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The original Richard Wilhelm translation for the hexagram line...


Hexagram 12
P'i - Standstill [Stagnation]

yang
yang above: Ch'ien / The Creative, Heaven
yang
yin
yin below: K'un / The Receptive, Earth
yin

CHANGING LINE:

Hexagram Twelve/Line Five


Nine in the fifth place means:
Standstill is giving way.
Good fortune for the great man.
"What if it should fail, what if it should fail?"
In this way he ties it to a cluster of mulberry shoots.


Mulberry


The time undergoes a change. The right man, able to restore order, has arrived. Hence "Good fortune." But such periods of transition are the very times in which we must fear and tremble. Success is assured only through greatest caution, which asks always, "What if it should fail?".

Morus nigra LINN

Morus nigra LINN

When a mulberry bush is cut down, a number of unusually strong shoots sprout from the roots. Hence the image of tying something to a cluster of mulberry shoots is used to symbolise the way of making success certain.

Pokeweed

Pokeweed bush (Phytolacca) - Amerongen Holland 2011 - photo Lex van den Bos


Kongfu (Confucius) says about this line:

Danger arises when a man feels secure in his position. Destruction threatens when a man seeks to preserve his worldly estate. Confusion develops when a man has put everything in order. Therefore the superior man does not forget danger in his security, nor ruin when he is well established, nor confusion when his affairs are in order. In this way he gains personal safety and is able to protect the empire.


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