The I Ching – II

A Modern Manual for Self-Fulfillment
Eileen Evermore

The I Ching, or the Chinese Book of Changes, is an ancient book of wisdom. Yet today, particularly in the western world, its primary use is a simple fortune-telling device.  Fortune telling implies a fatalistic future, with the questioner powerless to influence or change these foreordained events.  This view of the I Ching is far too narrow.  It ignores the contributions of Chinese philosophers and scholars who for centuries infused the book with profound lessons.  These lessons focus on the wisdom to empower the questioner to make conscious choices that will influence future success and happiness.  The legacy is an I Ching which is a manual on how to understand the laws of an ever changing world and how to live in harmony with those laws.  As a manual, it is designed for use—the more you use it the deeper your understanding will be.1  The process begins by formulating a question.

The I Ching is not concerned with such philosophical questions such as, “Where did we come from?”  “Where do we go after we die?” “ Is there a God/Goddess ?” or “ What is the nature of God?”  Nor is it concerned with the salvation of souls.  Rather, its focus is on this world, a place where Man stands between Heaven and Earth, living in the Eternal Now of perpetual change over which there is little or no control; a world where, nonetheless, actions have natural consequences.

This is a world in which both good fortune and misfortune are predictable, based on human behavior in any given set of circumstances, at any given point in time.  These predictions are found in most I Ching books under “The Judgment” which appears in every Hexagram. The Judgments may be altogether omitted from your text.2

For example, the commentary for hexagram #18 says: “Work on What Has Been Spoiled or Remedying.”  The premise is that what has been spoiled by human neglect or weakness can be repaired and restored by human commitment, energy, and self-discipline.

THE JUDGMENT3

WORK ON WHAT HAS BEEN SPOILED  (REMEDYING)4
Has supreme success. ( This is the message of hope:  we are all capable of reversal, renewal, and redemption.)  

It furthers one to cross the great water (It is beneficial to repair the damage of what has gone wrong through human carelessness, selfishness, or bad habits. Note that the I Ching speaks in metaphor: “crossing the great water” is a symbol of undertaking any arduous task.)

Before starting, three days.  (This phrase is symbolic.  It does not literally mean that you are required to take three days.  It means that you need to take the time to analyze the situation, and to be honest with yourself about the source of the problem.  This self-examination will be difficult, but it is essential to planning and applying the proper solution)              

After starting, three days.  (Once you have implemented your plan to correct the decay, you must continuously assess its effectiveness and be willing to revise it, if it is not working.  Do not be afraid of making a mistake or asking others for help.  Maintain your faith in yourself and the worthiness of your cause.  In the end, your efforts will be richly rewarded by supreme success.)

The I Ching is almost exclusively concerned with questions related to self-development and cooperating with others– becoming a conscious choice maker through cultivating character, emotional balance, personal integrity, and perseverance.  Recognizing that this world is defined by the interdependence of opposites which are constantly in a state of flux, man can still be true to himself and naturally move with the changing flow of events, not against them, secure in the knowledge that the one thing that is stronger than any outer adversity is one’s own inner strength.  This is the pathway to happiness and success.

Because all things in this world are interrelated, the individual’s journey on this path will involve other people as well as the entire natural world.  There are occasional references to the Sage who has chosen to withdraw from the world, but the vast majority of the text provides wisdom on living in harmony with others throughout the myriad of life’s experiences.   The success or failure of the individual’s journey is inextricably bound to the success or failure of everyone engaged in the effort.  Hence, there is the need to cooperate with others to achieve mutually beneficial goals.  The I Ching repeatedly stresses the virtues of modesty, sincerity, generosity, loyalty, devotion, and benevolence as the keys to a successful cooperative effort.

And finally, the I Ching does not define success in the modern, particularly western terms of wealth, fame, power, and esteem.  Rather, success is defined as becoming the person you were born to be—finding your proper path, living your journey with integrity and harmony—that is, without blame.

A Practical Application

As an example of how the I Ching works, I want to share a specific personal interaction I had with the I Ching last year.  I asked several questions about the same problem during a four month period.

My business, a custom gold jewelry store, was next to a vacant storefront.  My landlady rented the vacant space to a couple who opened a “smoke shop.”  From the beginning, the owners and clientele, young adults who were mostly pierced and tattooed, would stand in the parking lot, smoking cigarettes — in violation of a posted city ordinance against smoking within 25 feet of any business.  Alternatively, they would park in front of my store, roll-down their car windows, and smoke in their cars.  Throughout every business day, I would ask them not to smoke in front of my store and point to the posted ordinance and then to the area where smoking was legal.  Some of them were polite but most of them were rude, making no attempt to disguise their resentment.  My own customers were reluctant to breach this smoking human barricade.

So, I asked the I Ching about the Tao5 of this situation, “What is the correct path?”

I threw #40- Deliverance with the top changing line of 6.  Movement is going out of the sphere of danger, but deliverance has not yet been achieved.  (Inferior elements have achieved a high position in your life and are blocking your path.)

The 6 at the top said: “The prince shoots a hawk on a high wall.  He kills it.  Everything serves to further.”  (The hawk is the symbol of a powerful, hardened inferior who must be forcibly removed.  The prince is the superior person who has the means within himself/herself to remove the obstacle.  The weapons are adequate preparation and clever timing.  When the time is right, make sure your aim is true, and you will hit the mark.

In throwing a hexagram that contains a changing line, a second hexagram results.

In this case, the broken line in the sixth place produced hexagram #64 – Before Completion:  A new beginning, parallel to spring leading into the fruitful time of summer.

I decided to plan how to remove my neighbors.  My first step was to park my car between the two spaces in front of my store to block all the smokers.  I knew that I was also preventing my customers from parking there, but, at least I had removed an offensive, stressful obstacle.  Then, I became aware of a tremendous amount of foot traffic going in and out next door.  I documented 16 to 20 people an hour, during a daily 5 hour period, Monday through Friday.  It looked suspiciously like drug trafficking and I thought I should write a letter to the Drug Task Force.  I thought this might be the weapon to hit the mark.   However, when I next asked the I Ching, I got:

 #3-Difficulty at the Beginning, with a 3 changing line: You are at the very beginning of your endeavor, and you need to gather helpers to succeed.  Bide your time.  You will get the help you need.

The 3 “Changing Line” read: “The superior man understands the signs of the time and prefers to desist.  To go on brings humiliation.”  (This is not the right solution. It imposes new and undesirable obligations and responsibilities.  The I Ching  repeatedly refers to “The Superior Person” or “The Inferior Person.” This reference does not refer to social status; rather, it refers to an internal characteristic.  Each of us has an inferior side which chooses base pursuits, and each of us has a superior side which chooses to do the” right” thing however difficult it may be.)

This was not what I wanted to hear.  I did not want to wait.  I wanted to act.  But as I thought about it, I realized that I would be involving myself in court proceedings which would only tie me to the people I never wanted to see again, and probably also lead to a legal decision not in my favor.  I saw the wisdom of the advice and decided to desist.

The hexagram that resulted from the 3 changing line was # 63, After Completion, which suggested that everything is in place and in order, and to proceed actively.  The I Ching’s advice of inaction in hexagram # 3 created the situation that would result in perfect balance and harmony found in # 63.

Within a week, I heard about another vacancy which suited me perfectly, in a much better location, and with a lower rent!  I asked the I Ching about moving to this new location.

I threw # 64 Before Completion, with no changing lines: On the edge of important changes.  Gather your energy.  Everything is possible.  Wait for the right moment.

The time for the new beginning had finally arrived.  I contacted the landlady and we made a deal.  The owners of the smoke shop had wanted to expand into my current location, so I was able to break my lease.  Who knew that my helpers would be the very people who I had I viewed as obstructionists and adversaries?  Or that the happy solution would be that I would remove them by removing myself.  The speed and easiness of these events affirmed that I was flowing with the universe.

Consulting the I Ching can be like having a trusted Sage available at any time . . . ready to serve.   Just as the I Ching stresses the importance of cooperation with others as a prerequisite for the successful outcome of any endeavor, the questioner’s participation is critical for achieving that special relationship with the Book of Wisdom.  If you approach the I Ching  as a fortune teller or a party trick to amuse your house guests, then that is what it will be for you—with varying degrees of success.   If you regularly approach it with an open heart and a willing mind and a commitment to self-development in harmony with others and the world around you, then the  I Ching will always be there for you, illuminating the path to success, happiness and Self-Fulfillment.

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1. There are many texts and translations with commentary available: chose whichever one speaks to you.  It will contain a method of divination as well as the answer to your questions. Or you can refer to the first Article I wrote for the Harmonic Concordance Blog which describes a coin method.
2. References to the text are from the Wilhelm/Baynes translation, The I Ching or The Book of Changes, which is the first translation introducing the I Ching to the western world in the late 19^th Century.  Used by Carl Jung, among others, it is considered by many to be the definitive text, even though, it may seem cryptic or archaic to a 21^st Century reader.  I suspect that many later I Ching texts relied on this translation, rather than reading the original book in Chinese.  I recommend it as a companion, and a reference book to be used in conjunction with any other more modern, user-friendly text.
3. The Judgments are part of the original Chinese text.  The story, which may not be historically accurate, is that The Judgments were written by King Wen (circa, 1050-1122 BC).  King Wen was the first ruler of the Zou Dynasty, and many stories in the I Ching, are accounts of his life.  He is also accredited with doubling the original trigrams of the Emperor Fu Xi (3000 BC), thereby creating The Hexagrams.
4. The parenthetical commentaries in this and subsequent passages are the Author’s.
5. The Tao (pronounced Dao) is a concept from Lao Tsu’ s Tao Te Ching, The Book of Meaning and Life, the foundation of Taoism.  Based on concepts first expressed in the I Ching, the Tao is a metaphorical “path” of right action, of balance and harmony—moving with the flow of life, while pursuing self-fulfillment.