That’s how the third line of Hexagram 6, Arguing, begins:
‘Eating ancient de.
Constancy: danger.
In the end, good fortune.
Maybe following king’s business,
No accomplishment.’
It’s unusual for Yi to talk in abstract imagery in this way – eating not food, but de. De, as in Daodejing, is virtue, but also power, charisma and strength of character. This line is about incorporating ancient de into yourself, as nourishment.
The most popular interpretation of this seems to be that you’re living off something other than your present efforts and achievements. Alfred Huang translates as ‘living off ancestors’ inheritance’, and suggests that since the climate isn’t good for winning disputes, better rely for your living on your hereditary manor. Ewald, with characteristic clarity, says, “As one currently cannot take credit for what one does, one bases one’s self-esteem on previous accomplishments. This doesn’t always work. Eventually things will go well, though.” And Wilhelm seems to think it questionable whether this ‘ancient virtue’ is really yours at all.
In the Songs of the Shijing, especially the earlier ones, ‘ancient’ tends to refer to the old ways and old virtues. These are what the corrupt rulers are lacking, and this is a source of trouble and cause for lament. It seems to me that internalising these old ways and being constant to them is what brings you into danger. In the final reckoning it must surely be a good thing; for now, though, it’s not going to ‘produce results’. Inwardly meditating on and assimilating profound qualities doesn’t show up in the monthly sales figures, or help you to win any battles. (The ‘king’s business’ can be warfare.)
This line moves towards Hexagram 44: it’s ‘Arguing’s Coupling’. I think that this ancient de is what ‘couples’: that is, it’s something powerful, not particularly compatible with the present situation and its systems, and likely to be disruptive before it’s creative.
As for the nature of this ‘power and virtue’, I think the fan yao, the matching line in Hexagram 44, might offer us a hint:
‘Thighs without flesh,
Moving awkwardly now.
Danger.
No great mistake.’
SJ Marshall in The Mandate of Heaven suggests this refers to Yu’s plight after years of toil. Yu was China’s flood hero: he didn’t build an ark, but actually caused the flood waters to recede through a lifetime’s work of dredging rivers, building dams and creating new channels. His years of self-sacrificing labour exemplify ‘constancy’, whether or not they’d be popular in a ‘results-oriented’ culture.
So receiving this one, you might look at the ways your internalised ‘ancient de‘ is affecting your immediate results. Can you afford to wait for the ‘good fortune in the end’, or do you need something tangible to show the ‘king’?