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After Completion63
Completion; things fall into place, but remain cautious. Stability achieved, yet vigilance needed to sustain harmony.
↓ Line 1
Caution at the beginning prevents future problems. Avoid rushing into things.
↓ Line 2
Patience is required. What is lost will return in due time.
↓ Line 5
Sincerity and simplicity bring more joy than grand gestures. Value genuine intentions.
↓ Pushing Upward46
Steady growth and progress through perseverance and effort. Step-by-step advancement leads to success.
Original Readings
63 After Completion
Other titles: After Completion, The Symbol of What is Already Past, Already Fording, Already Completed, Settled, Mission Accomplished, Tasks Completed, After the End, A state of Climax
Judgment
Legge:Completion intimates progress and success in small matters. There is advantage in firm correctness. There had been good fortune in the beginning; there may be disorder in the end.
Wilhelm/Baynes: After Completion. Success in small matters. Perseverance furthers. At the beginning good fortune, at the end disorder.
Blofeld:After Completion -- success in small matters! Persistence in a righteous course brings reward. Good fortune at the start; disorder in the end. [Perhaps persistence may help to lessen the disorder that threatens to come upon us after some initial success.]
Liu: Completion. Success in the small. It benefits to continue. Good fortune at first; disorder in the end.
Ritsema/Karcher:Already Fording. Growing: the small. Harvesting Trial. Initially significant. Completing: disarraying. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of an important move from one position to another. It emphasizes that actively proceeding with the crossing is the adequate way to handle it...]
Shaughnessy:Already Completed: Receipt; slightly beneficial to determine; initially auspicious, in the end disordered.
Cleary (1):Settlement is developmental, but it is minimized. It is beneficial to be correct. The beginning is auspicious, the end confused.
Cleary (2): Settlement is successful, even in small matters … etc.
Wu: Mission Accomplished indicates a small degree of pervasiveness and the advantage of being persevering. It is characterized by goodness in the beginning, but tumult in the end.
The Image
Legge: The image of water above fire formsCompletion. The superior man, in accordance with this, thinks of the evil that may come, and guards against it in advance.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Water over fire: the image of the condition in After Completion. Thus the superior man takes thought of misfortune and arms himself against it in advance.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes water above fire. The Superior Man deals with trouble by careful thought and by taking advance precautions.
Liu: Water above fire symbolizes Completion. The superior man ponders danger and takes precautions against it.
Ritsema/Karcher: Stream located above fire. Already Fording. A chun tzu uses pondering distress and-also providing-for defending-against it.
Cleary (1): Water is above fire,Settled.Thus superior peopleconsider problems and prevent them.
Wu: There is water above fire; this is Mission Accomplished. Thus the jun zi conceives ways to prevent disaster.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: Progress and success in small matters, with advantage in firm correctness. The dynamic and magnetic lines are correctly arranged, each in its proper place. There has been good fortune in the beginning because the magnetic second line is in the center. In the end there is a cessation of effort, and disorder arises. The course that led to rule and order is now exhausted.
Legge: The two written Chinese characters translated here as Completion represent two ideas -- the symbol of being past or completed, and the symbol of crossing a stream -- with a secondary meaning of helping and completing. When combined, the two characters express the idea of successful accomplishment. The hexagram denotes the kingdom finally at rest -- the vessel of state has been brought safely across the great and dangerous stream, the distresses of the realm have been relieved and its disorders rectified. Small things need to be completed: the new government must be consolidated and its ruler must, without noise or clamor, go on to perfect what has been wrought with firm correctness and without forgetting the inherent instability of all human affairs. That every line of the hexagram is in its correct place, and has its proper correlate emphasizes the intimation of progress and success.
The K'ang-hsi editors compare this hexagram and the next with number eleven, Harmony, and number twelve, Divorcement, observing that the goodness of Harmony is concentrated, as here, in the second line. Disorder after completion is inevitable. All things move on with a constant process of change. Disorder succeeds to order, and again order to disorder.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: All's well that ends well, but the new cycle demands as much willpower as the last. Make no drastic choices during a transition.
The Superior Man anticipates conflict and is prepared for it in advance.
The sixty-third hexagram is the reference hexagram which depicts the correlation of properly matched dynamic and magnetic lines. On the basis of this figure, all of the other hexagrams (except the first and second, which are their "parents"), are compared. Yet, despite the fact that every line is in its proper place, not one of them has an easy auspice, and both the Judgment and Image are subdued and cautionary. The general idea is that as long as we draw breath in this spacetime dimension, our lives and Work are incomplete. Cycles complete themselves, certainly, but Completion in that sense is the "completion" of the full moon, which as soon as it reaches maximum brilliance immediately begins to wane.
Among those engaged in psycho-spiritual work, there is a great deal of energy focused on "enlightenment," and the natural desire of each aspirant to attain that state of consciousness as soon as possible. Many there are who wander from one conception of the Work to another in the hope that this particular discipline, or that particular Guru will provide the transcendent answer that the last one didn't.
This is a very deceptive illusion, because the chances that any given individual will attain perfect enlightenment in any given lifetime are probably miniscule to the point of insignificance. (How many truly enlightened beings have you ever met in your life?)
But the first signs of this symbolism are far from indicating that unity has been attained. Just as alchemy has a great many procedures, ranging from the "work of one day" to the "the errant quest" lasting for decades, so the tensions between the psychic pair of opposites ease off only gradually; and, like the alchemical end- product, which always betrays its essential duality, the united personality will never quite lose the painful sense of innate discord. Complete redemption from the sufferings of this world is and must remain an illusion ... The goal is important only as an idea; the essential thing is the opus which leads to the goal: that is the goal of a lifetime. In its attainment "left and right" are united, and conscious and unconscious work in harmony. Jung-- Psychology of the Transference
The Work is a slow, organic process of transforming unconscious forces, which demands almost superhuman levels of discipline to accomplish. One can make a great deal of progress in one lifetime, but the Work can not be said to be complete until physical death “completes” it -- at that point, assuming the ego has acquired enough strength of will, perhaps one can facilitate a "permanent" synthesis of the forces one has spent a lifetime in training. Death is the doorway back to our Source, and if we enter that doorway consciously and correctly we can consolidate a great deal of power which will serve us well in the next cycle, in whatever dimension that cycle may take place.
It is even doubtful whether a man can arrive at the summit of all perfection as long as he lives in an imperfect physical form, because the imperfections of the form hamper the spirit, and only a spirit that has outgrown the necessity to live in a physical form may be said to have arrived at that high degree of perfection at which a perfect knowledge of self, and consequently a perfect knowledge of the universe is obtained. F. Hartmann --Paracelsus: Life and Prophecies
Line 1
Legge: The first line, dynamic, shows its subject as a driver who drags back his wheel, or as a fox which has wet his tail. There will be no error.
Wilhelm/Baynes: He brakes his wheels. He gets his tail in the water. No blame.
Blofeld: He brakes the wheel of his chariot and gets the rear part wet -- no error!
Liu: The brake to the wheel. The tail gets wet. No blame.
Ritsema/Karcher: Pulling back one's wheels. Soaking one's tail. Without fault.
Shaughnessy: Dragging his ribbon, wetting his tail; there is no trouble.
Cleary (1): Dragging the wheel, wetting the tail, there is no fault.
Cleary (2): Dragging the wheels – it is right that there be no problem.
Wu: The wheels are pulled back. The tail is immersed in water. There will be no error.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: As we may rightly judge, there will be no mistake. Wilhelm/ Baynes: According to the meaning, there is no blame in this. Blofeld: Since we manage to stop at the right moment we are not to blame for what happens. Ritsema/Karcher: Righteous, without fault indeed. Cleary (2): (None.) Wu: In principle there is nothing wrong.
Legge: Line one, the first of the hexagram, represents the time immediately after the successful completion of something -- a time for resting and being quiet. For a season at least, all movement should be hushed. Hence we have the symbolism of a driver trying to stop his carriage, and a fox who has wet his tail, and will not attempt the stream again.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: At the outset, the man is not caught in the intoxication of the masses during a great transition. The general pressure finally overwhelms him. However, this occurs only at the last minute, after he has successfully completed the enterprise.
Wing: As you move forward with your plans, the pressure starts to build and you feel an urge to reconsider. You must face the fact that you will be affected by the events that you have inexorably set into motion, but not detrimentally, as you are generally correct.
Editor: Wilhelm, Blofeld and Liu all use the image of brakes to stop a wheel. If the hexagram is turned upside down it becomes number sixty-four, Before Completion or Unfinished Business,and this line becomes number 64:6 which has a similar message. Even the fox is mentioned. The image is one of avoiding danger by holding back.
The contented man meets no disgrace;
Who knows when to stop runs into no danger --
He can long endure.
Lao Tzu
A. Stop pushing -- hold and consolidate your position.
B. "Leave well enough alone."
Line 2
Legge: The second line, magnetic, shows its subject as a wife who has lost her carriage-screen. There is no occasion to go in pursuit of it. In seven days she will find it.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The woman loses the curtain of her carriage. Do not run after it; on the seventh day you will get it.
Blofeld: The lady loses the blind from her chariot window. She should not go in search of it, for she will recover it in seven days.
Liu: A lady loses her carriage curtain. Without seeking it, it will be regained within seven days.
Ritsema/Karcher: A wife losing her veil. No pursuit. The seventh day: acquiring.
Shaughnessy: The wife loses her hair; do not follow, in seven days you will get it.
Cleary (1): A woman loses her protection. Do not pursue; you will get it in seven days.
Cleary (2): A woman loses her protection. Let her not give chase: she will find it in seven days.
Wu: A woman has lost the curtain of her carriage. There is no need to look for it. After seven days it will be found.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The course pursued is that indicated by the central position of the line. Wilhelm/Baynes: As a result of the middle way. Blofeld: Restraint or moderation will be rewarded. Ritsema/Karcher: Using centering tao indeed. Cleary (2): Because of her balanced course. Wu: Because she take a middle course.
Legge: The second line is magnetic and in her proper place. With her dynamic correlate in line five, she might be expected to take action, but she is central and correct – a lady who has lost her carriage screen. She will not advance further so soon after success has been achieved, but keeps herself in hidden retirement. Let her not seek the screen. The seven days is a cycle of completion running its course -- then a new period when action will be proper shall have commenced.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: The man is not accorded the protective confidence of his superiors. In his desire to achieve something, he is tempted to seek it and draw it to himself. He should not do so, but should remain patient and faithful. What is truly his will come to him eventually.
Wing: You are suddenly exposed, whether by your own hand or by circumstances beyond your control. Do nothing. Don't try to cover up, or attempt to make a case for your position. This time of conspicuousness will soon pass.
Editor: The image of the hexagram suggests a high water mark -- the point at which a cycle is completed. Beyond this point is the beginning of a whole new cycle. The second line is the ruler of the hexagram -- a magnetic, receptive, yin line who remains fully devoted to the dynamic yang line, her husband, in the fifth place. A magnetic force is vulnerable during a period of completion -- it must remain in place until the synthesis is complete and the next cycle begins.
When a patient begins to feel the inescapable nature of his inner development, he may easily be overcome by a panic fear that he is slipping helplessly into some kind of madness he can no longer understand. More than once I have had to reach for a book on my shelves, bring down an old alchemist, and show my patient his terrifying fantasy in the form in which it appeared four hundred years ago. This has a calming effect, because the patient then sees that he is not alone in a strange world which nobody understands, but is part of the great stream of human history, which has experienced countless times the very things that he regards as a pathological proof of his craziness. Jung -- Alchemical Studies
A. An image of temporary vulnerability: take no action until the situation matures.
Line 5
Legge: The fifth line, dynamic, shows its subject as the neighbor in the east who slaughters an ox for his sacrifice; but this is not equal to the small spring sacrifice of the neighbor in the west, whose sincerity receives the blessing.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The neighbor in the east who slaughters an ox does not attain as much real happiness as the neighbor in the west with his small offering.
Blofeld: In terms of benefits, the neighbor to the east gained less from sacrificing an ox than the neighbor to the west obtained from carrying out the spring sacrifice.
Liu: The eastern neighbor sacrificed an ox; the western neighbor made a simple offering, but he received the blessing. [Many will succeed in small undertakings but fail in grand schemes.]
Ritsema/Karcher: The Eastern neighbor slaughters cattle. Not thus the Western neighbor's dedicated offering. The substance: acquiescing-in one's blessing.
Shaughnessy: The eastern neighbor kills an ox to sacrifice; it is not as good as the western neighbor's spring sacrifice in really receiving its blessing; auspicious.
Cleary (1): Slaughtering an ox in the neighborhood to the east is not as good as the ceremomy in the neighborhood to the west, really receiving the blessing.
Cleary (2): ... The genuine get the blessings.
Wu: The neighbor on the east side slaughters an ox. What he does is less rewarding than the neighbor on the west side, who makes simple offerings in the summer and receives an abundance of blessings.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The large sacrifice of the eastern neighbor cannot equal the small sacrifice of the western neighbor because the latter is in harmony with the times. Wilhelm/Baynes: The eastern neighbor, who slaughters an ox, is not as much in harmony with the time as the western neighbor. The latter attains true happiness: good fortune comes in great measure. Blofeld: Because the former's sacrifice (though bigger) was less timely. The benefits obtained by the neighbor to the west betoken that good fortune is on its way to us. [This is one of the favorite themes of the Book of Change, namely the importance of timeliness. A small effort at the right time will win for us more benefit than a gigantic effort at the wrong time.] Ritsema/Karcher: Significant, the great coming indeed. Cleary (2): Good fortune comes in great measure. Wu: There comes great fortune.
Legge: The neighbor in the east is line five, and the neighbor in the west is line two -- his correlate. Five is dynamic, and two is magnetic, and magnetic passivity is more likely to be patient and cautious under the prevailing circumstances. They are compared to two men sacrificing. The one presents valuable offerings, the other very poor ones, but the second excels in sincerity, and his small offering is the more acceptable.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: Men are deceived by what the eyes see, but the gods are swayed by what the heart conceals.
Wing: This is an inappropriate time for ostentatious exhibitions of personal success and grandeur. Look for true happiness in the simplicity of your life. You will achieve more by small efforts than by large displays of power.
Editor: The superior neighbor is the magnetic line two in the middle of the trigram of Clarity, who understands the true difference between form and substance. The inferior neighbor is the dynamic and ego-centric line five in the middle of the trigram of Peril, who acts on his own initiative and wastes his effort. The image teaches the difference between acting from the ego or the Self: between pushing the river and flowing with it.
More acceptable is the character of one upright of heart than the ox of the evildoer ... The god is aware of him who acts for him. Instruction for king Meri-ka-re -- Egypt, C. 2000 B.C.
A. A modest but sincere effort is superior to a great show of force. Small increments of real advancement are worth more than illusions of completion.
B. Complexity fails; simplicity succeeds.
C. The situation requires a modest condescension of power or display of allegiance, not a grandiose expression of martyrdom.
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