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Blog post: Already Crossing?

hilary

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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.
 
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charly

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Hi Hilary:

About about the first JI, LiSe quotes that the charater depicts somebody that "FINISHED EATING":

JI2: a pot of food and a man turning away from it, or belching. He has finished eating. FE2197, [M453], GSR.515c: to complete, finish, exhaust, all, entirely, since, after; particle of perfect tense.
From: http://www.yijing.nl/i_ching/hex_49-64/hex_e_63.htm

Little ago I´ve quoted Needham about the association between EATING and SEX:

...

.. and "to eat" has been a pun for sexual activity in Chinese since the Chou dynasty.

Joseph Needham
Science in traditional China
Can try with Google Books.

食色 shí​sè​:... FOOD [AND] SEX
...


Maybe one of various senses of H.63 is AFTER LOVE

Don´t you believe it?


Yours,


Charly
 

Sparhawk

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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.

Why don't we explore of a synonym of "crossing/across"? How about "athwart"? As in:

"I've laid the logs athwart the stream, so that I might cross without getting wet".

Which is a slight modification of this other example. I believe the small difference fits well contextually with what preceded the hexagram in the sequence and what lies ahead of it.

See, "Already crossing" denotes an action set in an ongoing present which, perhaps, works well with 63 in isolation but not too well as part of the narrative of the sequence. On the other hand, "Already across" or "already complete" presents an image of achievement, of having reached a goal. In "crossing" you are still within a "process," something that, IMO, in 63, is done with. In this case, I believe that "athwart" seems to bridge the gap between that ongoing present of "crossing" and the achieved "across" by presenting something that has been achieved that would get you to the other side. That is, you have completed all the steps of the previous 62 hexagrams--you've "laid the logs"--and are now ready to step across to a new, yet to be known start.

63 is a sort of bridge...
 

hilary

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'Athwart' is always a good word... I think the only place I've met it was in 'Kubla Kahn' with something 'cedarn'...

Um... something is already completed, something is already underway. Decision or commitment or shift completed... transition completed, also, hence we're not in 62 any more. But process... just getting started, surely. 'If one stands still at the end, disorders arise, because the way comes to an end.'
 

Sparhawk

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'Athwart' is always a good word... I think the only place I've met it was in 'Kubla Kahn' with something 'cedarn'...

And would get you 13 points in Scrabble too! :D

'If one stands still at the end, disorders arise, because the way comes to an end.'

It helps me to picture 63 as a ladder one steps up, 1 to 6, where all the steps are in the right place. Once you are at the top, you must step down, either by stepping forward (the other side of the mountain after conquering the peak), or stepping backwards (retracing your steps). Either way, those steps down follow the opposite positional arrangement of the steps. It is a new beginning and the ladder down also counts from 1 to 6 but now, what was in the right position at 6 previously is in a wrong position for a 1.

A caveat is in order: It is easy enough to fall for the idea that if we get 63 with one to five moving lines that we can somehow teleport out of the influence of 64. No. A big part of the contextual meaning of the hexagrams is tied to their sequential position.

00000041.png
 

hilary

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Dear Luis,

Please write and publish an I Ching. Thank you.

love,
Hilary
 

heylise

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39.1
‘Going on, limping; coming back, praise.’
If you go on from the past, not alert for what is happening or changing, not looking forward, things will collapse like it says in the warning in 63. "Coming" is a picture of a wheat plant. I think the meaning has to do with growing - which is directed to up, bigger, future. Past does not exist. Not proceeding from but coming towards.

37.6
‘With truth and confidence like authority.
In the end, good fortune.’
I translate 'truth' now as 'inspiring confidence'. Harmen wrote a very convincing article about it.
Inspiring confidence, impressing thus" - you don't sit back and wait how things develop, you actively make them go well. That does align with 63, where things go wrong if you don't keep them in good repair.
 

charly

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On the one hand, ‘Already Across’ is certainly a good, literal translation of the name of Hexagram 63.
...
‘Already across, creating small success.
Constancy bears fruit.
Beginnings, good fortune.
Endings, chaos.’
...

Hi, Hilary:

Did you see ji4 in Rick Sears? I don't trust too much that the character be phonetic-signific [Signific or shui3 water + phonetic qi2 / zhai1 / zi1] the component from the right when pronounced zi1 means "the lower edge of a garment ", say, read as a signific compound, to wet the lower edge of a robe or a skirt.

Some ancient shapes of in Sears, seal, bronze and oracle, looks like three little beings with a head and a tail, three little spermatozoids.

See it with your own eyes:

j16892.gif

From: http://www.chineseetymology.org/CharacterEtymology.aspx?characterInput=齊&submitButton1=Etymology

That's the reason why I believe that H.63 doesn't mean YET ACCOMPLISHED but now, after crossing the stream, after passing some barriers, truly committed oneself, embarked in getting consummation.


既濟亨
ji4 ji4 heng1
ALREADY ACROSS FEAST (1)
Yet wet celebration.
Enjoy that now comesthe good.


小利貞

xiao3 li4 zhen1
LITTLE PROFITABLE OMEN
Not previsible if the profit be great.


初吉
chu1 ji2
[AT THE] BEGINING LUCKY
Lucky to begin.
If not now, when?

終亂
zhong1 luan4
[AT THE] END FUZZY
The end is confuse, unclear.
End not previsible.
No guarantee.
Open ended.


Yours,


Charly


________________________
(1) I don't like SACRIFICE, I believe that FEAST or CELEBRATION have the double meaning of JOY and PERFORMING A RITUAL and less sense of SUFFERING.
 
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hilary

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I like 'at the end, fuzzy' - though I suppose the meaning is a bit stronger than that: 'disorder, chaos, confusion, mixed up, in turmoil, in a jumble...'

You are the perfect counterbalance to those who can only find morals and metaphysics in the Yijing :) .
 

Sparhawk

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Yup, Charly is the opposite of "metaphysical," well into the realm of the "carnal". Must be his Freudian training. Old habits... :rofl:
 

charly

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Yup, Charly is the opposite of "metaphysical," well into the realm of the "carnal". Must be his Freudian training. Old habits... :rofl:
Hi, Luis:

No freudian training in my case. In my experience with the Changes 80% of the consults were about LOVE AFFAIRS.

My first master in that matters and on The Unconscious was Willy Divito, much before I even stepped on the University.

And Freud, yes, later. But he was a MISOGYNIST, not like Jung that actually practiced with the ARCHETYPES of the UNCONSCIOUS, or better, with the ARCHEGIRLS.

The CARNAL is a SIN, but a SPICY one:

easy-tasty-magic-carnal-sin.jpg

Spice ingredients in Easy Tasty Magic Carnal Sin - salt , rose buds , pink peppercorns , beetroot powder and sumac

From: http://www.steenbergs.co.uk/product/1086/easy-tasty-magic-carnal-sin/10/85

Un abrazo,


Charly
 

charly

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I like 'at the end, fuzzy' - though I suppose the meaning is a bit stronger than that: 'disorder, chaos, confusion, mixed up, in turmoil, in a jumble...'

You are the perfect counterbalance to those who can only find morals and metaphysics in the Yijing :) .
Hi, Hilary:

Maybe FUZZY is a little LIGHT.

Lin Yutang gives:
CONFUSION / CHAOS / REVOLT
TO CONFUSE / TO DISTURB
also: Confused, disorderly, not peaceful, rebellious
even: without caution, madly
even more: without order or RESTRAINT, commit INCEST with.


MAYBE MY TRANSLATION WOULD HAVE BEEN:

At the begining lucky. At the end CLIMAX!

Even while the voice of the consciousness wispers: "don't make trouble", "don't break discipline".

Don't you believe?


Yours,


Charly

P.D.:
Wasn't Confucius that said: "The majority of people prefer SEX instead of MORAL"
I must check it.
Ch.
 
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charly

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Hilary:

I've two another meanings:

RANDOM and CRAZY​

Here the character LUAN is translated CRAZY (I believe):



And here:


Of course, nothing about conventional morals.

AT THE BEGINING LUCKY, AT THE END CRAZY!

Much better.


Yours,

Charly

P.D.
From the same film:


3378238797_c734ab060b.jpg


From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/atomcinema/3378238797/in/set-72157612983952274/
Weting the low edge of the skirt!

Do you trust in casuality?
 
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charly

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The pictures for the last post belonged to the taiwanese movie (亂青春, luan4, qing1 chun1 ) translated as Beautiful Crazy, allowing of course alternatives like, I believe, Crazy Youth or Confused Relations and many more.

The quoted source is no more available in the web.

From MDBG online dictionary:

, luàn: in confusion or disorder / in a confused state of mind / disorder / upheaval / riot / illicit sexual relations / to throw into disorder / to mix up / indiscriminate / random / arbitrary.

[2-syllabe word] 青春, qīng chūn: youth / youthfulness.
[1st. character standing alone] 青, qīng: green / blue / black / youth / young (of people).
[2nd. character standing alone] 春, chūn: spring (season) / gay / joyful / youthful / love / lust / life.

All the best,

Charly

Source:
 
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dfreed

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LiSe, Hatcher, Rutt and many others imply that the crossing has been completed - already across, already complete. I can then imagine some of the lines describing what happened during the crossing, or what we might encounter now that we're across:

a trailing cord (63.1)
lady loses a hairpin (63.2) - perhaps referring to the lower trigram, Fire, the middle daughter.
Eastern neighbors slay an ox (63.5)
getting head wet (63.6) - the middle son, Water, gets his head 'wet', but isn't Water's head already wet?

Bradford Hatcher says that the 'moving to' lines - which he calls the 'fan yao' - 'may hold clues to the Changing Line’s meaning.' Viewed this way they don't really 'point to' 63's changing lines, but might offer us more information about the change lines' meanings, subjects, context .... For example:

For 63.1 'trailing a cord' the fan yao is 'setting out stumbling, coming back renowned' (39.1). What I might take from this is:

63.1 - 39.1: A crossing, even a completed one, is only a part of a larger journey; and even though there were 'trailing cords' or (as in another translation) the horses got their tails soaked because someone braked the wagons midway across the river - don't take this as a sign of how the entire journey will end up.

Also, I get the sense that 'already across' implies that that we're now in a time of maintenance: we have completed planting a lawn and now we have to weed and cut it; we've cooked a meal, and now we have to eat it, and then wash dishes .... and these follow-up tasks lead us to 'not yet across' .... and so our cycle of activity begins again. In a real-world way then, even a completed task is 'not yet completed', or ... we are 'not yet across'.

There is also the trigram imagery: we have Water placed above Fire, and we need to work at maintaining this balance: to make sure water doesn't stop boiling or boil away, that the flame is not too hot, nor does it burn out.

Best, D
 
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hilary

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More here on the fan yao (just added). Simply playing with them, looking for themes, connections and clues, is good too, provided you keep them in their place.

About 'crossing' vs 'crossed' - 'crossed' works if you take that, as you've done here, in the sense of 'and so now you need to keep moving.' Keep the pot on the boil. Don't treat this as the end: beginnings good fortune, endings chaos.
 

dfreed

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About 'crossing' vs 'crossed' - 'crossed' works if you take that, as you've done here
Wow, I just now realized the difference you are pointing out here (or at least I think I do?) I'm looking at it as 'already across' and 'already complete' (hexagram names from Rutt and Hatcher) - as in something - e.g. a river crossing - has been completed.

But perhaps you're saying 'already crossing' - that the act of crossing is (still) taking place.

So, it's the difference between 'now that we have completed the river crossing' versus 'now that we're (in the process of) completing ....' If my very limited understanding on the Chinese language is correct - or close, Ji4 (0459) doesn't have a particular tense, so it could be complete, completed or completing. Do I have that right?

If so, I can see exploring it from that perspective as well.

Best, D
 

hilary

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My understanding of Chinese is similarly limited - I think it would depend on what kind of marker 'Already' is. But yes, my idea is indeed that crossing is still happening, for most of the hexagram. If you look through the lines, there's often this feeling of being in the midst of things.
 

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