The answers to many questions

 
 
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The I Ching for Android

There were "old" features in your gua (hexagram). It means that you have two hexagrams. The first one — is something that the Book tells you at the moment, the second is something it warns you about. Adorning (bì). Grace Bound (gèn). The Keeping Still

hieroglyph Adorning (bì). Gracehexagram 22 Adorning (bì). Grace

22. Adorning (bì). Grace

Advise

Learn to distinguish perfect from the beautiful, the true from illusory. Learn how to find beauty in the small and enjoy it.

Inital text of I Ching

The Judgement

Grace has success. In small matters it is favorable to undertake something.

The Image

Fire at the foot of the mountain:
The image of Grace. Thus does the superior man proceed when clearing up current affairs. But he dare not decide controversial issues in this way.

  1. He lends grace to his toes, leaves the carriage, and walks.
  2. Lends grace to the beard on his chin.
  3. Graceful and moist. Constant perseverance brings good fortune.
  4. Grace or simplicity? A white horse comes as if on wings. He is not a robber, he will woo at the right time.
  5. Grace in hills and gardens. The roll of silk is meager and small. Humiliation, but in the end good fortune.
  6. Simple grace. No blame.

Prediction

Outwardly, everything is good. But it is not time for great things. At the moment content with little. Do not obsess over visual appeal. Look at what's happening and choose goals for the future according to the dictates of the soul. Furnishing our external, do not forget to take care of the internal, true beauty is inside.

Richard Wilhelm's commentary

This hexagram shows a fire that breaks out of the secret depths of the earth and, blazing up, illuminates and beautifies the mountain, the heavenly heights. Grace-beauty of form-is necessary in any union if it is to be well ordered and pleasing rather than disordered and chaotic.

THE JUDGMENT

Grace brings success. However, it is not the essential or fundamental thing; it is only the ornament and therefore be used sparingly and only in little things. In the lower trigram of fire a yielding line comes between two strong lines and makes them beautiful, but the strong lines are the essential content and the weak line is the beautifying form. In the upper trigram of the mountain, the strong line takes the lead, so that here again the strong element must be regarded as the decisive factor. In nature we see in the sky the strong light of the sun; the life of the world depends on it. But this strong, essential thing is changed and given pleasing variety by the moon and the stars. In human affairs, aesthetic form comes into being when traditions exist that, strong and abiding like mountains, are made pleasing by a lucid beauty. By contemplating the forms existing in the heavens we come to understand time and its changing demands. Through contemplation of the forms existing in human society it becomes possible to shape the world.

THE IMAGE

The fire, whose light illuminates the mountain and makes it pleasing, does not shine far; in the same way, beautiful form suffices to brighten and to throw light upon matters of lesser moment, but important questions cannot be decided in this way. They require greater earnestness.

1

A beginner in subordinate place must take upon himself the labor of advancing. There might be an opportunity of surreptitiously easing the way- symbolized by the carriage-but a self-contained man scorns help gained in a dubious fashion. He thinks it more graceful to go on foot than to drive in a carriage under false pretenses.

2

The beard is not an independent thing; it moves only with the chin. The image therefore means that form is to be considered only as a result and attribute of content. The beard is a superfluous ornament. To devote care to it for its own sake, without regard for the inner content of which it is an ornament, would bespeak a certain vanity.

3

This represents a very charming life situation. One is under the spell of grace and the mellow mood induced by wine. This grace can adorn, but it can also swamp us. Hence the warning not to sink into convivial indolence but to remain constant in perseverance. Good fortune depends on this.

4

An individual is in a situation in which doubts arise as to which is better-to pursue the grace of external brilliance, or to return to simplicity. The doubt itself implies the answer. Confirmation comes from the outside; it comes like a white winged horse. The white color indicates simplicity. At first it may be disappointing to renounce the comforts that might have been obtained, yet one finds peace of mind in a true relationship with the friend who courts him. The winged horse is the symbol of the thoughts that transcend all limits of space and time.

5

A man withdraws from contact with people of the lowlands, who seek nothing but magnificence and luxury, in to the solitude of the heights. There he finds an individual to look up to, whom he would like to have as a friend. But the gifts he has to offer are poor and few, so that he feels ashamed. However, it is not the material gifts that count, but sincerity of feeling, and so all goes well in the end.

6

Here at the highest stage of development all ornament is discarded. Form no longer conceals content but brings out its value to the full. Perfect grace consists not in exterior ornamentation of the substance, but in the simple fitness of its form.

Barbara Hejslip interpretation

This hexagram can be favorable only for the affairs concerning theatre. It means, that you have a propensity to hide the original face, and people surrounding you too behave not quite sincerely. Your love affairs are problematic enough now. But successes in other spheres are possible. Your desires will be executed, but is completely not fast. It is necessary to try to accept a life such as it is, and to study at it.



hieroglyph Bound (gèn). The Keeping Stillhexagram 52 Bound (gèn). The Keeping Still

52. Bound (gèn). The Keeping Still

Advise

Moving slowly, we can achieve more. Unhurried ride provides an opportunity not only to reach a distant goal, without riding a horse to death and breaking the wagon, but also allows much to see and learn.

Inital text of I Ching

The Judgement

Keeping Still. Keeping his back still so that he no longer feels his body. He goes into his courtyard and does not see his people. No blame.

The Image

Mountains standing close together:
The image of Keeping Still. Thus the superior man does not permit his thoughts to go beyond his situation.

  1. Keeping his toes still. No blame. Continued perseverance furthers.
  2. Keeping his calves still. He cannot rescue him whom he follows. His heart is not glad.
  3. Keeping his hips still. Making his sacrum stiff. Dangerous. The heart suffocates.
  4. Keeping his trunk still. No blame.
  5. Keeping his jaws still. The words have order. Remorse disappears.
  6. Noblehearted keeping still. Good fortune.

Prediction

Forces were set in motion. But this is only the beginning. Do not hurry time and events – way will be long, motion will be unhurried. Know how to wait patiently. Difficulties would be overcome if the effort is made. In relations with other be well-balanced, cautious. Keep the fight by the rules, look for peaceful solutions, do not be lazy to long negotiations - and then prevail over a rival. Personal relations are developing smoothly, in love - harmony.

Richard Wilhelm's commentary

The image of this hexagram is the mountain, the youngest son of heaven and earth. The male principle is at the top because it strives upward by nature; the female principle is below, since the direction of its movement has come to its normal end.

In its application to man, the hexagram turns upon the problem of achieving a quiet heart. It is very difficult to bring quiet to the heart. While Buddhism strives for rest through an ebbing away of all movement in nirvana, the Book of Changes holds that rest is merely a state of polarity that always posits movement as its complement. Possibly the words of the text embody directions for the practice of yoga.

THE JUDGMENT

True quiet means keeping still when the time has come to keep still, and going forward when the time has come to go forward. In this way rest and movement are in agreement with the demands of the time, and thus there is light in life.

The hexagram signifies the end and the beginning of all movement. The back is named because in the back are located all the nerve fibers that mediate movement. If the movement of these spinal nerves is brought to a standstill, the ego, with its restlessness, disappears as it were. When a man has thus become calm, he may turn to the outside world. He no longer sees in it the struggle and tumult of individual beings, and therefore he has that true peace of mind which is needed for understanding the great laws of the universe and for acting in harmony with them. Whoever acts from these deep levels makes no mistakes.

THE IMAGE

The heart thinks constantly. This cannot be changed, but the movements of the heart-that is, a man's thoughts-should restrict themselves to the immediate situation. All thinking that goes beyond this only makes the heart sore.

1

Keeping the toes still means halting before one has even begun to move. The beginning is the time of few mistakes. At that time one is still in harmony with primal innocence. Not yet influenced by obscuring interests and desires, one sees things intuitively as they really are. A man who halts at the beginning, so long as he has not yet abandoned the truth, finds the right way. But persisting firmness is needed to keep one from drifting irresolutely.

2

The leg cannot move independently; it depends on the movement of the body. If a leg is suddenly stopped while the whole body is in vigorous motion, the continuing body movement will make one fall.

The same is true of a man who serves a master stronger than himself. He is swept along, and even though he may himself halt on the path of wrongdoing, he can no longer check the other in his powerful movement. Where the master presses forward, the servant, no matter how good his intentions, cannot save him.

3

This refers to enforced quiet. The restless heart is to be subdued by forcible means. But fire when it is smothered changes into acrid smoke that suffocates as it spreads.

Therefore, in exercises in meditation and concentration, one ought not to try to force results. Rather, calmness must develop naturally out of a state of inner composure. If one tries to induce calmness by means of artificial rigidity, meditation will lead to very unwholesome results.

4

As has been pointed out above in the comment on the Judgment, keeping the back at rest means forgetting the ego. This is the highest stage of rest. Here this stage has not yet been reached: the individual in this instance, though able to keep the ego, with its thoughts and impulses, in a state of rest, is not yet quite liberated from its dominance. Nonetheless, keeping the heart at rest is an important function, leading in the end to the complete elimination of egotistic drives. Even though at this point one does not yet remain free from all the dangers of doubt and unrest, this frame of mind is not a mistake, as it leads ultimately to that other, higher level.

5

A man in a dangerous situation, especially when he is not adequate to it, is inclined to be very free with talk and presumptuous jokes. But injudicious speech easily leads to situations that subsequently give much cause for regret. However, if a man is reserved in speech, his words take ever more definite form, and every occasion for regret vanishes.

6

This marks the consummation of the effort to attain tranquillity. One is at rest, not merely in a small, circumscribed way in regard to matters of detail, but one has also a general resignation in regard to life as a whole, and this confers peace and good fortune in relation to every individual matter.

Barbara Hejslip interpretation

Now progress in affairs is very problematic. It is necessary for you to wait some time, and only then again to start to work; if you will plan a trip or travel, refuse them is better. Try to reconcile to circumstances and well consider the position before to undertake something. Do not despond. Difficulties and intrigues of ill-wishers you will overcome all, the victory will be for you, and is very fast. That desires were granted, now your efforts should be especially persevering.