Pocket I Ching (eBook)

Chapter3: Difficulty Fromdifficultythereis great development, itisbeneficial to be faithful. Do not try to go anywhere. It is beneficial toestablish supervisors. Difficulty is when things are just beginning and thereis a feeling of congestion, it also refers to when a country is stagnant indifficult times and has not found the way through to well-being. Thereis a way to great development in difficulty so there is benefit in dealing withdifficulty faithfully and firmly. If you are not firm and true, how can you getthrough difficulty? When in difficulty, it will not do to go anywhere. Ona larger scale, the difficulties of a group cannot be solved by the power ofone person alone, it is necessary to make extensive provisions for assistance.This is one meaning of the statement 'it is beneficial to establishsupervisors.' FIRSTYANG: Stayingthere, it is beneficial to live correctly, and it is beneficial to establishsupervisors. Thisrepresents people endowed with firm strength and clear intelligence who are inlow positions in times of general difficulty. They cannot go right ahead, andsolve the difficulty, so they 'stay there.' At the outset ofdifficulty, to rush ahead leads into trouble. So it is appropriate to'live correctly' and stabilize your will. Ordinarypeople can rarely live correctly in difficulty. Without the preservation offaithfulness and firmness, people will lose their sense of duty and right—,howcan this help in times of difficulty? Living in an era of difficulty, stuck ina low position, it is advantageous to have assistants, this is the way to livewith difficulty and get over difficulty. So here again is the image of'establishing supervisors,' which means to find helpers. 2YIN:Hardto get going, mounted on a horse but standing still. Not marrying anyone whoforces himself on her, the woman is chaste, and does not get engaged. After tenyears she gets engaged. Thisrepresents people who are receptive to positive direction and who want to gothe right way, but who are subjected to oppression by low-level power, thesepeople have a hard time making progress. They are also people who cannot savethemselves in difficult times but nevertheless who remain balanced andupright, responsive only to higher impulses, not giving in to the crude forcesthat bear upon them. Therefore they are likened to a chaste woman who remainssteadfast for 'ten years'—,meaning however long it may be—,until thedifficulty comes to its eventual end and she finds her true mate, gets married,and has children. Womenare in a weak position in society, but if they keep their will andself-discipline for a long time, eventually they will succeed, how much themore can men of affairs succeed if they keep to the right way and do notregress to elementary aggression. 3YIN:Chasingdeer without a guide, one only goes into the forest, superior people discernthat it is better to give up, for to go would lead to humiliation. Thisis weakness where strength is called for, unbalanced and disoriented, thereforeacting arbitrarily, no matter how much one craves what one seeks, one lacks theability to achieve a solution by oneself, and has no one to help. This is likechasing deer without a guide: people who go into the forest need a guide toshow them the way, lest they get lost in the wilds. Superior people see thesubtle indications of what an act will lead to, so if it is better to give up,they do not pursue such an act lest it lead only...