63,5> 36 payment

[SHONNA_D]

I am really upset with a costumer who left without paying me. She hasn't come back yet. Will they come and pay me?Hexagram 63 changing line 5 to hexagram 36She slaughters the cow and then darkness. She is hiding. It seems to me that I have lost my money. What do you think? I will update soon.

 

[Liselle]

'The neighbour in the East slaughters oxen.
Not like the Western neighbour’s summer offering,
Truly accepting their blessing.'

What this line is about is the size of sacrifice that's necessary. "The neighbor in the East slaughters oxen" - this is a huge sacrifice. Some would say it's a big display made "for show," to really impress people (or spirits).

"Not like the Western neighbor's summer offering" - a summer offering is one that's made while this year's crop is still growing, so the offering consists of what's left from last year. There's probably not much there to offer. So you offer what you can, in a sincere manner.

"Truly accepting their blessing" - this might mean something like, blessings can't be coerced through bribery anyway. Blessings are given, not demanded. The size or showy nature of an offering won't matter, but the sincerity with which you make a smaller offering might.

Also, Hilary often mentions Bradford Hatcher's distinction between an offering that says, "Please! Please!" vs. one that says, "Thank you." Begging vs. gratitude.

Now, how to apply that to your question?

"Will they come and pay me?"

I think this is a good example of how yes/no questions can be hard to interpret. It might have been better to ask something like, "How best for me to handle this situation?" - then you'd be sure that what Yi said was advice to you.

As it is...the answer is describing a choice of behavior, but it's hard to tell whether it's describing the customer or you.

In other words, the reading could be saying, "Here's what you can expect from this person," or "Here's how you should respond to this."

Regardless, "slaughtering oxen" is not advised or necessary, a "summer offering" is better.

Does any of that help? Do you have some ideas about how it might apply?

 

[SHONNA_D]

Unfortunately I fell victim to fraudsters. They didn't come back of course.
In relation to my answer I am the neighbor who made the summer offering (I am general manager of a hotel that is open all the year round but summer is the best season). They slaughtered the oxen and now they are hiding- hexagram 36- from me. Actually, I don't worry anymore even if we lost at least 200 pounds. I always sit back and let karma do the rest....

 

[Liselle]

Oh dear, I'm sorry to hear that.

And also, now I have much less idea what the reading was telling you. I wasn't sure who Yi was describing, but I thought - well, first of all, I assumed the customer was a normal person, not an outright crook. So I thought maybe the reading meant something like, they can't pay you the full amount right now, so either they'll come back and offer to pay a little at a time, or maybe you could get in touch with them and offer that. Make a payment arrangement, rather than insisting on the whole amount at once, or taking legal action, or whatever.

In other words, taking some sort of drastic action regarding the whole amount would be "slaughtering oxen," and having them pay it off a little at a time would be the "summer offering" - allowing them to do what they can.

But - I don't know - maybe it means that going after them at all at this point would be "slaughtering oxen," and writing it off altogether is the "summer offering"? Sounds like you think that's best.

I just kind of wonder if "do nothing at all, let it go entirely" would be a different reading. Not sure.

 

[Liselle]

I just kind of wonder if "do nothing at all, let it go entirely" would be a different reading. Not sure.

Unless maybe the reading wasn't "what to do" but "why." Yi explaining why you shouldn't go after them.

If so then giving up on collecting would be the "summer offering," which is what you thought. Would trying to get the money be a big ox-slaughtering process, requiring a lot of time and energy, depleting your valuable resources (oxen are valuable resources).

Do you think "cut your losses" might be a reasonable way of seeing it in this case? You've lost x amount of money, maybe you can live with that, no sense pouring more in?

 

[SHONNA_D]

I have received the answer 63,5> 36 several times before. Usually, when I ask a yes/no question is always a NO. I think the line shows someone who could make a sincere offering but instead he prefers to sacrifice the oxen and that's why the resulting hexagram is 36. Darkness or somebody prefers to hide himself or hide the truth inside him. Or... the lack of sincerity hurts the sincere person.