Connecting judgments to images: Hexagram 1

[liquidity]

Hi there,

In the spirit of the threads about unchanging hexagrams, and because of some of the discussion in this thread, I thought it might be a fun experiment to see if we can come up with links between the judgment text and and the image text for all the hexagrams. And I expect there to be hearty discussion and disagreement

I was thinking I might post a new thread like this once a week or so, approximately.

So let's start with hexagram 1.

In WB's translation (and feel free to bring in others! I know there are critical differences) the judgment is:

"The Creative works sublime success, furthering through perseverance."

And the image is:

"The movement of heaven is full of power. Thus the superior man makes himself strong and untiring."

So I would note here that the image does not say that the superior one acts on the external world. It says that he makes himself strong and untiring.

In the judgment, I'd argue that the sublimity here refers to the world of imagination and ideas, to the world of forms from which our existence is modeled, that pure sphere of creativity beyond ordinary thought.

So that's the place to which you're advised to connect yourself. That is how you make yourself a strong, untiring instrument of something beyond the human mind that then works through you, that then leads through you (by which we get to hex 2).

It's almost like infusing yourself with creative energy. It's delving into the world of imagination and instinct and drawing excitement and energy and strength from there, from the sublime realm of heaven.

It's like charging yourself up like this ball of lightning with electrical energy by connecting with the divine aspect of yourself, and it's like that deep breath which says "Get ready!" right before something explosive is about to happen.

 

[Freedda]

... I thought it might be a fun experiment to see if we can come up with links between judgments and images for all the hexagrams.

Hello Liquidity. I have a few questions:

• Is the connection you're looking at here between the hexagram images and the oracle (judgement) text?
  
  
• Or between the image text and the oracle text?
  
  
• And when you say the 'image' do you (or can we) include looking at the imagery of the trigrams as well as the hexagrams?
  
  
• Or ... am I being way too specific here? :bows:

Best, David.

 

[liquidity]

Hello Liquidity. I have a few questions:

• Is the connection you're looking at here between the hexagram images and the oracle (judgement) text?
  
  
• Or between the image text and the oracle text?
  
  
• And when you say the 'image' do you (or can we) include looking at the imagery of the trigrams as well as the hexagrams?
  
  
• Or ... am I being way too specific here? :bows:

Best, David.

These are great questions, ha! I'm sure I was imprecise. Am going to go back and edit it to make it precise.

I meant the connection between the oracle/judgment text and the image text mainly -- but feel free to bring these other elements to bear if that's going to help illuminate things!

 

[moss elk]

I thought it might be a fun experiment to see if we can come up with links between the judgment text and and the image text for all the hexagrams.

Try it with 44 next.

 

[Trojina]

In the spirit of the threads about unchanging hexagrams, and because of some of the discussion in this thread, I thought it might be a fun experiment to see if we can come up with links between the judgment text and and the image text for all the hexagrams.

Do you think it would be useful to clarify where in the Yi's history the Image appeared ? I am hopelessly ignorant about this sort of thing but have the idea that the Image is from the Wings, a later addition, a commentary on the Oracle. If the Image came much later that would explain why it often seems disconnected to the Oracle ?

I have read about it but it doesn't stay in my brain for some reason, the history of Yi I mean.

 

[liquidity]

Do you think it would be useful to clarify where in the Yi's history the Image appeared ? I am hopelessly ignorant about this sort of thing but have the idea that the Image is from the Wings, a later addition, a commentary on the Oracle. If the Image came much later that would explain why it often seems disconnected to the Oracle ?

I have read about it but it doesn't stay in my brain for some reason, the history of Yi I mean.

Yeah, Yi history doesn't stay in my brain either! Good question.

 

[Freedda]

Do you think it would be useful to clarify where in the Yi's history the Image appeared ?

I think this might be good point to clarify, or a good starting point at least.

Going back into mythic history, to 2800 bc or so, we have Fu Hsi, the first emperor of China presenting us with the trigram images which he observed on the back of a turtle emerging from the Yellow River. One modern writer says of this:

'Knowing that true wisdom came from the direct and close observation of nature, he had a sudden realization of the significance of eight symbols he saw on the turtle’s back. He saw how the sets of three solid or broken lines, the trigrams, reflected the movement of energy in life on Earth. '
​

As noted, this is in the realm of myth, but I don't think it's too much of a stretch to assume that the trigram images were known to the Zhouyi (original Yi) authors, and quite possibly that they were used in divination early on.

Jumping ahead another two thousand years, to around 800 bc and we have an unknown author or authors giving us the Zhouyi, which included 64 images, along with something to say about each and about each of the image's six lines - which is the Oracle text. But there's not much else - no instructions, explanations, nor commentary - and also nothing of how the bagua may or may not have been considered or used.

And jumping ahead again, this time another 500 years or so (give or take a century), we have yet another group of authors expounding further on the Zhouyi by way of the Ten Wings - this time telling us what they think it means, and how it should be used. And this, plus the earlier Zhouyi is what we've come to know as the I Ching, or Yi.

And whether we want to seriously study or serious criticize the Ten Wings - which includes the Image text - it is clear that this should be considered 'commentary' that was added much later to the Zhouyi.

I think it's important to note that in the 4-5 centuries between these two writings (the Zhouyi and Ten Wings) that the world of Ancient China had drastically changed: there had been at least a few dynasty changes, we had the rise of both Taoism and Confucianism, the refinement of yin/yang and five elements theories (both of which are mostly missing from the Yi, as are words for magic and divination), and perhaps too the unification of China and the early introduction of Buddhism.

So in quite a number of important ways, there is a built-in disconnect between the Oracle text and the Image text. This is not to say that you can't try to 'compare and contrast' the two, but it might be like drawing lines of connection between avocados and rocks - you can always get there by connecting them both to Earth, but .... how significant or useful is this?

And I'm not saying that just because the Wings and Image commentary came centuries later that we can't glean wisdom from them - after all quite a lot of people found it important enough to add it to the Yi - just that it might be hard to compare them with the Oracle text. But then again, maybe the 'learning is in the doing' and there's something to be learned by trying to look for these connections (and that perhaps it's less important if we find them or not).

Bradford Hatcher has put forth the idea that the Yi, or at least parts of it, might be thought of - and may have been written - as a sort of "Training Manual for Future Leaders." When I read the Image Text, I get how we could interpret it this way: it defines the meaning of what the two trigram images are for each Gua (trigram A over trigram B means ... 'confusion' or 'peace', or ...) and then says that when faced with this situation, a young, future leader should consider ... doing this or contemplating that.

For example ... that the 'noble young one, accordingly' should (for 49) organize 'the calendar and clarifiy the time' or that they should (for 16) compose 'music to celebrate merit, enthusiastically offering this to the highest divinity,' and so forth. I picked a number of other Gua at random and read the image text for each through this lens, and for me they all held up to the test: they all offered council on ways of thinking and acting which support wise and compassionate rule.

As a personal note, I make use of the trigram imagery and meanings in my readings, though not always in the same way as found in the Image Commentary; but I will sometimes look at these to gain ideas of how the bagua might connect or interact with one another. But I use this more as a incubator of sorts to look for different meanings and connections.

Best, David.

 

[rosada]

I get value from looking at the judgement as stating the circumstance and the image describing how the superior man should handle the situation. I put the word “Because” before the judgement and “Therefore” in front of the image, thus:
1. Because The creative works sublime success. Furthering through perseverance.
Therefore the superior man makes himself strong and untiring.

Then I tweek it a bit so it reads more smoothly:
Because one’s creative intentions will ultimately be successful if a person perseveres (long enough)
Therefore the superior man makes himself strong and healthy (so that he can persever).