Line image
Here all is activity and acceptance. Everything moves according to its place and there is no question, no complication of hesitation or aim, no attitude is taken up and no stance is maintained. This is a symbolically female mode, not shown in relationship with male as in trigram Li but the elemental female itself of K’un, which flows according to the forces within it in a spontaneous acceptance of movement as its reality.
Structure is not very real to this element, its reality is in the changing flow of the moment as identity experiences where it is but never _knows_ it; to know where you are, you have to stop the movement with an idea, knowing takes an extension of time whereas the purely yin element rides reality in the present, which is time but has no time sequence.
Identity in this mode does not abstract ideas from its experience so it has no structure of idea to confront the experience. We go from one thing to another as it happens, participating in primary manifestation.
Trigram image
Manifestation is all flow and for this to be so, there has to be acceptance of all the circumstances in which we find ourselves. When we accept everything, nothing is held up in the flow and it remains in dynamic balance without stress. Identity does not know itself; it experiences itself but has no concept of what that means—it means only what is experienced
This flowing mode is nearer to our inner source of manifestation than the mode of concepts—we know without knowing why we know—it is an unencumbered way to be and intensely real, being so near to the source of manifestation.
We meet the paradox here that this source of manifestation which we approach in feeling has the male symbol of the creative—the ultimate extreme of idea that arrives at idealessness or non-manifestation. The paradox is resolved when we see the dynamics of yin and yang where the energy flows in and out between the male and female modes; it is one mode really, which manifests in a cyclic form.
The patterns which we humans choose in this flow by our individual natures are the 64 qualified tao or hexagrams. This hexagram of K’un trigrams bears these particularly deep symbolisms because it is one of the extremes of the cyclic movement, but it is nevertheless one of the 64 patterns that we make, and it refers to minor happenings in our lives as well as our very existence itself. We need sometimes to allow ourselves its influence.
The Chinese Oracle
The receptive element brings sublime success. The symbol of a mare.At first he leads and loses the way, then he follows and is supported.Friends in the west and south, not in the east and north.Peaceful continuance is beneficial.
Comments
As in hexagram 1 there is inevitable success in the receptive, but if we start to lead, we lose this tao of being receptive. To be receptive is to allow the self to resonate with the other (the friend). To befriend the height of activity (south, midday, warmth) gives life to the resonance whereas to seek passivity of action (north, night, cold) kills the resonance.
A mare bears the foal, carries man, and is one with nature in a natural and gentle manner—in the receptive, we reject nothing.
Manifestations
Simple flow of activity:unquestioning,moves unjudgedaccepting all things.
Born from the earthof its elements.Return sometimes unprotesting,resting in the flowing juice of life.
Onto the earthwarm and chill.Into the earthseed, root, lovemoving in the magic of water.
The only form he can makeis an empty tube.The only governmentthe will of the people.
Changing Lines
Line 1 goes yang
life force shows less changeThe life force itself is going into a quiet phase and this will become more evident to us as its manifestation grows outwards. We need to accommodate this, to accept it in this tao of the receptive.
Hoarfrost underfoot, ice then comes.
Cold is symbolic of inactivity, so this is to say that inactivity will become more manifest.
Line 2 goes yang
intuitive feeling less activeIn this tao, change occurs whether we are feeling it or not—if we feel it, we are aware of our involvement and may even think that we cause the activity, but it is not so except in a very narrow sense; the great tao moves us and accomplishes itself.
Straight, wide, great.Purposeless yet it achieves.
There is no choice of ways so our way is straight, awareness is not limited so it is wide (has a lot of scope) and it is the great tao that is purposeless, yet it achieves (manifests) in everything.
Line 3 goes yang
outer world changes lessIn this tao which is all activity there is no chosen coming and going—it encompasses all coming and going. The activity is seen rather as a flow of energy from one part to another—a wider view of many cycles operating. The outer reality expressed by line 3 is our outer world, however, and here in this line the activity is felt as being withdrawn; withdrawn from us and continued elsewhere. We are receptive in this tao, so we are not concerned so much with our part as the activity of the whole.
Concealing possibilities is correct.Outer activities will eventually prosper.
Possibilities, or our own personal aims which we may exercise in the world, are not relevant here in this tao where all are equally received—in other circumstances we can attend to these and bring them to manifestation, but not now when we can experience without choice.
Line 4 goes yang
accepting the outer state lessCycles of free manifestation flow in phases of activity and tranquility. Our identity does this also and in this tao it does not indicate any manipulation on our part.
A tied up sack.No praise, no blame.
There is no praise or blame because it is the natural state of affairs for cycles to have closed phases.
Line 5 goes yang
less awareness of intuitionHere everything is seen carried in the great tao. We remove our attention from our feelings and they continue to affect the way we are but, as we say, unconsciously.
A Yellow undergarment.Greatest good fortune.
Yellow is active (being near the middle of our visible range of light frequencies) and the undergarment is our unseen clothing or unconscious form; this is what carries us here, so we flow naturally without conscious effort.
Line 6 goes yang
our inner being accepts lessLine 6 is about our inner acceptance of experience, and in this moving line we separate from the great flowing tao and identity believes that it creates and destroys. We have here a birth into identity in some way and we choose and take sides and enter mind reality with our being. We move into the contest between being active or passive and must choose.
Dragons fight in the wilderness.Their blood is black and yellow.
Black is the colour of night and inactivity, while yellow is our most noticeable and so active colour, so this is the nature of the contest.