Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).
No plain not followed by a slope.
No going not followed by a return.
He who remains persevering in danger
Is without blame.
Do not complain about this truth;
Enjoy the good fortune you still possess.
Everything on earth is subject to change. Prosperity is followed by decline: this is the eternal law on earth. Evil can indeed be held in check but not permanently abolished. It always returns. This conviction might induce melancholy, but it should not; it ought only to keep us from falling into illusion when good fortune comes to us. If we continue mindful of the danger, we remain persevering and make no mistakes. As long as a man’s inner nature remains stronger and richer than anything offered by external fortune, as long as he remains inwardly superior to fate, fortune will not desert him.
So is this the Yijing's way of saying evil has always been and always will be?
Hilary:
There is no level ground without a slope.
No going out without a return.
Constancy in hardship is no mistake.
Do not sorrow about its truth.
In eating and drinking there is blessings.
Bradford:
There is no level without a slope,
No going without a return
It is difficult to persist with no errors
Do not worry: these are certainties
In nourishment find happiness
When is a danger,hardship, or difficulty evil? When it is a consequence of human will, one's own or someone else's. If we inflict trouble, illness, or premature death on ourselves from selfish motives, I'd say the conduct was evil. The chickens come home to roost.
▄▄ ▄▄
▄▄ ▄▄
▄▄ ▄▄
▄▄ ▄▄
▄▄ ▄▄
▄▄ ▄▄
thank you all for the great thread . . . I'm thinking how 'evil' is just a way to speak about a non-productive attitude which can rear its head even in the midst of 11 . . but then again, according to the IChing, there can be no pure evil as there is no absolute good
Apart from that, I was always fascinated by how even a word can hold within and create really strong reactions. I think 'evil' is a word like that, cause in a few letters it can bring to life our most well-hidden fears and make us fight a fight of un-reason . .
I wonder if dissolving it can be as simple as turning it around . . then it would become 'live' and it would bring about a whole different set of thoughts . . Maybe our lives are like that, a heap of elements waiting for us to put them together in some way and create the corresponding meaning
So is this the Yijing's way of saying evil has always been and always will be?
It also says not to complain about this truth... is it because doing so brings evil?
.
from 11.3 also : As long as a man's inner nature remains stronger and richer than anything offered by external fortune, as long as he remains inwardly superior to fate, fortune will not desert him.
I wonder if dissolving it can be as simple as turning it around . . then it would become 'live' and it would bring about a whole different set of thoughts . . Maybe our lives are like that, a heap of elements waiting for us to put them together in some way and create the corresponding meaning
Without 'evil', 'good' would be meaningless, there would be no good. .
we know beauty because there is ugly
we know good because there is evil
being and not being
having and not having
create each other
difficult and easy
long and sort
high and low
define each other,
just as before and after follow each other
.............
TTC.
ah yes, I knew there was a comment on Hitler coming my way! p)
but can we really say that Hitler was evil and be done with it? Can you say that? was Hitler the sole cause of the holocaust? How about all of his associates? and how about all the simple, misinformed or uneducated people who played their part in allowing this regime to take route? Weren't they part of what happened? Were they all evil? Or were they just victims of circumstance?
what I'm saying is that we cannot pin a single thing as evil and from then on point the finger saying there, that's evil, because if we look at it a bit closer we'll see that 'evil' as such, in the imperative, is almost inexistent. It's an accumulation of attributes that create what we can call evil effects such as most of the wars that have ever happened . . hmm, I think all such occasions share the 'organic' part with any other disaster (natural or not)
ok, I dunno but I'm having an extreme difficulty calling someone or some thing plain evil -which doesn't stop me from fully recognizing the suffering they might have caused otherwise.
I think evil is more of a category, an aspect of our experience, not a thing that stands on its own, separate from the rest of existence . . in that way it could be thought of as part of the yin-yang image painted in 11.3 . .
but yeah, I am seeing this mainly from my own point of view and then, as you say, not everyone has to agree with it
Anyway to me 11.3 reminds me very much of a motherly /grandmotherly comfort saying "never mind it will all come out in the wash"....
Hi, Maria:... the issue of this line 11.3 , is whether or not you participate in the game and how you do that. Complaining or not accepting put you out of the game and what the quote passage could say is not what happens out there rules your life but how you handle it.
Do not complain about this truth;
Enjoy the good fortune you still possess.
Wilhelm/ Baynes
[Life is Short...]
[9:7] Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart ...
[9:9] Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity...
Ecclesiastes
King James Version
Hi, Tom:...
The course of true love never did run smooth -- Shakespeare
...
No matter how smooth it is, there are always slopes. And there is no going without coming back. It is not wrong to predict the prospects in hardship. Don't worry about coming back after going out, you will be lucky in having nice food to eat.
无wu2: without / not / no / avoid /
平ping2: flat / level / equal / calm / peaceful / smooth /
不bu4: un... / not / no /
陂po1: slope / wavy terrain/ with up and downs / rugged / uneaven // dam // enbankment / reservoir /
无wu2: without / not / no / avoid /
往wang3: to go / towards /
不bu4: un... / not / no /
復fu4: return / to come back / again / recover / reply to a letter / to repeat /
艱jian1: difficult / hard / hardship /
貞zhen1: omen / divination // perseverance / chaste /
无wu2: without / not / no / avoid /
咎jiu4: blame / to blame / mistake / wrong /
勿wu4: do not /
恤xu4: give suppot / sympathy / have pity // worry /
其qi2: his / her / its / theirs / that / such / it (refers to sth preceding it) /
孚fu2: captive/ prisoner / booty // sincere / reliabile // trust / truth /
于yu2: at / to
食shi2: to feed / to eat / food / meals //[= 蝕] eclipse / to erode / to eat up slowly (1)
有you3: to have / there is / there are / to exist // to be /
福fu2: happiness / blessing / good fortune / (2)
Hi Charly,
Here's a bit of poetic licence from me, of course just one of very many
possible explanations.
The situation is neither calm, nor rocky,
and there's neither leaving, nor returning.
Difficult omen to explain... but not wrong.
Do not consider what you've got.
Just eat up what you've got.
Sounds to me like this could be describing a very ambiguous situation.
One which is far from clear cut. A situation a bit in limbo.
It's not great and swimmingly good, but it's not that bad either. No-one
is leaving, or nothing is lost, but nothing more is gained either. A bit of
an unsatisfactory situation, and yet there is some food/truth/captive
at hand, well, there is something at least at hand. So don't think about
this omen too much, don't think about the truth too much, and don't
think about the situation too much, as it's all far too ambiguous and
complex to be explained in a few black and white words. Just "eat"
what you can, from what you've got, and try to be as well prepared for
the future as possible, because, far from being totally rosy, this leads
to 19, and as we all know 19 points to work to be done, preparation,
approach, prevention, etc etc. Well, for now there is food, as you said,
and that can only be good fortune! Bon appetit everyone
Hi, Diamanda:... Just "eat" what you can, from what you've got, and try to be as well prepared for the future as possible, because, far from being totally rosy, this leads to 19, and as we all know 19 points to work to be done, preparation, approach, prevention, etc etc. Well, for now there is food, as you said, and that can only be good fortune! Bon appetit everyone
... 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.
告子曰:食色,性也。
Mencius 6A:4
The philosopher Gao said, 'To enjoy food and delight in colours is nature.
Legge's translation.
I use a system that indicates a 2 month period for a single line. I am now in 11:3. I have enjoyed the discussion.
For me this time indicates a downturn in all the signs of the times. Yet it is necessary to remain faithful and Good fortune does not abandon one. So I am seeing lots of disappointments in my overall situation. Yet, as I maintain my courage and faith in the face of such things, still there is good fortune that comes. This requires endurance, and true faith.
I view each of the lines of 11 as being about peace. In the case of line three, peace is found by accepting that what goes up must come down, and that if we get hung up in the moment, allowing the ephemeral circumstances of the present to affect our being, we cannot find inner peace.
Clarity,
Office 17622,
PO Box 6945,
London.
W1A 6US
United Kingdom
Phone/ Voicemail:
+44 (0)20 3287 3053 (UK)
+1 (561) 459-4758 (US).