Using what is small.

Line image

In line 4, the only yin line, we are accepting that there is quietness in our outer world—we experience it directly, physically, and so accept it as real—but we are not experiencing the inactivity of inner energies and our absence of feeling about them so we are prone to expect more than there is available to us.

Trigram image

The emerging flow is tranquil (Ch’ien) but there is a hope or expectation of outer action (Tui). Identity is hesitant to act on this (Li) so our inner being is structured, unflowing (Sun). We learn to change our expectations to suit circumstances in this tao and the common name for the hexagram is “nourishment of the small”; it is part of the maturing of the personal self when the activity of its growth is no longer the only thing that matters.

The Chinese Oracle

Nourishment of the small.
Success.
Dense clouds but no rain
from the west.

Comments

When we are aware that we are nourished by what is small, the success is that we take that nourishment instead of rejecting it for something we see as more important (larger). The clouds presage rain (relief, flow of activity) from the west (maturity, sunset) but this relief is something we are looking for, the effect of maturing has not reached us yet and we are to be content with what progress (success) our situation provides.

If we feel disappointed with this it indicates that we are using our energy in anticipation to the detriment of our present experience.

Manifestations

The pattern

Creative tranquility
feels for activity.
Hesitates to move.
A little movement
soon matures.

For humans

To expect more than there is
will lose the value
of what we have.
To savour this little
gives nourishment.

In nature

The sun breaks through the clouds
late in the day,
giving a mellow evening.
If a small fire is blown
it is soon ashes.

In forms we make

Wise government
and good craftsmen
attend to quality.

Changing Lines

Line 1 goes yin

life force shows more change

At this first sign of activity in this restricting tao, we should not move, the emerging energy that is available will turn out to be too small; so we need to return to the tao of accommodating ourselves to it and thus we learn how to manage this situation.

The Chinese Image

The return to the way is beneficial and blameless.

This may seem to be a setback or error just as we thought we were free to be active, but this is the separate view of identity and not wide enough to take in the situation.

❦

Line 2 goes yin

intuitive feeling more active

Here our feelings open to the tao instead of being in it with resentment; we are willing to play the game that small is beautiful instead of always looking for more.

The Chinese Image

We comply with a need to go back and that is beneficial.

Here, going back is from the point of view of outer identity in which going on means creating more of itself—more clarity of separateness by definition. Here, after hexagram 8, growth takes more subtle forms.

❦

Line 3 goes yin

outer world changes more

When we create outer activity that the tao (our circumstances) will not support, this makes a stress in our situation. We are attempting to drive our vehicle but there is no driving power.

The Chinese Image

A carriage or spoked wheel, separated.
Man and wife with eyes averted.

The spokes of a wheel join the inner and the outer, the hub and the rim. The chariot is separated from the wheel, the rim is separated from its hub, the man is separated from his wife. The inner is separated from the outer here because we identify outwards without awareness that our activity is not supported by the life energies.

❦

Line 4 goes yang

accepting the outer state less

If we do not accept the stillness of our outer world (line 3) we itch for activity and lose confidence in following the tao.

The Chinese Image

Confidence.
Blood and fear are no more.
No error.

Confidence in the inner energies, in the tao. Blood is the life flow and if we have confidence we do not lose this energy needlessly and our fear of not having enough disappears. To a part of ourselves, we may seem to be doing too little, so this is answered by the addition of “no error”.

❦

Line 5 goes yin

more awareness of intuition

In this tao intuition is quiet; by accepting this quietness of feeling we also feel the quietness of acceptance. Quiet feeling is open to its environment in a way that active feeling can never be because it already has direction, so our acceptance of what is small in importance to us makes us at one with our situation.

The Chinese Image

Genuine involvement binds his heart to others and enriches his neighbour.

“Bind” is used here not in the sense of restricting but of making a very close relationship. Our neighbours are the circumstances we find ourselves amongst.

❦

Line 6 goes yin

our inner being accepts more

When we accept the lightly manifest energy of this tao it is almost to accept the non-manifest as real. This has dangers to our manifest identity which still has its active cycle to run. We should witness without entanglement.

The Chinese Image

Rain and rest come. Virtue increases.
Even natural action brings peril to women.
The moon is nearly full.
Persistence by the superior man would bring misfortune.

The essence of virtue is that the whole is not led astray by the part. Here the part rests in the whole which is an increase of virtue. For the part to persist in its separate activity, whether of feeling or of distinguishing, will diminish the virtue and we will miss the peak of restfulness (the moon is nearly full); so we do not pursue our situation but simply rest in it.

Secondary HexagramHexagram 16

In rest.

Line image

As our active feelings in line 2 have the attention of identity in line 5 and our inner being in line 6 is involved in the life force, our attention is turned inwards and rejects activity in the outer world as shown by line 4 which is the only yang line. It is from the inner that new impulses arise and new cycles of activity manifest, so our attention is focused on a change of cycle and we withhold our involvement to be ready for something new.

Trigram image

The only trigram that is not fully flowing is that showing our identified self as K’an—this has low energy and doubtfulness. The identified self is at the bottom of a wave of activity, between one wave and another; it is time for rest.

A common name of the hexagram is “repose”; we should not go too quickly towards activity but neither lose sight of its coming rise. It is a time when we can widen our sense of time and, while being in the moment, be aware of other moments. Being at the node of a cycle (a point about which our reality swings) the tao will seem different when it is seen from one side of the node or the other; if we look ahead it is about excitement in outer involvement whereas if we are in the present it is about inner involvement.

What we need to do in this situation is to allow ourselves to be carried by activity when it comes to us and thus neither get stuck in a stance of repose nor create premature activity.

The Chinese Oracle

Reposeful attention benefits preparation and sending forth of armies.

Comments

Armies being sent forth are symbolic of our outer action, action that comes out of our point of view. A point of view that enables us to act effectively is developed during periods of rest such as this one we are in, so if we act too soon we are not going to be prepared innerly and the conditions will not be right for our action to be beneficial.

Manifestations

The pattern

The wave of the life force
nourishes its source.

For humans

The sabbath, the completion.
each cycle has its period of rest.

In nature

The seed results from the growth
and decay of the plant.

In forms we make

Without an amnesty
how is the knot to be untied?

Changing Lines

Line 1 goes yang

life force shows less change

Repose in this tao means awaiting a new cycle of activity with calm confidence, but here in this moving line the life force produces inactivity that we do not like (line 6 is accepting activity).

The Chinese Image

A cock crows about repose.
misfortune.

Because we do not like the inactivity of this moment we become busy about it. The misfortune is that we miss the experience of peace in the present and are ill-prepared for the next movement of the life force.

❦

Line 2 goes yang

intuitive feeling less active

Our intuitive feeling goes into repose, and this is quite in keeping with this tao but we may get stuck in this if we fix our minds on resting.

The Chinese Image

The firmness of rock.
A day not completed.
Continuance in the way
brings good fortune.

Rock is the underlying truth of our surface world which we feel here as our feelings go into repose, but we do not feel this for the whole cycle, the whole day, surface activity will again manifest. We need to stay with our present circumstances as they change.

❦

Line 3 goes yang

outer world changes less

In this tao it is our involvement in outer activity shown by line 4 that is in repose, not the activity itself. Here outer activity is lessened so we are involved in making it less which is still an involvement and not repose; to let it go will enable us to find a new cycle.

The Chinese Image

He gazes upwards
which brings remorse.
He acts too late
which brings remorse.

Looking upwards is to look away from the matter in hand, looking for something that is not in our circumstances brings remorse because it is not available and we miss what is available (we come to it too late).

❦

Line 4 goes yin

accepting the outer state more

As the tao of repose is marked by this line being the only yang line, here we are involving ourselves in a new phase which is the natural development out of the phase of repose.

The Chinese Image

Calm confidence manifests success.
being without doubt he gathers friends.

If, now that repose is ending, we carry our calm confidence on into activity, we can expect the support of others.

❦

Line 5 goes yang

less awareness of intuition

As we become less aware of what our intuitive feelings are doing we are more likely to be unaware when there is change, when something new arises, so we are more likely to carry on with old feelings when they have lost their vitality.

The Chinese Image

There is illness but not death.

This applies to the feelings, but physical illness often accompanies our identifying with stale feelings over a long period.

❦

Line 6 goes yang

our inner being accepts less

When we lose interest in a transition while it is happening to us we lose touch with the flow and become confused.

The Chinese Image

Excessive repose (or over-confidence).
At completion there is change
and no error.

The transition is in us, it happens despite the confusion of identity because identity is not its cause but is what is being affected. As the transition completes itself we see more clearly again.

Nuclear HexagramHexagram 38

Opposition in time. (Taking turns.)

Line image

There is outer activity (line 3) but we are not accepting this (line 4); there is no activity of intuitive feeling (line 2) but we are looking for it (line 5). The other lines are all yang so such activity as there is here is in opposition to our circumstances, and “opposition” is the common name of the hexagram.

Trigram image

The very light emerging energy (Tui) is hesitant in the world (Li), stopped by doubt (K’an) in identity and our inner being is also hesitant to accept it (Li). Hesitation and doubt alternate and oppose the life force flow as we are divided as to whether we should be still or moving, observing or involved.

The Chinese Oracle

Opposition.
Success in small matters.

Comments

When there is opposition we cannot go far in any direction without being opposed, we can move about a little but this tao is restrictive and set against itself, we are set against our self.

Manifestations

The pattern

Forces of opposition
cannot coexist
without losing character,
so they take turns.

For humans

To move with the easy and rest simply
in harmony with others
allows his actions to be his own.
When the young realize taking turns
they can express fully without frustration.

In nature

The cosmos moves in cycles
of the active and tranquil.

In forms we make

To realize form
is to allow its innate character.
Wise government is not impaired.

Changing Lines

Line 1 goes yin

life force shows more change

Here the source is changing towards active manifestation; if we wait peacefully it will reach the outside in time. It is the source that carries our activities.

The Chinese Image

Regret disappears.
Do not chase after the lost horse,
it will return.
Although there is evil company
he does not mix with it.

Regret disappears because activity (the horse which carries identity) returns of its own accord. The evil company is the narrow frame of mind which demands that it gets what it wants, and now, but we do not tangle with that, we let the tao unfold.

❦

Line 2 goes yin

intuitive feeling more active

When we feel the life force in this tao we feel opposition, the narrowness of a single-minded point of view. To become aware of such a situation within ourselves is not a mistake, but it is uncomfortable.

The Chinese Image

He meets his lord in a narrow street.
No mistake.

We come to realize something quite suddenly and cannot escape from it, there is nowhere to go (our lord is the one we must follow). We meet him coming the other way but it is good to see truth when, or particularly when, it is going the opposite way to the one we are facing.

❦

Line 3 goes yang

outer world changes less

Our present outer activity comes to the end of its energy and our attempts to proceed appear to be opposed.

The Chinese Image

They drag at the axle
and strike the oxen.
His head is shaved
and his nose cut off.
No good beginning
but a good end.

The good end comes because we give up futile effort and allow the tao. The trouble comes because we were insufficiently aware.

❦

Line 4 goes yin

accepting the outer state more

Here we accept the outer world as our way of being. Participation is symbiotic relationship instead of opposition and this is no error; it does carry the danger of forgetting the tao and entering a narrow reality.

The Chinese Image

He stands alone amongst opposition.
He finds a companion with whom he co-operates.
Danger but no error.

❦

Line 5 goes yang

less awareness of intuition

Here is a very inner act but it is occurring in our conscious identity. Our interest in the silence of intuitive feeling has been to enliven it, not to accept it, because no other activity was available. Now we cease this and so trust the life force even though it is not doing what identity wanted—it is a change in mind, a change of mind.

The Chinese Image

Regret disappears.
He and the one with whom he relates
bite through the barrier layer.
What error can there be then?

The one with whom he relates innerly is the “companion” (see section 1, page 2) but in outer life this may work through others. When the outer identity and the inner companion are not separated there is certainty and no question of error.

❦

Line 6 goes yin

our inner being accepts more

In this tao the emerging life force is unchanging (line 1 is yang) and we have felt opposed to this. We now see things differently.

The Chinese Image

Lonely and opposed.
He saw a pig covered with mud,
a waggon-load of phantoms.
He drew his bow but then put it aside
seeing that this was not an assailant but a close relative.
As he goes gentle rain falls and good fortune comes.

The pig is nourishment but obscured by mud (confusion); the waggon-load of phantoms are frightening appearances. By ceasing to oppose we become unopposed, for the opposition in this tao is a misunderstanding of our situation which causes us to fear it.