above LI THE CLINGING, FIRE below KêN KEEPING STILL, MOUNTAIN
The mountain, Kên, stands still; above it fire, Li, flames up and does not tarry. Therefore the two trigrams do not stay together. Strange lands and separation are the wanderer’s lot.
THE JUDGMENT
The Wanderer. Success through smallness. Perseverance brings good fortune To the Wanderer.
When one is a wanderer and stranger, one should not be gruff nor overbearing. One has no large circle of acquaintances, therefore one should not give oneself airs. One must be cautious and reserved; in this way one protects oneself from evil. If one is obliging toward others, one wins success.
A wanderer has no fixed abode; one’s home is the road. Therefore one must take care to remain upright and steadfast, so that one sojourns only in the proper places, associating only with good people. Then one has good fortune and can go one’s way unmolested.
THE IMAGE
Fire on the mountain: The image of THE WANDERER. Thus the superior one Is clear-minded and cautious In imposing penalties, And protracts no lawsuits.
When grass on a mountain takes fire, there is bright light. However, the fire does not linger in one place, but travels on to new fuel. It is a phenomenon of short duration. this is what penalties and lawsuits should be like. They should be a quickly passing matter, and must not be dragged out indefinitely. Prisons ought to be places where people are lodged only temporarily, as guests are. They must not become dwelling places.
THE LINES
Six at the beginning means: If the wanderer busies themselves with trivial things, They draw down misfortune upon themself.
If one is a wanderer, one should not demean oneself or busy oneself with inferior things one meets with along the way. The humbler and more defenseless one’s outward position, the more should one preserve one’s inner dignity. For a stranger is mistaken if he or she hopes to find a friendly reception through lending oneself to jokes and buffoonery. The result will be only contempt and insulting treatment.
Six in the second place means: The wanderer comes to an inn. One has one’s property by one’s side. One wins the steadfastness of a young servant. The wanderer here described is modest and reserved. One does not lose touch with one’s inner being, hence one finds a resting place. In the outside world one does not lose the liking of other people, hence all persons further one, so that one can acquire property. Moreover, one wins the allegiance of a faithful and trustworthy servant-a thing of inestimable value to a wanderer.
Nine in the third place means: The wanderer’s inn burns down. One loses the steadfastness of one’s young servant. Danger.
A truculent stranger does not know how to behave properly. One meddles in affairs and controversies that do not concern one; thus one loses one’s resting place. One treats one’s servant with aloofness and arrogance; thus one loses the person’s loyalty. When a stranger in a strange land has no one left on whom he or she can rely, the situation becomes very dangerous.
Nine in the fourth place means: The wanderer rests in a shelter. One obtains one’s property and an ax. My heart is not glad.
this describes one who knows how to limit one’s desires outwardly, though one is inwardly strong and aspiring. Therefore one finds at least a place of shelter in which one can stay. One also succeeds in acquiring property, but even with this one is not secure. One must be always on guard, ready to defend oneself with arms. Hence one is not at ease. One is persistently conscious of being a stranger in a strange land.
° Six in the fifth place means: One shoots a pheasant. It drops with the first arrow. In the end this brings both praise and office.
Traveling statesman were in the habit of introducing themselves to local princes with the gift of a pheasant, killing it at the first shot. Thus he finds friends who praise and recommend him, and in the end the prince accepts him and confers an office upon him.
Circumstances often cause one to seek a home in foreign parts. If one knows how to meet the situation and how to introduce oneself in the right way, one may find a circle of friends and a sphere of activity even in a strange country.
Nine at the top means: The bird’s nest burns up. The wanderer laughs at first, Then must needs lament and weep. Through carelessness one loses one’s cow. Misfortune.
The picture of a bird whose nest burns up indicates loss of one’s resting place. this misfortune may overtake the bird if it is heedless and imprudent when building its nest. It is the same with a wanderer. If one lets oneself go, laughing and jesting, and forgets that one is a wanderer, one will later have cause to weep and lament. For if through carelessness a one loses one’s cow-i.e., one’s modesty and adaptability-evil will result. index
