karcher: Actually truly using injuring. One's righteousness lost indeed. Cleary (2): One will also be injured. Duty is lost. Wu: It is a pity. Being stern to the helper in traveling is an invitation to loss.
Legge: The third line is dynamic in a dynamic place, but because he is at the top of the lower trigram, he may be expected to be violent. In the case symbolized he is violent to an extraordinary degree, and incapable of correctness. He treats those below him (his servants) with arrogance, which of course alienates them from him. The K'ang-hsi editors remark that the second and third lines are represented as having lodging-houses when the other lines don't, because they are the only two lines in the figure who are in their proper places.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The newcomer becomes arrogant and truculent. He eventually loses his house and servant and finds himself without support in a perilous situation.
Wing: Offensive and careless behavior in your position are great mistakes. You are in danger of losing what security you have by interfering in matters that are not your concern. Those who may have once been loyal will then withdraw, leaving you in a perilous state.
Editor: Wilhelm points out that the dynamic line in a dynamic place is in this case too overbearing -- representing one who shows no respect for either those above or below him. For a "stranger in a strange land" to behave in this fashion is a sure formula for failure. One is reminded of the boorish behavior of some tourists in foreign countries -- their insensitivity invariably costs them both money and respect. Sometimes the line can suggest a kind of masochistic petulance in your attitude toward the Work. Note: Oracle interpretation must always remain open and flexible. A recent receipt of this line reversed its usual syntax to portray a situation in which the “ Inn set on fire” referred to an organization which lost a faithful servant (the querent-employee) through unethical business practices. Always allow your best intuition to recognize the best fit for the symbolism, particularly if an answer doesn’t seem to make sense. Try inverting the situation to see if that works better – if so, the answer will usually be numinous.
The arrogant heart is abhorrent to Yahweh,
be sure it will not go unpunished.
Proverbs 16: 5
A. A position is undermined and support is lost because of arrogance.
Line 4
Legge: The fourth line, dynamic, shows the traveler in a resting place, having also the means of livelihood and the axe, but still saying: "I am not at ease in my mind."
Wilhelm/Baynes: The wanderer rests in a shelter. He obtains his property and an ax. My heart is not glad.
Blofeld: The traveler reaches a place where he obtains the money needed for his expenses, yet laments that there is no joy in his heart. [Were we to travel or continue to travel now, though material difficulties would not arise, we should not experience any happiness.]
Liu: The exile finds rest in a sanctuary. He regains his valuables. He is not happy in his heart.
Ritsema/Karcher: Sojourning, tending-towards abiding. Acquiring one's own emblem-ax. My heart not keen.
Shaughnessy: In traveling, staying put, he gets his goods and ax; my heart is not happy.
Cleary (1): Traveling in the right place, one obtains resources and tools, but one’s heart is not happy.
Wu: The traveler rests in his lodge. He has the amenities, but he is not at ease.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Although in a resting place, he has not got his proper position. Even with a livelihood and an axe his mind is not at ease. Wilhelm/Baynes: He has not yet obtained his place. He is not yet glad at heart. Blofeld: His wandering to that place is indicated by the unsuitable position of this line; his obtaining money for expenses brings him no joy. Ritsema/Karcher: Not-yet acquiring the situation indeed. The heart not-yet keen indeed. Cleary (2): One has not gotten a position. One’s heart is not yet happy. Wu: His position is improper. He is still not at ease.
Legge: Line four is dynamic, but in a magnetic place. Hence, although he is without a lodging-house, he does have a shelter which is not very secure. He can use the axe for defense, but is still uneasy in his mind. The K'ang-hsi editors observe that the mention of the axe makes us think of caution as a quality desirable in a wanderer.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Although the inferior man finds a resting place and a means of livelihood, his aspirations are greater than his capabilities. He remains ill at ease, a stranger in a strange environment.
Wing: Though you are on your way toward the attainment of your goals, you are constantly aware that you have not arrived. This state of mind leaves you feeling uneasy -- knowing you must move on, and yet anxious to protect and hold intact that which you have already accomplished.
Editor: Here the wanderer is "camping out," so to speak -- occupying a temporary position during a transition. The axe, analogous to the sword (or any metallic cutting instrument), can symbolize mental discrimination. (Cf. The suit of swords in the Tarot.) The image is of one who has the power to comprehend his situation and the resources to advance to a new position, yet is still in a very tenuous and ill-defined state of being. The issue could go either way.
This realization is extremely important from a practical standpoint, for it implies that only constant attention to the unconscious, an inner devoted tribute, is sufficient to enlist its cooperation. The unconscious realms cannot be analyzed away, cannot be defeated in battle, but, at best, by conscious confrontation, can be taken into account within the limits of one's individual capacity. E.C. Whitmont --The Symbolic Quest
A. A synthesis is only tentative -- gains are vulnerable to loss.
B. Consolidate and defend your position. You have all you need, but could lose it.
C. An incomplete idea or concept needs nourishment and careful discrimination to make it secure.
Line 6
Legge: The sixth line, dynamic, suggests the idea of a bird burning its nest. The stranger, thus represented, first laughs and then cries out. He has lost his ox-like docility too readily and easily. There will be evil.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The bird's nest burns up. The wanderer laughs at first, then must needs lament and weep. Through carelessness he loses his cow. Misfortune.
Blofeld: A bird manages to burn its own nest. At first the traveler laughs, but then has cause to shout and weep. A cow is lost through carelessness -- misfortune! [Presumably, someone's carelessness causes him misfortune which excites our mirth -- until we discover that we ourselves are deeply involved in the resulting loss.]
Liu: A bird's nest burns. The exile laughs in the beginning, laments later. He loses his cow by being careless. Misfortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: A bird burning its nest. Sojourning people beforehand laughing, afterwards crying-out sobbing. Losing the cattle, tending-towards versatility. Pitfall.
Shaughnessy: A crow disorders its nest; the traveler first laughs and later weeps and wails, losing an ox at Yi; inauspicious.
Cleary (1): A bird turns (Sic) its nest. The traveler first laughs, afterward cries. Losing the ox at the border, there is misfortune.
Cleary (2): ... Losing the cow while at ease is unfortunate.
Wu: Like a bird burning its own nest, the traveler first laughs with joy and then howls in sorrow. Like losing a cow in the field, it is foreboding.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: He would not listen to the truth about the course to be pursued. Wilhelm/Baynes: Being at the top as a wanderer rightly leads to being burnt up. In the end he hears nothing. Blofeld: The top of this hexagram signifies burning. The loss of a cow through carelessness means that no news will ever be obtained of something we have lost (or are about to lose). Ritsema/Karcher: Using Sojourning to locate- in the above. One's righteousness burning indeed. Completing absolutely-nothing: having hearing indeed. Cleary (2): Because the travel is in a high place, it is just to be destroyed. After all one does not listen. Wu: Traveling at this top position amounts to burning oneself. The misfortune of losing a cow in the field is something he has not heard of.
Legge: Line six is dynamic in a magnetic place at the outer limit of the trigram of Clarity -- he will be arrogant and violent, the opposite of what a wanderer should be, and the issue will be evil. Humility cannot co-exist with haughty arrogance, and his careless self-sufficiency has shut his mind against all the lessons of wisdom.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The newcomer becomes careless, imprudent, and violent at the height of his distinction.
Wing: By losing yourself in the drama of a new situation and by involving yourself in details that have nothing whatsoever to do with the development of your own principles, you detach yourself from the very foundation of your original aims. Misfortune.
Editor: A bird, as a creature of the air, the realm of thought, can symbolize an idea or concept. A nest suggests the foundation, or resting place of a thought -- a necessary premise upon which the thought is founded. To burn up a necessary premise, foundation, or whatever, suggests thought that has transcended the bounds of reality -- i.e., fantasy, or illusion. If this is the only changing line, the hexagram becomes number sixty-two, Small Powers, the corresponding line of which also images a bird transcending its proper bounds. The wanderer here is arrogant, and as Legge points out, "carelessly self-sufficient." The line sometimes implies some harsh truths about an overly intellectual approach to life.
An inflated consciousness is always egocentric and conscious of nothing but its own existence. It is incapable of learning from the past, incapable of understanding contemporary events, and incapable of drawing right conclusions about the future. It is hypnotized by itself and therefore cannot be argued with. It inevitably dooms itself to calamities that must strike it dead. Jung -- Psychology and Alchemy
A. Criminal negligence creates an irretrievable loss.
B. Image of a stupid idea.
19 Approach
Other titles: The Symbol of Advance and Arrival, Nearing, Overseeing, Condescension, Getting Ahead, Promotion, Conduct, Drawing Near, Becoming Great, The Forest, Advance, Advancing, "Two people advancing together; or a good influence which hasn't been seen or felt for some time, is approaching." -- D.F. Hook
Judgment
Legge: Approach means successful progress through firm correctness. In the eighth month there will be evil.
Wilhelm/Baynes : Approach has supreme success. Perseverance furthers. When the eighth month comes, there will be misfortune.
Blofeld:Approach.Sublime success! Righteous persistence brings reward. However, when the eighth month is reached, misfortune will befall. [The eighth moon of the lunar calendar corresponds approximately to September.]
Liu: Approach. Great Success. It is of benefit to continue. When the eighth month arrives, then there will be misfortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Nearing, Spring Growing Harvesting Trial. Culminating tending-towards the eighth moon: possessing a pitfall. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of approaching and being approached. It emphasizes that acting without immediately expecting to attain what you desire is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy: The Forest: Prime receipt; beneficial to determine; arriving at the eighth month there is inauspiciousness.
Cleary (1):Overseeing is creative and developmental, beneficial if correct. In the eighth month there is misfortune.
Cleary (2):Overseeing is very successful, beneficial if correct. If you go on until the eighth month, there will be misfortune. [If you ride on the momentum of the time and do not know to turn back, at a certain point deterioration will inevitably set in, after flourishing has reached its climax, and there will surely be misfortune.]
Wu:Condescension is great, pervasive, and persevering, etc. [Condescension as used in several judgments has two meanings: to condescend (or to look down from a higher position) and to press forward with authority.]
Hua-Ching Ni: Advance. It is beneficial to go forward with a positive attitude, but be mindful of the cyclical nature of things.
The Image
Legge: The earth over a marsh -- the image of Approach. The superior man is inexhaustible in his instruction and unflagging in his nourishing support of the people.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The earth above the lake: the image of Approach. Thus the superior man is inexhaustible in his will to teach, and without limits in his tolerance and protection of the people.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes land rising above a marsh. The Superior Man's teaching and his affection for his juniors are inexhaustible. Nothing hinders him in his care for the people. [The lower component trigram suggests the nourishment which the Superior Man gives joyfully to others. The upper trigram symbolizes the great bulk of those who benefit.]
Liu: The earth above the lake symbolizes Approach. The superior man's will for instruction has no limit. He is boundless in his support and protection of the people.
Ritsema/Karcher: Above marsh possessing earth. Nearing. A chun tzu uses teaching to ponder without exhausting. [A chun tzu uses] tolerating to protect the commoners without delimiting.
Cleary (1): Above the lake there is earth, overseeing. Superior people use
inexhaustibility of education and thought to embrace and protect the people without bound.
Wu: There is ground above the marsh; this is Condescension. Thus the jun zi realizes that there is no limit to the ideas of education and there is no boundary in the protection of people.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In Approach we see the dynamic lines gradually increasing and advancing. The lower trigram is the symbol of Being Pleased, and the upper of Being Compliant. The strong line is in the central position, and is properly responded to. It is the way of heaven to bring progress and success through firm correctness, however the advancing power will decay after no long time.
Legge: Approach suggests the approach of authority -- to inspect, to comfort or to rule. The figure shows two dynamic lines advancing on the four magnetic lines above them. Their action will be powerful and successful, but it must be governed by rectitude and a caution that understands the nature of continuous change.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Two steps forward are followed by one step backward.
The Superior Man remains true to the Work regardless of fluctuations within the psyche.
The meaning of Approach is derived from the two dynamic lines advancing from below to encounter the magnetic lines above. These two are firm allies, and the action of the superior man in the Image suggests that their ascent is one of benevolent regard for the welfare of their subordinates -- only the third line need change for the hexagram to become number eleven, Harmony. We are reminded of the proper relationship between the ego and the Self -- when they advance together, the magnetic forces in the rest of the psyche are eventually transformed.
This hexagram recognizes the inevitably slow progress of the Work (" Rome wasn't built in a day"), and that advances are always followed by retreats. The point is that if one maintains the will to advance, one can be confident that the Work is advancing, regardless of appearances.
(Confucius) tried his best, but the issue he left to Ming. Ming is often translated as Fate, Destiny or Decree. To Confucius, it meant the Decree of Heaven or Will of Heaven ... Thus to know Ming means to acknowledge the inevitability of the world as it exists, and so to disregard one's external success or failure. If we can act in this way, we can, in a sense, never fail. For if we do our duty that duty through our very act is morally done, regardless of the external success or failure of our action. Fung Yu-Lan -- A Short History of Chinese Philosophy
Without changing lines, the hexagram suggests a progressive advance in the matter at hand. Nature being what it is however, no advance can be sustained indefinitely and an eventual regression can be expected. (This observation is such a truism that we must assume it is more than usually applicable to the current situation.)