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. |
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  37. Dwelling People (jiā rén). The FamilyAdvise
Home improvement is the basis for the establishment of order in the world.
Inital text of I ChingThe Judgement
The Family. The perseverance of the woman furthers.
The Image
Wind comes forth from fire: The image of the Family. Thus the superior man has substance in his words and duration in his way of life.
- Firm seclusion within the family. Remorse disappears.
- She should not follow her whims. She must attend within to the food. Perseverance brings good fortune.
- When tempers flare up in the family, too great severity brings remorse. Good fortune nonetheless. When woman and child dally and laugh, it leads in the end to humiliation.
- She is the treasure of the house. Great good fortune.
- As a king he approaches his family. Fear not. Good fortune.
- His work commands respect. In the end good fortune comes.
Prediction
It is time to leave great things and put things in order at home. Family problems are to be overcome as soon as possible, until the wind blew the fire of hearth. Protect your property. Keep the traditions of family. It is favorable time for the larger family - marriage, birth of offspring.
The hexagram represents the laws obtaining within the family. The strong
line at the top represents the father, the lowest the son. The strong line in the
fifth place represents the husband, the yielding second line the wife. On the
other hand, the two strong lines in the fifth and the third place represent two
brothers, and the two weak lines correlated with them in the fourth and the
second place stand for their respective wives. Thus all the connections and
relationships within the family find their appropriate expression. Each
individual line has the character according with its place. The fact that a
strong line occupies the sixth place-where a weak line might be expected-
indicates very clearly the strong leadership that must come from the head of
the family. The line is to be considered here not in its quality as the sixth but
in its quality as the top line. THE FAMILY shows the laws operative within
the household that, transferred to outside life, keep the state and the world in
order. The influence that goes out from within the family is represented by
the symbol of the wind created by fire.
THE JUDGMENT
The foundation of the family is the relationship between husband and wife.
The tie that hold the family together lies in the loyalty and perseverance of
the wife. The tie that holds the family together lies in the loyalty and
perseverance of the wife. Her place is within (second line), while that of the
husband is without (fifth line). It is in accord with the great laws of nature
that husband and wife take their proper places. Within the family a strong
authority is needed; this is represented by the parents. If the father is really a
father and the son a son, if the elder brother fulfills his position, and the
younger fulfills his, if the husband is really a husband and the wife a wife,
then the family is in order. When the family is in order, all the social
relationships of mankind will be in order.
Three of the five social relationships are to be found within the family-that
between father and son, which is the relation of love, that between the
husband and wife, which is the relation of chaste conduct, and that between
elder and younger brother, which is the relation of correctness. The loving
reverence of the son is then carried over to the prince in the form of
faithfulness to duty; the affection and correctness of behavior existing
between the two brothers are extended to a friend in the form of loyalty, and
to a person of superior rank in the form of deference. The family is society in
the embryo; it is the native soil on which performance of moral duty is made
early through natural affection, so that within a small circle a basis of moral
practice is created, and this is later widened to include human relationships
in general.
THE IMAGE
Heat creates energy: this is signified by the wind stirred up by the fire and
issuing forth form it. This represents influence working from within
outward. The same thing is needed in the regulation of the family. Here too
the influence on others must proceed form one's own person. In order to be
capable of producing such an influence, one's words must have power, and
this they can have only if they are based on something real, just as flame
depends on its fuel Words have influence only when they are pertinent and
clearly related to definite circumstances. General discourses and admonitions
have no effect whatsoever. Furthermore, the words must be supported by
one's entire conduct, just as the wind is made effective by am impression on
others that they can adapt and conform to it. If words and conduct are not in
accord and consistent, they will have no effect.
1
The family must form a well-defined unit within which each member knows
his place. From the beginning each child must be accustomed to firmly
established rules of order, before ever its will is directed to other things. If we
begin too late to enforce order, when the will of the child has already been
overindulged, the whims and passions, grown stronger with the years, offer
resistance and give cause for remorse. If we insist on order from the outset,
occasions for remorse may arise-in general social life these are unavoidable-
but the remorse always disappears again, and everything rights itself. For
there is nothing easily avoided and more difficult to carry through than
"breaking a child's will."
2
The wife must always be guided by the will of the master of the house, be he
father, husband, or grown son. There, without having to look for them, she
has great and important duties. She must attend to the nourishment of her
family and to the food for the sacrifice. IN this way she becomes the center of
the social and religious life of the family, and her perseverance in this
position brings good fortune to the whole house.
In relation to general conditions, the counsel here is to seek nothing by
means of force, but quietly to confine oneself to the duties at hand.
3
In the family the proper mean between severity and indulgence ought to
prevail. Too great severity toward one's own flesh and blood leads to
remorse. The wise thing is to build strong dikes within which complete
freedom of movement is allowed each individual. But in doubtful instances
too great severity, despite occasional mistakes, is preferable, because it
preserves discipline in the family, whereas too great weakness leads to
disgrace.
4
It is upon the woman of the house that the well-being of the family depends.
Well-being prevails when expenditures and income are soundly balanced.
This leads to great good fortune. In the sphere of public life, this line refers to
the faithful steward whose measures further the general welfare.
5
A king is the symbol of a fatherly man who is richly endowed in mind. He
does nothing to make himself feared; on the contrary, the whole family can
trust him, because love governs their intercourse. His character of itself
exercises the right influence.
6
In the last analysis, order within the family depends on the character of the
master of the house. If he cultivates his personality so that it works
impressively through the force of inner truth, all goes well with the family.
In a ruling position one must of his own accord assume responsibility.
Barbara Hejslip interpretationSuccess and success wait for you there where your soul aspires. Your hopes will come true, but not without assistance. Do not make a mistake, do not leave now the territory, differently it becomes very fast to you clearly, that it could not be done. Search for calm and the world in the home life, in house affairs, in dialogue with friends.
  48. Welling (jǐng). The WellAdvise
The main pit for a person is in the soul.
Inital text of I ChingThe Judgement
The Well. The town may be changed, but the well cannot be changed. It neither decreases nor increases. They come and go and draw from the well. If one gets down almost to the water and the rope does not go all the way, or the jug breaks, it brings misfortune.
The Image
Water over wood: The image of the Well. Thus the superior man encourages the people at their work, and exhorts them to help one another.
- One does not drink the mud of the well. No animals come to an old well.
- At the wellhole one shoots fishes. The jug is broken and leaks.
- The well is cleaned, but no one drinks from it. This is my heart's sorrow, for one might draw from it. If the king were clear-minded, good fortune might be enjoyed in common.
- The well is being lined. No blame.
- In the well there is a clear, cold spring from which one can drink.
- One draws from the well without hindrance. It is dependable. Supreme good fortune.
Prediction
External immovability is along with internal mobility. External sources of power are exhausted, they should looked for inside. There is a temporary respite, but it is not stagnant, but only the suspension. Help can be obtained from the outside, but do not rely on it. Act with caution; consider action in advance, making mistakes is dangerous: getting water is not simple to do even if pit is full. Choose the right tools to achieve the goals and be capable to use them. If you do not miss the opportunity, you will be successful.
Wood is below, water above. The wood goes down into the earth to bring up
water. The image derives from the pole-and-bucket well of ancient China.
The wood represents not the buckets, which in ancient times were made of
clay, but rather the wooden poles by which the water is hauled up from the
well. The image also refers to the world of plants, which lift water out of the
earth by means of their fibers.
The well from which water is drawn conveys the further idea of an
inexhaustible dispensing of nourishment.
THE JUDGMENT
In ancient China the capital cities were sometimes moved, partly for the sake
of more favorable location, partly because of a change in dynasties. The style
of architecture changed in the course of centuries, but the shape of the well
has remained the same from ancient times to this day. Thus the well is the
symbol of that social structure which, evolved by mankind in meeting its
most primitive needs, is independent of all political forms. Political
structures change, as do nations, but the life of man with its needs remains
eternally the same-this cannot be changed. Life is also inexhaustible. It grows
neither less not more; it exists for one and for all. The generations come and
go, and all enjoy life in its inexhaustible abundance.
However, there are two prerequisites for a satisfactory political or social
organization of mankind. We must go down to the very foundations of life.
For any merely superficial ordering of life that leaves its deepest needs
unsatisfied is as ineffectual as if no attempt at order had ever been made.
Carelessness-by which the jug is broken-is also disastrous. If for instance the
military defense of a state is carried to such excess that it provokes wars by
which the power of the state is annihilated, this is a breaking of the jug.
This hexagram applies also to the individual. However men may differ in
disposition and in education, the foundations of human nature are the same
in everyone. And every human being can draw in the course of his
education from the inexhaustible wellspring of the divine in man's nature.
But here likewise two dangers threaten: a man may fail in his education to
penetrate to the real roots of humanity and remain fixed in convention-a
partial education of this sort is as bad as none- or he may suddenly collapse
and neglect his self-development.
THE IMAGE
The trigram Sun, wood, is below, and the trigram K'an, water, is above it.
Wood sucks water upward. Just as wood as an organism imitates the action
of the well, which benefits all parts of the plant, the superior man organizes
human society, so that, as in a plant organism, its parts co-operate for the
benefit of the whole.
1
If a man wanders around in swampy lowlands, his life is submerged in mud.
Such a man loses all significance for mankind. He who throws himself away
is no longer sought out by others. In the end no one troubles about him any
more.
2
The water itself is clear, but it is not being used. Thus the well is a place
where only fish will stay, and whoever comes to it, comes only to catch fish.
But the jug is broken, so that the fish cannot be kept in it.
This describes the situation of a person who possesses good qualities but
neglects them. No one bothers about him. As a result he deteriorates in
mind. He associates with inferior men and can no longer accomplish
anything worth while.
3
An able man is available. He is like a purified well whose water is drinkable.
But no use is made of him. This is the sorrow of those who know him. One
wishes that the prince might learn about it; this would be good fortune for all
concerned.
4
True, if a well is being lined with sone, it cannot be used while the work is
going on. But the work is not in vain; the result is that the water stays clear.
In life also there are times when a man must put himself in order. During
such a time he can do nothing for others, but his work is nonetheless
valuable, because by enhancing his powers and abilities through inner
development, he can accomplish all the more later on.
5
A well that is fed by a spring of living water is a good well. A man who has
virtues like a well of this sort is born to be a leader and savior of men, for he
has the water of life. Nevertheless, the character for "good fortune" is left out
here. The all-important thing about a well is that its water be drawn. The
best water is only a potentiality for refreshment as long as it is not brought up.
So too with leaders of mankind: it is all-important that one should drink
from the spring of their words and translate them into life.
6
The well is there fore all. No one is forbidden to take water from it. No
matter how many come, all find what they need, for the well is dependable. It
has a spring and never runs dry. Therefore it is a great blessing to the whole
land. The same is true of the really great man, whose inner wealth is
inexhaustible; the more that people draw from him, the greater his wealth
becomes.
Barbara Hejslip interpretationProbably, that your business go not absolutely smoothly. But even if it so, do not deny assistance to another. You are convinced subsequently, that it - is unique a correct image of actions. Be not afflicted, but now, probably, hardly it is possible to count that your abilities on advantage will be estimated and recognized by your heads. Certainly, you very much would like, that circumstances have changed, but hardly it is possible now. It concerns only your "global" desires and aspirations, less significant can will be executed and now. Despite of everything, your monetary business are not bad enough.
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Richard Wilhelm's commentary