989976 · 49.1.3.4.6Hexagram 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 20

Wholeness.

Line image

In the outer world, we are involved in activity (lines 3 and 4) but we are not involved in our feeling of emerging events; with the fifth and sixth lines yang, our identity and inner world are isolated from the outer and this calls for something to be done.

Trigram image

There is a free flow of energy from the inner into outer manifestation, the two bottom trigrams are K’un, then identity stills this motion (Kên) and a firm structure without flow (Sun) is formed in our inner being; this structure that identity makes is our view of what is real to us. The common name of the hexagram is “contemplation” or “view”; we look at our state to see how a harmonious flow can be established.

The Chinese Oracle

Contemplation.
The ablution has been made
but not the sacrifice.
Genuineness wins respect.

Comments

The washing of hands before a sacrifice is a symbol of freeing ourselves from remnants of old practices in preparation for giving them up altogether (the sacrifice). When we have separated ourselves from something in order to view it, as the structure of the hexagram suggests, we have not yet done anything about it; the actual sacrifice has to be done throughout or genuinely.

Manifestations

The pattern
The wide view
from a height
contemplates activity
on and in the earth.
For humans
Time for seeing the whole
of relating outer and inner life,
quiet amongst activity
but beyond it.
In nature
The mountain peak stands serene
sloping down to valleys
where life is teeming.
In forms we make
See what is there.
Take stock of it
as a whole.

Changing Lines

Line 1 goes yang

life force shows less change

Amongst the forces acting upon the emerging life force is our selection of what we will recognize. In this tao we, as identity, are not recognizing emerging activity and this makes it inactive for us in this moving line. This selection of the particular from the whole is the natural course of growing identity but as it matures experience is gathered into its inner being and, if it remains open, the outer and inner resonate as one.

The Chinese Image
A childish view is blameless in a lower rank,
but unfortunate in the superior man.

The superior man is one who experiences more widely, which is also less selectively.

Line 2 goes yang

intuitive feeling less active

Having a less active feeling about the emerging life force narrows what we can see of it; in this tao it is the best that feeling can do.

The Chinese Image
Looking through a crack of the door is of advantage to the woman.

The door crack is the narrowing of our viewpoint by the lessening of feeling, symbolically female and hence the woman. Open feeling is at a disadvantage when identity is withdrawn from it (line 5) and especially in this tao of stillness and review.

Line 3 goes yang

outer world changes less

Less outer activity tends to balance our outer-inner position and so is in keeping with the tao. By acting out less, we see more of what is going on around us.

The Chinese Image
By contemplating our life
we decide upon advance or retreat.

This is an outer line and we vary our action according to changes in outer circumstances rather than allowing ourselves to be carried by the momentum of our involvements.

Line 4 goes yang

accepting the outer state less

We, identity, are less involved in our active outer world and by acting out in a less entangled way we have a wider view.

The Chinese Image
Contemplating the glory of the kingdom, his advantage is to be a guest of the king.

The king is the identifying process which rules our conscious world, here we contemplate being in this identified world in a new way, not as one identified, who would be a subject of the king, but as a guest, a visitor. The advantage is that we remain centred, not becoming entangled in identifications.

Line 5 goes yin

more awareness of intuition

Feeling is of the life force and of its movements which are the tao, so the movement of this line corrects the imbalance that the hexagram pictures and brings our separated parts together.

The Chinese Image
The superior man, contemplating the course of his life, does not fall into error.

Becoming aware of our intuitive feelings gives awareness of the flow of the life energy which is the “course of his life”. It is the superior man who does this because it is a widening view.

Line 6 goes yin

our inner being accepts more

Realizing what we have been doing always changes our direction. Becoming more involved in the tao of overlooking life gives insight into ourselves and brings about a change in the balance between the viewer and the viewed, when there is full involvement the experiencer and the experience become one.

The Chinese Image
The superior man,
contemplates his way of being
and has no error.
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.