above KêN KEEPING STILL, MOUNTAIN below KêN KEEPING STILL, MOUNTAIN
The image of this hexagram is the mountain, the youngest son of heaven and earth. The male principle is at the top because it strives upward by nature; the female principle is below, since the direction of its movement has come to its normal end.
In its application to Man, the hexagram turns upon the problem of achieving a quiet heart. It is very difficult to bring quiet to the heart. While Buddhism strives for rest through an ebbing away of all movement in nirvana, the Book of Changes holds that rest is merely a state of polarity that always posits movement as its complement. Possibly the words of the text embody directions for the practice of yoga.
THE JUDGMENT
KEEPING STILL. Keeping one’s back still So that one no longer feels one’s body. One goes into one’s courtyard And does not see one’s people. No blame.
True quiet means keeping still when the time has come to keep still, and going forward when the time has come to go forward. In this way rest and movement are in agreement with the demands of the time, and thus there is light in life. The hexagram signifies the end and the beginning of all movement. The back is named because in the back are located all the nerve fibers that mediate movement. If the movement of these spinal nerves is brought to a standstill, the ego, with its restlessness, disappears as it were. When one has thus become calm, one may turn to the outside world. One no longer sees in it the struggle and tumult of individual beings, and therefore one has that true peace of mind which is needed for understanding the great laws of the universe and for acting in harmony with them. Whoever acts from these deep levels makes no mistakes.
THE IMAGE
Mountains standing close together: The image of KEEPING STILL. Thus the superior one Does not permit one’s thoughts To go beyond one’s situation.
The heart thinks constantly. this cannot be changed, but the movements of the heart-that is, one’s thoughts-should restrict themselves to the immediate situation. All thinking that goes beyond this only makes the heart sore.
THE LINES
Six at the beginning means: Keeping one’s toes still. No blame. Continued perseverance furthers.
Keeping the toes still means halting before one has even begun to move. The beginning is the time of few mistakes. At that time one is still in harmony with primal innocence. Not yet influenced by obscuring interests and desires, one sees things intuitively as they really are. One who halts at the beginning, so long as one has not yet abandoned the truth, finds the right way. Bu persisting firmness is needed to keep one from drifting irresolutely. Six in the second place means: Keeping one’s calves still. One cannot rescue the person whom one follows. One’s heart is not glad.
The leg cannot move independently; it depends on the movement of the body. If a leg is suddenly stopped while the whole body is in vigorous motion, the continuing body movement will make one fall. The same is true of one who serves a master stronger than oneself. One is swept along, and even though one may oneself halt on the path of wrongdoing, one can no longer check the other in his or her powerful movement. Where the master presses forward, the servant, no matter how good his or herintentions, cannot save the master.
Nine in the third place means: Keeping one’s hips still. Making one’s sacrum stiff. Dangerous. The heart suffocates.
This refers to enforced quiet. The restless heart is to be subdued by forcible means. But fire when it is smothered changes into acrid smoke that suffocates as it spreads. Therefore, in exercises in meditation and concentration, one ought not to try to force results. Rather, calmness must develop naturally out of a state of inner composure. If one tries to induce calmness by means of artificial rigidity, meditation will lead to very unwholesome results.
Six in the fourth place means: Keeping one’s trunk still. No blame.
As has been pointed out above in the comment on the Judgment, keeping the back at rest means forgetting the ego. this is the highest stage of rest. Here this stage has not yet been reached: the individual in this instance, though able to keep the ego, with its thoughts and impulses, in a state of rest, is not yet quite liberated from its dominance. Nonetheless, keeping the heart at rest is an important function, leading in the end to the complete elimination of egotistic drives. Even though at this point one does not yet remain free from all the dangers of doubt and unrest, this frame of mind is not a mistake, as it leads ultimately to that other, higher level.
Six in the fifth place means: Keeping one’s jaws still. The words have order. Remorse disappears.
One in a dangerous situation, especially when one is not adequate to it, is inclined to be very free with talk and presumptuous jokes. But injudicious speech easily leads to situations that subsequently give much cause for regret. However, if one is reserved in speech, one’s words take ever more definite form, and every occasion for regret vanishes.
° Nine at the top means: Noble hearted keeping still. Good fortune.
this marks the consummation of the effort to attain tranquillity. One is at rest, not merely in a small, circumscribed way in regard to matters of detail, but one has also a general resignation in regard to life as a whole, and this confers peace and good fortune in relation to every individual matter.
