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52. What is my greatest purpose?

1eleven

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52 unchanging.

Sit down. Shut up. Pay attention. :bows:

Any other takes here?
 

pocossin

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What is my greatest purpose?
52 unchanging.


When you are on your death bed and the spirits of your ancestors hover around, being able to say, I have done good.
 

hsin

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To me, this hexagram represents the Great Death of the ego-identity, which in turn gives birth to the true self.
 

Tohpol

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52 seems to have a strong association with stilling the mind chatter and the use of meditation. So, I think you nailed it with your first interpretation. Perhaps the Yi is being a tad playful with you and might be saying, in effect: "Try stilling the mind first then come back to me." :D
 

1eleven

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Thank you. Having the courage to be yourself (myself) also comes to mind here.
 

RindaR

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What hsin and topal said. Once you find your center of stillness your purpose will unfold, and you will be able to move between stillness and directed action at will. Then Tom's goal will be fulfilled. :-D
 

1eleven

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Does anyone else get a sense of independence, standing alone (perhaps there's really no such thing)? Just another bit of mind chatter :)
 
S

sooo

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Does anyone else get a sense of independence, standing alone (perhaps there's really no such thing)? Just another bit of mind chatter :)

Alone, yes, sort of. I think of 52 more as something to stand or sit on. One can't stand on their past, nor their future. In Buddhism, it is the immovable spot.

myth2-1-23.jpg
 

hsin

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Does anyone else get a sense of independence, standing alone (perhaps there's really no such thing)? Just another bit of mind chatter :)

Definitely--but in a relativistic way: Mountain upon Mountain is the image of a mountain chain. Each mountain stands alone, its peak visible for miles around, but its base is an intrinsic part of the foundation shared by all the other mountains. This image speaks, I think, to the nature of heart-mind: each individual must reach awakening on their own, yet is indivisibly part of the great civilizing influence of the Tao. There is, also, a way of looking at that mountain chain as the sequence of lifetimes you have undertaken, each of them standing whole and complete yet indistinct from your own transcendent purpose.

It's an important hexagram in that the Chou historians recorded that it was the first hexagram in the sequence of hexagrams of the Xia dynasty (Earth over Earth was the first hexagram in the sequence for the Shang dynasty and, of course, Heaven over Heaven for the Choa dynasty). It stood, in other words, in the place of The Creative and places it in Chou historians' minds on equal footing with The Creative and The Receptive.

The Interlocking Trigrams produces Hexagram 40, Deliverance, which may augur surprising (Thunder) events that carry you deeper into your own mystery (Water). A resolution of long-standing tensions, it holds the promise of higher-level participation in Heaven-Humankind-Earth.

All the Best
 
S

sooo

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1eleven,

Most welcome. I find it useful as well.

All that surrounds the Buddha are symbols of the world, called Mara. Note that she dances beneath him, and from her pours out the water (one could well say 29), and all the images that swim, walk or drown in that water represent that mind chatter, memories and reminders of those who hate us or hold malice against us, which disturb our peace and distract us, haunt us, anger us, cause fear and resentment in us; while the sensual woman, from which all this turbulence pours out, continues the work of distracting us, moving us from that place upon which we stand or sit, that mountain. The dark elephant too is a symbol of Mara, representing worldly power, and he wields a sword to kill us (sometimes shown with multiple trunks). The gators in the abyss that bite and kill those who would kill us, demonstrating the nature of this world of life existing by killing and eating. All these things are Mara, all these things distract us, preventing us from being fully in the moment and fully realized.

Another Yijing image which can be derived from that picture is that of the abyss at the foot of the mountain, which is Meng: ignorance. The path to the unmovable spot must pass through ignorance, thus the abyss is the only way to realize and learn through our experiences in the world, repetitiously; and though it never ends, at least not during our life on earth, one can become disciplined to focus single minded upon the unmovable spot. Once our mind recalls the past or projects into the future, we again join the chaos and ignorance being poured out by the seducing Goddess or demon, Mara, and struggle to hold our head up above the water enough to breathe and struggle to survive, and are dominated by our opinions, our fears and our desires. Our opinions, fears and desires differ from person to person, but the elementary idea is the same.
 

poised

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Lifetime after lifetime

The path to the unmovable spot must pass through ignorance, thus the abyss is the only way to realize and learn through our experiences in the world, repetitiously; and though it never ends, at least not during our life on earth, one can become disciplined to focus single minded upon the unmovable spot.

And sometimes it feels like the repeated mistake, error, fallacy, stupidity, and consequences of these will never end, even after one catches on. The force of habit. La Forza del Destino. Powerful.
 
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sooo

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And sometimes it feels like the repeated mistake, error, fallacy, stupidity, and consequences of these will never end, even after one catches on. The force of habit. La Forza del Destino. Powerful.

Very powerful. She's not called Goddess for no reason. And that power is constantly renewed, refreshed, refilled, that river continues to pour into the abyss. It is still incomprehensible to me how the Buddha could have permanently overcome this world while living on and in it. Permanent enlightenment is beyond me. But at least we have the mountain to sit or stand on, and to remind us what we are dealing with.

As a song of a like deity goes: When I need a shelter, when I need a friend, I go to the rock.
 

RindaR

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And sometimes it feels like the repeated mistake, error, fallacy, stupidity, and consequences of these will never end, even after one catches on. The force of habit. La Forza del Destino. Powerful.

Psychology calls it "repetition compulsion".
 
S

sooo

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Psychology calls it "repetition compulsion".

Extremely distracting from being in the present! So true. Mythologically speaking, one of Mara's favorite diversions. I see most of those characters in the abyss representing just such replays, upon which further layers of negative emotion are added to the already complex complex. This is very literal when trying too hard to meditate, such as in 52.3. Ones becomes their own worst enemy. That's when being here now is so useful while doing an enjoyable activity, like walking, something which leaves the mind free but doesn't stifle physical energy. I like walking for the sense of mobilization, moving along upon a wave, surfing the Tao. The mind is still sitting upon the mountain but the body isn't immobilized. Of course one can still hitch their wagon of devils to their heart and mind. Ignorance only knows what it knows. At least keep it on a leash, and don't let it run ahead of you; let the master or guide lead. Stay in the present. The present can be a pleasant place even during difficulties, and the danger then becomes ones teacher.
 

wandering

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In college, I took a psychology class on "our life's purpose." It boils down to this - all human's purpose is to eat, sleep, defecate, procreate and EVERYTHING we do, either consciously or subconsciously is to get those four primal innate drives met. The other ONE thing we do we CALL purpose but isn't--we have a deep need to keep our mind entertained. When the primal drive are satiated for the moment, our minds need to encounter something--anything. Most of our time is spent in two categories, preparing to get stuff to eat, eating it. The other one that takes up massive amounts of time is procreation, which includes dating, relationships, crying over lost ones, and so on, WHICH keeps our mind terribly activated and entertained--out of the bored zone. Sleeping is mandatory--between 4 and 10 hours depending on your metabolism and other physiological factors. That's it. Take out all the drama in life, and this is what you get. The hard part is all the stuff we do to live in denial of it. My advance - move on. Try to entertain yourself with healthier stuff.
 

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