Monday, April 11, 2011

Tao :: The Lake Above, The Lake Below


  58. Tui / The Joyous, Lake




above TUI
THE JOYOUS, LAKE


below TUI
THE JOYOUS, LAKE
This hexagram, like sun, is one of the eight formed by doubling of a trigram. 
The trigram Tui denotes the youngest daughter; it is symbolized by the 
smiling lake, and its attribute is joyousness. Contrary to appearances, it is not 
the yielding quality of the top line that accounts for joy here. The attribute of 
the yielding or dark principle is not joy but melancholy. However, joy is 
indicated by the fact that there are two strong lines within, expressing 
themselves through the medium of gentleness.

  True joy, therefore, rests on firmness and strength within, manifesting itself 
outwardly as yielding and gentle.


 THE JUDGMENT THE IMAGE


 THE JOYOUS. Success.
 Perseverance is favorable.

The joyous mood is infectious and therefore brings success. But joy must be 
based on steadfastness if it is not to degenerate into uncontrolled mirth. 
Truth and strength must dwell in the heart, while gentleness reveals itself in 
social intercourse. In this way one assumes the right attitude toward God and 
man and achieves something. Under certain conditions, intimidation 
without gentleness may achieve something momentarily, but not for all 
time. When, on the other hand, the hearts of men are won by friendliness, 
they are led to take all hardships upon themselves willingly, and if need be 
will not shun death itself, so great is the power of joy over men.


 


 Lakes resting one on the other:
 The image of THE JOYOUS.
 Thus the superior man joins with his friends
 For discussion and practice.

A lake evaporates upward and thus gradually dries up; but when two lakes 
are joined they do not dry up so readily, for one replenishes the other. It is 
the same in the field of knowledge. Knowledge should be a refreshing and 
vitalizing force. It becomes so only through stimulating intercourse with 
congenial friends with whom one holds discussion and practices application 
of the truths of life. In this way learning becomes many-sided and takes on a 
cheerful lightness, whereas there is always something ponderous and one-
sided about the learning of the self-taught.


 
Moving
Lines
This
Hexagram
This Hexagram
+ Moving Lines
6 -- x -- 6
5 ---o--- 9
4 ---o--- 9
3 --   -- 8
2 ---o--- 9
1 ------- 7


58. Tui / The Joyous, Lake


27. I / Corners of the Mouth (Providing Nourishment)
  Present Potential


THE LINES


 Nine at the beginning means:
 Contented joyousness. Good fortune.

A quiet, wordless, self-contained joy, desiring nothing from without and 
resting content with everything, remains free of all egotistic likes and dislikes. 
In this freedom lies good fortune, because it harbors the quiet security of a 
heart fortified within itself.


 Nine in the second place means:
 Sincere joyousness. Good fortune.
 Remorse disappears.

We often find ourselves associating with inferior people in whose company 
we are tempted by pleasures that are inappropriate for the superior man. To 
participate in such pleasures would certainly bring remorse, for a superior 
man can find no real satisfaction in low pleasures. When, recognizing this, a 
man does not permit his will to swerve, so that he does not find such ways 
agreeable, not even dubious companions will venture to proffer any base 
pleasures, because he would not enjoy them. Thus every cause for regret is 
removed.


 Six in the third place means:
 Coming joyousness. Misfortune.

True joy must spring from within. But if one is empty within and wholly 
given over to the world, idle pleasures come streaming in from without. 
This is what many people welcome as diversion. Those who lack inner 
stability and therefore need amusement, will always find opportunity of 
indulgence. They attract external pleasures by the emptiness of their natures. 
Thus they lose themselves more and more, which of course has bad results.


 Nine in the fourth place means:
 Joyousness that is weighed is not at peace.
 After ridding himself of mistakes a man has joy.

Often a man finds himself weighing the choice between various kinds of 
pleasures, and so long as he has not decided which kind he will choose, the 
higher or the lower, he has no inner peace. Only when he clearly recognizes 
that passion brings suffering, can he make up his mind to turn away from the 
lower pleasures and to strive for the higher. Once this decision is sealed, he 
finds true joy and peace, and inner conflict is overcome.


 Nine in the fifth place means:
 Sincerity toward disintegrating influences is dangerous.

Dangerous elements approach even the far best of men. If a man permits 
himself to have anything to do with them, their disintegrating influence acts 
slowly but surely, and inevitable brings dangers in its train. But if he 
recognizes the situation and can comprehend the danger, he knows how to 
protect himself and remains unharmed.


 Six at the top means:
 Seductive joyousness.

A vain nature invites diverting pleasures and must suffer accordingly (cf. the 
six in the third place). If a man is unstable within, the pleasures of the world 
that he does not shun have so powerful an influence that he is swept along by 
them. Here it is no longer a question of danger, of good fortune or 
misfortune. He has given up direction of his own life, and what becomes of 
him depends upon chance and external influences.

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