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Yin and Yang, the two pillars upon which rests the Yi Ching, are here represented with equal powers. A unique breath animates them, as described in the Judgements of the first two hexagrams, by the ideograms traditionally interpreted as the Four Qualities of Heaven-Earth : Fundamentally Favourable and Profitable Tenacity.
These qualities promote the moment where the possibility of finding a starting point in a situation and give it its impetus is combined to the necessary endurance to harvest its benefits.
To theses qualities, resulting more from a coupling Heaven-Earth than from the action of one of the two polarities, is here added a noticeable precision: The tenacity is profitable to a Mare. If the horse represents the image of an untiring and solid force, the Mare specifies where is to be found the virtue of Yin : In its capacity to see it through (to bring things to term). What Yang impulses Yin brings to maturity. How this force can be used profitably is detailed in the following text, whose profile is manifested in its exceptional length – twenty-nine ideograms – the complexity and multiplicity of Yin, as well as its aptitude to spread in all directions.
The Accomplished Chief (Leader) is the emblem of valour and lucidity. Simultaneously supple and solid, he goes forth with courage, discretion and discernment, knowing how to hold on during difficult passages and transition periods. Focussed on a determined objective does not keep him from knowing how to adapt himself to any circumstance. That he is cited here as a model shows to what extent patience and tenacity are essential to the full deployment of action when one is called to serve instead of lead. It is by responding that Yin’s efficiency is manifested : By taking the lead it loses its proper power; By being receptive to the dynamism of Yang it realizes all its advantages. That is why, during Yin’s culmination, we find echo in the South-West, domain where strengths are gathered and restored, and why we are destitute in the North-East, region of the audacious and solitary advance. The Companions, manifestation of the qualities of availability and receptivity as well as the capacity of realising in common, are another metaphor of this convergence.
Finally, the Judgement wraps it up with a rare advise : Appeasement Omen Openness, which invites to always prefer benevolent attentiveness to diffuse quarrels and frictions. It becomes essential, to promote and bring to term fertile perspectives, to know how to make one’s own the virtues of time.
元 Fundamentally : Mantic modulation highlighted by an ideogram meaning : Beginning, Origin, Entirely.
亨 Favourable : Mantic appreciation describing a potential-rich atmosphere, a fertile arrangement, a global energetic period in which the exchanges between Heaven and Earth interweave beneficially.
元 亨 Fundamentally Favourable : Mantic formula proper to the Judgements. It signal a particularly appropriate moment, expressing with Yang a potential to undertake and with Yin the capacity to see it through.
利 牝 Profitable Tenacity : Mantic formula signalling that the situation, in order to be fruitful, requires a great capacity to endure, to hold consistently without getting tired by the difficulties associated to the moment.
元 亨 利 牝 Fundamentally Favourable, Profitable Tenacity: Particular grouping of two mantic formulas characteristic to only seven hexagrams : Qian (1), Kuan (2), Meng (3), Sui (17), Lin (19), Wu Wang (25) and Ge (49).
利 牝 馬 之 貞 Profitable to have the Tenacity of a Mare: Variable of the mantic formula Profitable Tenacity. In this variable, between tenacity and profitable are inserted different symbolic characters giving a new dimension to the advice of perseverance through which it is generally understood. The choice speaks : Who holds tirelessly, a person withdrawn and solitary, a warrior and here the Mare. Their common quality is a Yin force that knows how to resist, endure and act without worries of behaviour in conditions that are not necessarily those which one would have chosen.
馬 之 Mare : This word does not exist in Chinese. The text proposes two ideograms of which the first means Horse and the other, assembled with the general symbol for Animals and a character similar to the one used for Spoon, as seen in Zhen (51), confirms it as a female. It is a common construction method in Chinese but unusual in the context of the Yi Ching. In the entire book only two animals are specified as females: Here the Horse and the Cow in Li (30).
君 子 Accomplished Chief : Symbolic personage who’s presence signals that the situation requires particular qualities of courage and shrewdness. The Accomplished Chief is mentioned in the Judgement of three other hexagrams : Pi (12), where he is exposed to Yobs (Layabouts), Tong Ren (13) where he is exposed to dissimilarities and in Qian (15) where he knows how to see things through. Three moments where either the Yin structure is dominant (Qian-15), where it is confronting to dissimilar circumstances (Pi-12) or where differentiation is necessary (Tong Ren-13).
有 彼 往 Has where to go (an objective) : Specific mantic formula who’s sense is to remain focused on the objective without being dizzied by the difficulties associated to the moment; To go forth despite turbulences, blurries, or things that hinder progression or mask the goal in mind. The Receptive Impetus is the only situation where the Accomplished Chief knows, while remaining supple, how to maintain his orientation, his live-wire. Knowing how to adapt oneself to circumstances does not mean to become stray.
先 後 Precedes – Follows : The text is built with two ideograms whose proper meaning is To be in front, To be behind and Foremost, After. When they do not describe a temporal development, they indicate either a succession of states or a turnaround which, but exceptionally, is always orientated towards an improvement.
迷 Strays : Composed with the character for Uncooked Rice Grains and the general symbol for Movement, the ideogram evokes grains of rice that are lost, misplaced, spread around because carried by the wind. It can have the transitive sense Lost (someone), troubled, disorientated…as in Tu’s (24) topmost level and also as here, a reflexive sense.
得 Finds : The ideogram covers a rather complex array of senses orbiting around the idea of Gain. The only two Judgements where it is mentioned ( here and in Jin-48) are those hexagrams much influenced by Yin.
主 Principle : The ideogram, whose form is close to that of the character used for King, literally means Owner, Master and, figuratively, Reference Point, Sense of Direction. To see in it the consequence of following tends to privilege its figurative sense.
主 利 The Principle of the Profitable : Choosing to link what is profitable to the principle of the preceding phrase rather than to the companions of the following phrase is rather unusual. Still, this punctuation seems more appropriate to distinguish one of the key points of the global strategy proposed by the Receptive Impetus : Impose nothing, let the acting lines at work in the situation appear by themselves.
朋 Companions : Companions are symbolic personages featured in situations of horizontal relations and in hexagrams with a majority of Yin strokes; Most often it is associated to a convergent movement, differentiated by the one symbolised by the Vassals who reflect a hierarchical vertical movement.
西 南 得– 東 北 喪 South-West…North-East : Geographical designations are rare in the context of the Yi Ching and most often symbolic or ritualistic (cardinal points). They globally express the opposition between the Zhou who dwelled in the West and the Shang who’s empire and capital was in the East. From the Zhou’s point of view, going forth to the North East, land of their Sovereign, meant an adventurous initiative and a retreat towards the South West, their native land, a prudent drawback of their forces. From this perspective, the South West has come to symbolise, in the context of the Yi Ching, the region in which men are regrouped and reinforced. It is the beginning of a Yin period corresponding, in the trigram position attributed to King Wen, to the place of the Earth and, in the seasonal perspective, to the celebration of autumn’s full moon. To the North East corresponds by echo to the beginning of a Yang period, the place of the trigram Thunder, awakener of the energy buried in the Earth during Winter and the moment of Spring’s festivities (Chinese New Year).
安 Appeasement : The ideogram is often translated by the word ‘’Peace’’. Its meaning is somewhat more vast. Expression issued from the Ancestor’s Cult, it illustrated the appeasement (relief) felt by the whole Chinese clan seeing that a woman was settling under the roof of the Eldest Sun. Thanks to the descendants she will bear for the family, neither the cult to the elders nor the continuation of the clan will be interrupted.
吉 Openness *(Opening ) : Mantic appreciation signalling a potential-full moment where a fertile arrangement of the vital flux multiplies the possibilities of development.
安 貞 吉 Appeasement Omen of Openness : This mantic formula is only found twice : Here and at Song’s (6) fourth level, emphasizing Yin’s capacity to consider the work of time to resolve tensions.
*As a window of opportunity.
These qualities promote the moment where the possibility of finding a starting point in a situation and give it its impetus is combined to the necessary endurance to harvest its benefits.
To theses qualities, resulting more from a coupling Heaven-Earth than from the action of one of the two polarities, is here added a noticeable precision: The tenacity is profitable to a Mare. If the horse represents the image of an untiring and solid force, the Mare specifies where is to be found the virtue of Yin : In its capacity to see it through (to bring things to term). What Yang impulses Yin brings to maturity. How this force can be used profitably is detailed in the following text, whose profile is manifested in its exceptional length – twenty-nine ideograms – the complexity and multiplicity of Yin, as well as its aptitude to spread in all directions.
The Accomplished Chief (Leader) is the emblem of valour and lucidity. Simultaneously supple and solid, he goes forth with courage, discretion and discernment, knowing how to hold on during difficult passages and transition periods. Focussed on a determined objective does not keep him from knowing how to adapt himself to any circumstance. That he is cited here as a model shows to what extent patience and tenacity are essential to the full deployment of action when one is called to serve instead of lead. It is by responding that Yin’s efficiency is manifested : By taking the lead it loses its proper power; By being receptive to the dynamism of Yang it realizes all its advantages. That is why, during Yin’s culmination, we find echo in the South-West, domain where strengths are gathered and restored, and why we are destitute in the North-East, region of the audacious and solitary advance. The Companions, manifestation of the qualities of availability and receptivity as well as the capacity of realising in common, are another metaphor of this convergence.
Finally, the Judgement wraps it up with a rare advise : Appeasement Omen Openness, which invites to always prefer benevolent attentiveness to diffuse quarrels and frictions. It becomes essential, to promote and bring to term fertile perspectives, to know how to make one’s own the virtues of time.
元 Fundamentally : Mantic modulation highlighted by an ideogram meaning : Beginning, Origin, Entirely.
亨 Favourable : Mantic appreciation describing a potential-rich atmosphere, a fertile arrangement, a global energetic period in which the exchanges between Heaven and Earth interweave beneficially.
元 亨 Fundamentally Favourable : Mantic formula proper to the Judgements. It signal a particularly appropriate moment, expressing with Yang a potential to undertake and with Yin the capacity to see it through.
利 牝 Profitable Tenacity : Mantic formula signalling that the situation, in order to be fruitful, requires a great capacity to endure, to hold consistently without getting tired by the difficulties associated to the moment.
元 亨 利 牝 Fundamentally Favourable, Profitable Tenacity: Particular grouping of two mantic formulas characteristic to only seven hexagrams : Qian (1), Kuan (2), Meng (3), Sui (17), Lin (19), Wu Wang (25) and Ge (49).
利 牝 馬 之 貞 Profitable to have the Tenacity of a Mare: Variable of the mantic formula Profitable Tenacity. In this variable, between tenacity and profitable are inserted different symbolic characters giving a new dimension to the advice of perseverance through which it is generally understood. The choice speaks : Who holds tirelessly, a person withdrawn and solitary, a warrior and here the Mare. Their common quality is a Yin force that knows how to resist, endure and act without worries of behaviour in conditions that are not necessarily those which one would have chosen.
馬 之 Mare : This word does not exist in Chinese. The text proposes two ideograms of which the first means Horse and the other, assembled with the general symbol for Animals and a character similar to the one used for Spoon, as seen in Zhen (51), confirms it as a female. It is a common construction method in Chinese but unusual in the context of the Yi Ching. In the entire book only two animals are specified as females: Here the Horse and the Cow in Li (30).
君 子 Accomplished Chief : Symbolic personage who’s presence signals that the situation requires particular qualities of courage and shrewdness. The Accomplished Chief is mentioned in the Judgement of three other hexagrams : Pi (12), where he is exposed to Yobs (Layabouts), Tong Ren (13) where he is exposed to dissimilarities and in Qian (15) where he knows how to see things through. Three moments where either the Yin structure is dominant (Qian-15), where it is confronting to dissimilar circumstances (Pi-12) or where differentiation is necessary (Tong Ren-13).
有 彼 往 Has where to go (an objective) : Specific mantic formula who’s sense is to remain focused on the objective without being dizzied by the difficulties associated to the moment; To go forth despite turbulences, blurries, or things that hinder progression or mask the goal in mind. The Receptive Impetus is the only situation where the Accomplished Chief knows, while remaining supple, how to maintain his orientation, his live-wire. Knowing how to adapt oneself to circumstances does not mean to become stray.
先 後 Precedes – Follows : The text is built with two ideograms whose proper meaning is To be in front, To be behind and Foremost, After. When they do not describe a temporal development, they indicate either a succession of states or a turnaround which, but exceptionally, is always orientated towards an improvement.
迷 Strays : Composed with the character for Uncooked Rice Grains and the general symbol for Movement, the ideogram evokes grains of rice that are lost, misplaced, spread around because carried by the wind. It can have the transitive sense Lost (someone), troubled, disorientated…as in Tu’s (24) topmost level and also as here, a reflexive sense.
得 Finds : The ideogram covers a rather complex array of senses orbiting around the idea of Gain. The only two Judgements where it is mentioned ( here and in Jin-48) are those hexagrams much influenced by Yin.
主 Principle : The ideogram, whose form is close to that of the character used for King, literally means Owner, Master and, figuratively, Reference Point, Sense of Direction. To see in it the consequence of following tends to privilege its figurative sense.
主 利 The Principle of the Profitable : Choosing to link what is profitable to the principle of the preceding phrase rather than to the companions of the following phrase is rather unusual. Still, this punctuation seems more appropriate to distinguish one of the key points of the global strategy proposed by the Receptive Impetus : Impose nothing, let the acting lines at work in the situation appear by themselves.
朋 Companions : Companions are symbolic personages featured in situations of horizontal relations and in hexagrams with a majority of Yin strokes; Most often it is associated to a convergent movement, differentiated by the one symbolised by the Vassals who reflect a hierarchical vertical movement.
西 南 得– 東 北 喪 South-West…North-East : Geographical designations are rare in the context of the Yi Ching and most often symbolic or ritualistic (cardinal points). They globally express the opposition between the Zhou who dwelled in the West and the Shang who’s empire and capital was in the East. From the Zhou’s point of view, going forth to the North East, land of their Sovereign, meant an adventurous initiative and a retreat towards the South West, their native land, a prudent drawback of their forces. From this perspective, the South West has come to symbolise, in the context of the Yi Ching, the region in which men are regrouped and reinforced. It is the beginning of a Yin period corresponding, in the trigram position attributed to King Wen, to the place of the Earth and, in the seasonal perspective, to the celebration of autumn’s full moon. To the North East corresponds by echo to the beginning of a Yang period, the place of the trigram Thunder, awakener of the energy buried in the Earth during Winter and the moment of Spring’s festivities (Chinese New Year).
安 Appeasement : The ideogram is often translated by the word ‘’Peace’’. Its meaning is somewhat more vast. Expression issued from the Ancestor’s Cult, it illustrated the appeasement (relief) felt by the whole Chinese clan seeing that a woman was settling under the roof of the Eldest Sun. Thanks to the descendants she will bear for the family, neither the cult to the elders nor the continuation of the clan will be interrupted.
吉 Openness *(Opening ) : Mantic appreciation signalling a potential-full moment where a fertile arrangement of the vital flux multiplies the possibilities of development.
安 貞 吉 Appeasement Omen of Openness : This mantic formula is only found twice : Here and at Song’s (6) fourth level, emphasizing Yin’s capacity to consider the work of time to resolve tensions.
*As a window of opportunity.