Clarification on 27,2

[peter2610]

Although I have had a deep respect for the Wilhelm I Ching for many years 27,2 is one line where either Wilhelm, or Baynes, or their earlier Chinese precursors appear to have offered a somewhat questionable interpretation. The Wilhelm/Baynes text reads:

Turning to the summit for nourishment,
Deviating from the path
To seek nourishment from the hill.
Continuing to do this brings misfortune.

In a hexagram where one is urged repeatedly to seek nourishment from one's higher principles (top yang) one here at 2nd yin finds herself being directed to 1st yang for moral guidance, even though 1st yang is struggling to sustain moral rectitude for itself!

Wang Bi describes the seeking of nourishment from 1st yang as "to go off the right path" and a "reversal" of the nourishment process. 2nd and 5th yin are both yin lines hence they do not share any resonance and 2nd yin considers itself as being denied access to the upper trigram. Consequently it seeks to acquire nourishment from a line in a lower position (1st yang) and in so doing turns its back on the correct path of moral principle and suffers misfortune. One is caught here on the horns of a rather painful dilemma - the path of moral rectitude is lacking any true resonance whilst the alternative path only appears to provide nourishment but in actuality cannot provide any actual nourishment. The line resultant for 27,2 is Hex 41 whose meanings include decrease and loss; there seems to be little consolation available regardless of whichever path one chooses.

 

[ernobe]

The evils of abandoning the due mean are real, and the line exemplifies such abandonment as the abandonment of one who follows the due mean. It means that one truly follows the due mean as a result of conceiving of and following one who exemplifies it (in this case the author of the I-Ching), not because one has been forced into it by external circumstances. See for example Gospel of Thomas saying no. 43 (from http://freelyreceive.net/metalogos/files/thomas.html):

His Disciples say to him: Who art thou, that thou say these things to us? || (Yeshua says to them: ) From what I say to you, you do not recognize who I be, but rather you have become as those Judeans¹—for they love the tree but hate its fruit, and they love the fruit but hate the tree.

Line one shows what happens when one tries to understand the I-Ching out of base motives, and line three out of complete disregard for them. Line 2, in the middle, warns us not to incline either way, above or below.

Wilhelms' interpretation seems to imply that support of weak spirited people by those in high places is unworthy for both of them. He has obviously failed to realize that the line is about following the due mean.

 

[peter2610]

I think that Wilhelm's approach to 2nd yin is in keeping with his approach to all three lines of the lower trigram i.e.: nourishment is available to 2nd yin from 1st yang but 2nd yin turns away from this availability and seeks instead nourishment from top yang. The fact that all three lines of the lower/inner trigram do this seems to imply a turning away from independent self-reliance and the emergence of incorrect dependence on external nourishment. If 2nd yin were recognised as holding to the mean one would expect to see it in a state of balanced independence and its difficulty in this regard indicates, as you point out, a struggle to maintain the mean.The zhi gua (line resultant) - Hex 41, Decrease - also implies a need to curb any impulsive urge to seek inappropriate fulfilment (from top yang).