989998 · 49.1.3.4.5Hexagram 49

Breaking out of the old.

Line image

Intuitive feeling (line 2) does not flow into outer action, line 3 is yang, but identity is not accepting this situation (line 4) nor recognizing the feeling (line 5). This inactive tao is accepted by our inner being (line 6). Here is a blockage of expression which is not yet fully realized so the feeling builds up towards a sudden realization or change; the common name of the hexagram is “revolution” but this clearly refers to the preparation rather than the explosion of change itself.

Trigram image

The life force emerges hesitantly (Li), meets a rigid outer world structure (Sun) and our inactive identity (Ch’ien); here there is no activity showing, but in our ongoing inner self there is Tui, an expectation of change.

The hexagram has also been called “skin” and “moulting”, referring to the way a snake will change its outer form when the inner can no longer be contained.

The Chinese Oracle

Revolution.
Not before it is seen
will it be believed.
Great success.
Continuance in the way is fruitful.
regret disappears.

Comments

In this tao of preparation for change the outcome cannot quite be believed, cannot be known for certain. We have been in a compressed state for so long that the release seems incredible; yet the conditions for it are here, success will come if we continue to follow the tao and so regret will disappear.

Manifestations

The pattern
The bright,
belonging to the new,
needs something mature to change
before reaching fulfillment.
For humans
When he has invested himself
in his life,
he must divest himself
to start anew.
In nature
The snake
renews his skin
when the old
is no longer flexible enough
for him to grow.
In forms we make
When the old form
will not change enough
the lower revolts and destroys
to form the new.

Changing Lines

Line 1 goes yin

life force shows more change

Here is the very beginning of change towards activity, not yet defined into any form and still hidden by existing structure that it will eventually replace. If we recognize it there is relief that here at last is change coming, but it is just the first sign and not yet time for action.

The Chinese Image
Yellow oxhide.

All contained in two words. Yellow is the great activity we feel for, long for, and wish to bring about; oxhide is the container of great strength (the ox). This is our situation in a nutshell, we must contain this great urge to act prematurely.

Line 2 goes yang

intuitive feeling less active

This is a rejection of the structure that holds us and a rejection of being confined by inactivity. We extract our feelings from the lassitude of having no energy of flow, undoing our links with present structure and so making it into past structure. As with all our manifestation, revolution starts with feeling.

The Chinese Image
When completed,
to advance brings good fortune.
No error.

The feeling must be made our own, it must be allowed to complete itself before the next stage of manifesting externally. When we proceed like this in tune with the way the life force manifests we have “success” for we are one with the life energy.

Line 3 goes yin

outer world changes more

If when in a state of transition we open up outer activity too soon we bring out the old way of doing things and put off the change. Outer activity should develop from change within which leads it, then it is in perfect order.

The Chinese Image
Movement brings misfortune.
Continuing brings danger.
After discussion three times
confidence is made into action.

Movement before we have thoroughly changed our old mode of being and thinking (this change is the three discussions) is unfortunate because we would be drawing on the same forces we have used before and are so tired of; only when a new way is firmly in our consciousness is it time to act outside in the world.

Line 4 goes yin

accepting the outer state more

The outer reality that we are accepting here in this line is inactive. Revolution is not basically an external phenomenon, what happens outside is a symptom of what has happened inside; realizing this we are in the right position for revolution, it comes because it already exists, not because we make it.

The Chinese Image
Regret disappears.
Belief is established.
Changing the government
brings good fortune.

Regret disappears because we now realize that revolution has its own force, comes inevitably from within, and this leads to the change in governing our actions, which used to be for the sake of the outside, the symptom, but now is given up to the tao. In the innermost interpretation this change is the revolution we are talking about.

Line 5 goes yin

more awareness of intuition

Accepting the feeling of the tao that the old is spent enables the new to emerge, it comes out naturally and we act instinctively, which is of the whole nature.

The Chinese Image
The great man acts as a tiger would.
He acts like the oracle itself.

Changing like a tiger is to change with the natural power of this great cat; he does not doubt or falter but springs instinctively.

Line 6 goes yang

our inner being accepts less

Revolution completes itself, so to go on revolting is to overturn what we have just created. We no longer need aggressive attitudes which have served their purpose.
The division of reality into rules to live by created the structure; seeing through the structure healed the divisions; if we remain divisive we shall find ourselves imprisoned by rules once more.

The Chinese Image
The superior man changes like a leopard.
The inferior man changes his face.
Movement brings misfortune.
Continuance in the way
brings good fortune.

We have a phrase “can the leopard change its spots?” This shows an unchanging character attributed to this cat. The wide seeing (superior) man does not change his mode of being but accepts the new, but the narrow mode that chooses and identifies has now to change attitude (its face).

Secondary HexagramHexagram 2

Choices amongst activity.

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

The pattern
Simple flow of activity:
unquestioning,
moves unjudged
accepting all things.
For humans
Born from the earth
of its elements.
Return sometimes unprotesting,
resting in the flowing juice of life.
In nature
Onto the earth
warm and chill.
Into the earth
seed, root, love
moving in the magic of water.
In forms we make
The only form he can make
is an empty tube.
The only government
the will of the people.

Changing Lines

Line 1 goes yang

life force shows less change

The 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.

The Chinese Image
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 active

In 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.

The Chinese Image
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 less

In 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.

The Chinese Image
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 less

Cycles 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.

The Chinese Image
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 intuition

Here 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.

The Chinese Image
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 less

Line 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.

The Chinese Image
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.

Nuclear HexagramHexagram 44

Adapting to circumstances.

Line image

Here the life force is manifesting actively (line 1) and we are not feeling it, not involved in it, not recognizing what it is (lines 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 are all yang). This unawareness is likely to lead us into misreading our situation.

Trigram image

The only trigram with any activity is that for the emerging life force, Sun, and we do not respond to this circumstance which comes to us in a rather rigid and formed shape. We cannot influence it because it has no changeability and we may not recognize its strength because of its gentleness. We need to remain alert and witness our desires rather than trying to fulfill them.

The Chinese Oracle

Sudden meeting.
The woman is powerful.
Do not marry.

Comments

The meeting is sudden because we are very unaware in this tao, like someone who is very short-sighted and suddenly recognizes something at close range. Feeling (the woman) is powerful and this feeling is emotional feeling that we have stored and now seeks activity, so it is not born out of our present circumstances but is triggered by them. It is useful to allow such feeling but useless to wed ourselves to it.

Manifestations

The pattern
The powerfully mature
has its activity.
Without being influenced
has influence.
For humans
He does not try to change
what is so formed,
but meeting it
he is so drawn
he must himself change.
In nature
The flow of oceans
does not yield to our swimming.
The place of planets
does not shift for our desire.
In forms we make
All forms have archetypes
they tend towards,
yet the archetype has no form.

Changing Lines

Line 1 goes yang

life force shows less change

Here the silence of identity (lines 4, 5, and 6 are yang) ignores the activity of the life force and it ceases to have influence.

The Chinese Image
The wheel is held by a metal brake.
Continuance in the way brings good fortune.
A lean pig leaps about.

The brake is applied; there is nothing we can do about it but follow our circumstances. Any attempt to get out of our circumstances will prove unfortunate so we need simply to experience where we are. A lean pig is an underfed pig and when we are under-stimulated we “leap about” to cause activity.

Line 2 goes yin

intuitive feeling more active

Feeling is our link between the undefined inner and manifest outer; here in this line new activity of feeling is occurring although identity is taking no notice.

The Chinese Image
There are fish in the tank.
It does not benefit the guests.
No error.

Our present identifications (the guests) are not noticing the nourishment available, but this cannot be error, it is just circumstance.

Line 3 goes yin

outer world changes more

In this tao we do not have a true picture of our circumstances and in this line we act out in circumstances of which we are ignorant.

The Chinese Image
No skin on his thighs.
He walks with difficulty.
Keeping alert he makes no error.

Line 4 goes yin

accepting the outer state more

If our increased involvement is with a sense of outer peace all is well, but this is likely to be a search for outer activity and if it is we will search and find none.

The Chinese Image
No fish in the tank.
Misfortune.

The tank which has or has not fish in it is our personal inner being and the fish are our personal identifications in this. Here there are no fish, the process of identifying is inactive in this tao, so if we expect something we are disappointed.

Line 5 goes yin

more awareness of intuition

Our intuition about our circumstances as shown by line 2 is inactive; by accepting this lack of interpretive feeling, we allow life to happen to us.

The Chinese Image
A melon wrapped in leaves is hidden.
Something falls from heaven.

The melons, the gourd family of fruits, have a multitude of seeds in the fruit casing, many possibilities. These possibilities are hidden within the fruit, the fruit is hidden in the leaves, it appears that nothing is there; then suddenly from this nothing (from heaven) there is a happening. This describes how life is when we do not anticipate it.

Line 6 goes yin

our inner being accepts more

By accepting the energy of this tao which flows through emotional channels there is a forcing of their recognition.

The Chinese Image
He approaches with his horns.
Regret but no error.

The way emotion forces its way into recognition is often uncomfortable and causes regret, but it is necessary for it to be expressed so this is not an error.