On the one hand, ‘Already Across’ is certainly a good, literal translation of the name of Hexagram 63. The old character for ‘already’ shows someone turned away from a food pot, implying a completed action. The historical resonances of the book as a whole imply that this is the moment when the Zhou have already crossed the Yellow River and conquered the Shang. This is ‘After Completion’ in Wilhelm/Baynes, ‘Already Across’ in Rutt, and Brad has ‘Already Complete’, so I felt in good company opting for ‘Already Across’.
And yet, on the other hand… the experience of the thing is so often more like Already Crossing (which is how Karcher translates it). A decision’s been taken or a commitment made, and things have been set in motion. You are not starting from a blank slate (sometimes this one comes up in readings to point out you’re not asking from a blank slate); you’re not setting off from a standstill, but from a moving base.
Looking after that momentum, handling the uncertainty it generates, is a delicate, difficult process. You can see this in the trigrams: fire within running water. There’s clear inner awareness, but it’s only experienced fully immersed in the ongoing flow of circumstances and change. There’s no separate, still place to stand and observe the order and pattern of things, because the waters are always in motion.
The Oracle says,
‘Already across, creating small success.
Constancy bears fruit.
Beginnings, good fortune.
Endings, chaos.’
The character for ‘beginnings’ shows the first stage of making clothes: cutting out the pattern. The earliest forms of the character for ‘endings’ (which seems to be a more complicated one) shows the ends of threads, tied off.
(You can scroll down the page at Richard Sears’ site to find the most ancient versions of the characters, older even than Yi. If, like me, you find it wonderful to be able to see all these together and compare, please scroll back up again to the ‘donate’ button at the top right, and help to keep the site online!)
Hard to keep a hold on those initial, clear-cut patterns once everything is in flux – and the noble one’s response is actually not to concentrate on the patterns, but on how they might unravel:
‘Stream dwells above fire. Already across.
A noble one reflects on distress and prepares to defend against it.’
She projects her inner clarity into the flow of change and imagines – feels in her heart, according to the characters for ‘reflect‘ and ‘distress‘ – what could go wrong. In this way she prepares, keeps pace – keeps on beginning, in fact.
From this it might follow that when a hexagram changes to 63, the moving line or lines involved represent how the primary hexagram is a process already underway, with its own momentum, like standing on a conveyor belt.
Here are the six lines that point towards Hexagram 63 individually –
39.1
‘Going on, limping; coming back, praise.’
5.2
‘Waiting on the sands,
There are small words.
In the end, good fortune.’
3.3
‘Pursuing a stag with no forester,
Simply entering into the centre of the forest.
A noble one reads the subtle signs and sets this aside.
Going on: shame.’
49.4
‘Regrets vanish, there is truth and confidence.
Changing mandate, good fortune.’
36.5
‘Prince Ji’s brightness hidden.
Constancy bears fruit.’
37.6
‘With truth and confidence like authority.
In the end, good fortune.’
What do you think? I can see how the sands of 5.2 are already moving, leaving no firm place to stand, or how the changing mandate indicates revolution is already underway… but I’m finding it trickier to see a connection at 39.1 or 37.6.