The I Ching or Book of Changes (119 page)
THE IMAGE
Water over wood: the image of THE WELL.
Thus the superior man encourages the people at their work,
And exhorts them to help one another.
The well symbolism in the Image is again applied to government, the well itself being regarded as the center of the social structure. There is likewise an allusion to the agrarian system ascribed to remotest antiquity. In this system the fields were so divided that eight families with their fief lands were grouped around a center that held the well and the settlement, and that had to be cultivated in common for the benefit of the central government. The form of the settlement was suggested in the ideogram for
ching
,
. The fields were divided as follows:
Fields 1 to 8 were used by the individual families; field 9 contained the well, together with the settlement and the lord’s fields. Under this arrangement, the members of the settlement naturally had to rely on co-operative work.
The influence of the government on the people is suggested by the two trigrams. Encouragement of the people at their
work corresponds with the trigram K’an, which symbolizes work or drudgery (
lao
). Exhortation corresponds with the trigram Sun, which denotes dissemination of commands.
THE LINES
Six at the beginning:
a
) One does not drink the mud of the well.
No animals come to an old well.
b
) “One does not drink the mud of the well”: it is too far down.
“No animals come to an old well”: time forsakes it.
The line is weak and at the very bottom, hence the idea of mud in the well. It is hidden by the firm line in the second place, hence the idea that no animals come. It remains quite outside the movement. Time passes it by.
Nine in the second place:
a
) At the wellhole one shoots fishes.
The jug is broken and leaks.
b
) “At the wellhole one shoots fishes”: he has no one to do it with him.
This line in itself is strong and central, but it is not in the relationship of correspondence to the ruler of the hexagram. The trigram Sun means fishes. The upper nuclear trigram Li means jug; the lower, Tui, means to break in pieces, hence the broken jug.
This line is so to speak the antithesis of the ruler of the hexagram. It is the place referred to in the second half of the Judgment (concerning the broken jug).
The phrase, “At the wellhole one shoots fishes,” here translated in accordance with the old commentaries, was later also interpreted to mean: “The water of the wellspring bubbles only for fishes.” The Chinese character
shê
, shooting, also means figuratively the shooting forth of a ray. In any case, the meaning is that the water is not used by human beings for drinking.
Nine in the third place:
a
) The well is cleaned, but no one drinks from it.
This is my heart’s sorrow,
For one might draw from it.
If the king were clear-minded,
Good fortune might be enjoyed in common.
b
) “The well is cleaned, but no one drinks from it.” This is the sorrow of the active people.
They beg that the king may be clear-minded, in order to attain good fortune.
This line is strong and at the top of the lower trigram, therefore the well is cleaned. No relationship exists between the lower and the upper trigram, hence the isolation. Within, however, there are unifying tendencies, because both nuclear trigrams in their movement indicate upward direction: hence the regret of the active people (represented by these nuclear trigrams) and the hope that the king may become clear-minded. The king is the ruler of the hexagram, the nine in the fifth place, which is connected with the present line through the upper nuclear trigram Li, clarity.
Six in the fourth place:
a
) The well is being lined. No blame.
b
) “The well is being lined. No blame,” because the well is being put in working order.
The line has a relationship of holding together with the ruler of the hexagram in the fifth place, hence the idea that the well is being reconditioned, made fit to receive the spring water from the nine in the fifth place. Here the minister is in immediate proximity to the prince, who works together with him for the good of all.
Nine in the fifth place:
a
) In the well there is a clear, cold spring
From which one can drink.
b
) Drinking from the clear, cold spring depends on its central and correct position.
Here we have the ruler of the hexagram. It is the light line between the two dark ones in the upper trigram and represents the water within the well rim; hence the idea of the clear, cold spring. As ruler of the hexagram, it stands at the disposal of the others because of its central, correct position.
Six at the top:
a
) One draws from the well
Without hindrance.
It is dependable.
Supreme good fortune.
b
) “Supreme good fortune.” In the top place, this means great perfection.
The line is at the top, that is, where the well water can be used by people. The rising of the water to the top makes it possible to use the well. Because of this, the line marks the completion of the hexagram; this is why the augury of great good fortune is added.
1
The ruler of the hexagram is the nine in the fifth place, for a man must be in an honored place in order to have the authority to bring about a revolution. One who is central and correct is able to bring out all the good of such a revolution. Therefore it is said of this line: “The great man changes like a tiger.”
The Sequence
The setup of a well must necessarily be revolutionized in the course of time. Hence there follows the hexagram of REVOLUTION.
A well must be cleaned out from time to time or it will become clogged with mud. Therefore the hexagram Ching, THE WELL, which means a permanent setup, is followed by the hexagram of REVOLUTION, showing the need of changes in long-established institutions, in order to keep them from stagnating.
Miscellaneous Notes
REVOLUTION means removal of that which is antiquated.
The hexagram is so constructed that the influences of the two primary trigrams are in opposition; hence a revolution develops inevitably. Fire (Li), below, is quickened by the nuclear trigram Sun, meaning wind or wood. The upper nuclear trigram Ch’ien provides the necessary firmness. The entire movement of the hexagram is directed upward.
THE JUDGMENT
REVOLUTION. On your own day
You are believed.
Supreme success,
Furthering through perseverance.
Remorse disappears.
Commentary on the Decision
REVOLUTION. Water and fire subdue each other. Two daughters dwell together, but their views bar mutual understanding. This means revolution.
“On your own day you are believed”: one brings about a revolution and in doing so is trusted.
Enlightenment, and thereby joyousness: you create great success through justice.
If in a revolution one hits upon the right thing, “remorse disappears.”
Heaven and earth bring about revolution, and the four seasons complete themselves thereby.
T’ang and Wu
1
brought about political revolutions because they were submissive toward heaven and in accord with men.
The time of REVOLUTION is truly great.
Molting depends on fixed laws; it is prepared in advance. The same is true of political revolutions. The expression “on your own day” points—as in the case of the hexagram Ku, WORK ON WHAT HAS BEEN SPOILED (
18
)—to one of the ten cyclic signs. These ten cyclic signs are: (1) Chia, (2) I, (3) Ping, (4) Ting, (5) Wu,
2
(6) Chi, (7) Kêng, (8) Hsin, (9) Jên, (10) Kuei. As noted earlier in connection with
hexagram 18
, the eighth of these signs, Hsin [metal, autumn], has also the secondary meaning of renewal, and the seventh, Kêng, means change. Now the sign before Kêng is Chi, hence it is on the day before
the change takes place that one is believed (therefore the rendering “your own day”;
chi
also means “own”). If the cyclic signs are combined with the eight trigrams as correlated with the cardinal points in the Sequence of Later Heaven [Inner-World Arrangement], it will be found that K’un stands for Chi—which means earth—in the southwest,
3
midway between Tui in the west and Li in the south, that is, between the two trigrams that combat and subdue each other. The earth in the middle balances their influences, so that the clarity of fire (Li) and the joyousness of water (Tui) can manifest themselves separately. Hence the need of enlightenment and joyousness in gaining the popular confidence necessary for a revolution.