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Blog post: Inner truth and crossing over

hilary

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One of the fascinating things about the structure of the Yijing is the way one hexagram in a pair (an odd-numbered hexagram with the even-numbered one that follows it, that is) can point to the other. It might contain it, or imply it, or give you a different perspective on it, like looking at the same scene through a different window. (An obvious example - in Hexagram 51, Shock, someone is not losing the ladle and libation: he represents the qualities of Hexagram 52, Stilling.)

Hexagram 61, Inner Truth, says that it is fruitful to cross the great river. The Tuanzhuan, the Commentary on the Judgement, adds,

‘Fruitful to cross the great river,
Riding a wooden boat’s emptiness.’

Your inner truth will move you to cross into new landscapes, and inner space is the vehicle that will carry you there; it is the boat’s emptiness that lets it float across the river. The shape of the hexagram itself -​

61.gif

- suggests the boat seen from above, or the inner structure of the hollow bamboo poles bound together to create it.​

There seem to be echoes of the Daodejing -

‘The thirty spokes unite in the one nave; but it is on the empty space (for the axle), that the use of the wheel depends. Clay is fashioned into vessels; but it is on their empty hollowness, that their use depends. The door and windows are cut out (from the walls) to form an apartment; but it is on the empty space (within), that its use depends.’

(Legge’s translation)

The inner space makes you capable of the transition; the conviction of inner truth naturally wants to be translated into steady movement* -

‘Inner Truth means constancy bears fruit,
Hence being in accord with Heaven.’

Much as Hexagram 30 means not just a spark of insight but a steady light, so Inner Truth will translate a momentary awareness (a timeless one, perhaps) into a way of being. The name of the hexagram is strongly ‘vertical’: zhong, ‘inner’ and ‘central’, shows a vertical line bisecting a square, probably representing a pole with a drum mounted on it: 中. And fu, ‘truth’ and ‘confidence’, shows a bird’s claw coming down to cover a young one: 孚. Then the text shows how this vertical axis can be transposed into horizontal movement - the journey across the river, constancy, trustworthiness over time.

And so Hexagram 62 follows
- and the inner space has become inner animation and movement.

62.gif


Or as the Sequence says,

‘To have trust naturally means acting on it, and so Small Exceeding follows.’

‘Exceeding’ means crossing over a line, making a transition. First you experience a truth inwardly, and then it becomes a message to carry safely out into the world. A flying bird (perhaps not unrelated to the young one in fu or the young crane in 61, line 2) shows you how.
 

elvis

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The standard element of any recurively-derived sequence of the meanings of 64 hexagrams is in the resulting pairing of hexagrams.

* In the traditional sequence hexagram 61 pairs with hexagram 62.

EXAGGERATE:

61 : exaggerate through yielding, softening, hard core-soft centre; 61 softening comes from a context described by hexagram 29 - containment/control

62 : exaggerate through traditions; 62 exaggerate traditions comes from a context described by hexagram 30 - guiding, directing (an ideology)


In the binary sequence (also made up of pairs) we have:

* In the binary sequence hexagram 61 pairs with hexagram 60.

The common theme here is on establishing a constant exterior, a constant expression, as in the introduction of standards reflected by 60, vs the hard exterior but soft interior (and so a source of yielding) of 61. 60 as such focuses on integration, 61 on differentiation where behind the cover is flexibility.

* In the binary sequence hexagram 62 pairs with hexagram 56.

This pairing reflects an overall focus on issues of establishing and maintaining loyalty, be it in maintaining loyalty in a distant land of many attractions (hexagram 56), or in the need to exaggerate the traditions of a collective to aid in maintaining the collective's structure (hexagram 62). The 'demand' for loyalty is unconditional in 62, conditional in 56.

In BOTH the traditional and the binary we can see the loyalty issues of 62 with a focus on over-acting in the presence of a tradition to aid in promoting such - even if 'out of date'. - note the skeletal form of 62 is described by analogy to 30 and so a foundation in promotion of an ideology.

61 on the other hand has its skeletal form described by analogy to 29 and so a foundation of yielding to elicit a focus on containment/control.

The language nature of the I Ching means ALL hexagrams are manifest through each. Another sequence is the binary NUMBER sequence that covers HOW/WHY dynamics :

HOW ->
WHY <-

55 -> 62 -> 54 (how do I 54, 62. How do I 62, 55 etc)

53-> 61-> 59
 

pantherpanther

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hilary,
I have seen a parallel to hexgrams 61 and 62 in the Lord's Prayer, which begins with the receiving of "daily (supersubstantial) bread" and then proceeds to describe in a structured, graded way how to bring that "vertical " energy into practical use on the "horizontal" level of life.

I like the way you show accepting the other is necessary to develop and continue a right realation between Heaven and Earth.
 

hilary

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Mentally going through the Lord's Prayer - yes, I think I see what you mean - you could read that as a blending of 'vertical' ('giving' and 'delivering') with horizontal.
 

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