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What can I do to move forward spiritually? 40.4 > 7

afraser42

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Hey all,

Getting serious about my I Ching use recently, with great success. I have been using Wilhelm and Huang translations, as well as perspective gleaned from this board, and am employing Transition Hexagrams (really enjoying these!)

I've been undergoing a lot of transformations recently - meditative/contemplative practice, learning Daoist cosmology/metaphysics, Taiji and Qigong, therapy, consulting with a shamanic practitioner - and was wondering about the I Ching's input as to where I'm headed.

I asked, "What can I do to move forward in my spiritual path?"

To which I was answered:

Hexagram 40: Relief/Deliverance - Fourth Nine leading to:
Hexagram 7: Multitude/Army

The initial hexagram I am reading as a need to relax, but not too much. Release the tension and remain wary. I have been pushing myself very hard with a lot of my healing processes, and am finding that it's creating more problems than its helping! I suspected so, and this confirms it.

The changing line stresses the importance of cutting away relationships that are damaging me, perhaps adding to the stress I already feel. By going at a slower pace and giving myself some relief, I create space to reevaluate the people and things in my life.

In doing so, I will find myself out 'amongst the masses', perhaps in a leadership position.

It makes me think: I am starting to get involved in my Buddhist center's organizing, and had another friend ask me for support in starting a local chapter of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. This may be a leadership role of sorts, one that I should undertake with grace and humility, and hopefully inspire my community.

I look forward to your reflections.

Huang:
Favorable in the Southwest
Nowhere to go -
Come back, return to normal.
Good fortune.
Somewhere to go -
No delay: good fortune.

Fourth Nine
Removing you big toe,
Friends come.
Be sincere and truthful.

Multitude.
Be steadfast and upright.
For a person of noble spirit,
Good fortune.
No fault.

Wilhelm:
Deliverance.
The Southwest furthers.
If there is no longer anything where one has to go,
Return brings good fortune.
If there is still something where one has to go,Hastening brings good fortune.

Fourth Nine
Deliver yourself from your great toe.
Then the companion comes,
And him you can trust.

The Army.
The army needs perseverance
And a strong man.
Good fortune without blame.
 

meng

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I asked, "What can I do to move forward in my spiritual path?"

To which I was answered:

Hexagram 40: Relief/Deliverance - Fourth Nine leading to:
Hexagram 7: Multitude/Army

The initial hexagram I am reading as a need to relax, but not too much. Release the tension and remain wary. I have been pushing myself very hard with a lot of my healing processes, and am finding that it's creating more problems than its helping! I suspected so, and this confirms it.

The materialism and ambition expressed in your question makes it a conquest, where you must take up the gauntlet to achieve possession of this holy grail.

The objective is to release the tension, but also release power to move beyond previous limitations. I'd go with your answer, sans the ambition. The ambition to attain something spiritual is an oxymoron. It's like trying to meditate, trying to pray, trying to create, trying to love.
 

bradford

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I like to think the metaphor of archery, letting go or release, is useful in understanding 40, especially when it changes to the Militia. This would be disciplined letting go, or letting go with a purpose. As a Buddhist you may be familiar with anupada vimokkha (that's Pali, I don't know the Sanskrit): liberation through not clinging. Again, with 7, it would be a disciplined practice.
 

mryou1

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The direction of the hexagrams from 40 > 16 > 7 indicate, out of everything you mentioned, this:

It makes me think: I am starting to get involved in my Buddhist center's organizing, and had another friend ask me for support in starting a local chapter of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. This may be a leadership role of sorts, one that I should undertake with grace and humility, and hopefully inspire my community.

as being positive.

However, in hexagram 40 you are presented with deliverence and relief. Relaxation. You have a choice, and either path leads to good fortune. You can not take the leadership position and find your own spiritual journey with just as much success. It's up to you. Your casting does not spell out the details of not going ahead with the leadership role, however.

If you do go with the leadership position (or, similarly but not as drastic, get very active in the Buddhist community) it is necessary for you to unite with others under a common goal and be a powerful asset for the group. This is spelled out in the XOR hexagram 14 and hexagram 7, respectively.

Basically what I think the I Ching is saying is that you have a choice between two paths for "What can I do to move forward spiritually?". The one of the outer-inner, and the one of the inner-outer. Introversion and extroversion. It's all up to you, and one is not necessarily "better" than the other.
 

afraser42

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Thanks for the insights, everyone!

Very useful.

I can definitely see where I am attached to my practice. I would like to find the 'Middle Way' between spontaneity and discipline.

I am also reminded of my favorite phrase from Suzuki Roshi's 'Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind' - 'there is nothing to attain'.

I will meditate, also, on the merits of introversion and extroversion.
 

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