Cast 9/14/18: Nine @ 1&6, Six @ 2&3
27. I / The Corners of the Mouth
This hexagram is a picture of an open mouth; above and below are the firm lines of the lips, and between them the opening. Starting with the mouth, through which we take food for nourishment, the thought leads to nourishment itself. Nourishment of oneself, specifically of the body, is represented in the three lower lines, while the three upper lines represent nourishment and care of others, in a higher, spiritual sense.
THE JUDGMENT
THE CORNERS OF THE MOUTH.
Perseverance brings good fortune.
Pay heed to the providing of nourishment
And to what a man seeks
To fill his own mouth with.
In bestowing care and nourishment, it is important that the right people should be taken care of and that we should attend to our own nourishment in the right way. If we wish to know what anyone is like, we have only to observe on whom he bestows his care and what sides of his own nature he cultivates and nourishes. Nature nourishes all creatures. The great man fosters and takes care of superior men, in order to take care of all men through them. Mencius says about this:
If we wish to know whether anyone is superior or not, we need only observe what part of his being he regards as especially important. The body has superior and inferior, important and unimportant parts. We must not injure important parts for the sake of the unimportant, nor must we injure the superior parts for the sake of the inferior. He who cultivates the inferior parts of his nature is an inferior man. He who cultivates the superior parts of his nature is a superior man. (1)
THE IMAGE
At the foot of the mountain, thunder:
The image of PROVIDING
NOURISHMENT.
Thus the superior man is careful of his words
And temperate in eating and drinking.
“God comes forth in the sign of the Arousing”(2) when in the spring the life forces stir again, all things come into being anew. “He brings to perfection in the sign of Keeping Still”: thus in the early spring, when the seeds fall to earth, all things are made ready. This is an image of providing nourishment through movement and tranquillity. The superior man takes it as a pattern for the nourishment and cultivation of his character. Words are a movement going from within outward. Eating and drinking are movements from without inward. Both kinds of movement can be modified by tranquillity. For tranquillity keeps the words that come out of the mouth from exceeding proper measure, and keeps the food that goes into the mouth from exceeding its proper measure. Thus character is cultivated.
THE LINES
Nine at the beginning means:
You let your magic tortoise go,
And look at me with the corners of your mouth drooping.
Misfortune.
The magic tortoise is a creature possessed of such supernatural powers that it lives on air and needs no earthly nourishment. The image means that a man fitted by nature and position to live freely and independently renounces this self-reliance and instead looks with envy and discontent at others who are outwardly in better circumstances. But such base envy only arouses derision and contempt in those others. This has bad results.
Six in the second place means:
Turning to the summit for nourishment,
Deviating from the path
To seek nourishment from the hill.
Continuing to do this brings misfortune.
Normally a person either provides his own means of nourishment or is supported in a proper way by those whose duty and privilege it is to provide for him. If, owing to weakness of spirit, a man cannot support himself, a feeling of uneasiness comes over him; this is because in shirking the proper way of obtaining a living, he accepts support as a favor from those in higher place. This is unworthy, for he is deviating from his true nature. Kept up indefinitely, this course leads to misfortune.
Six in the third place means:
Turning away from nourishment.
Perseverance brings misfortune.
Do not act thus for ten years.
Nothing serves to further.
He who seeks nourishment that does not nourish reels from desire to gratification and in gratification craves desire. Mad pursuit of pleasure for the satisfaction of the senses never brings one to the goal. One should never (ten years is a complete cycle of time) follow this path, for nothing good can come of it.
Six in the fourth place means:
Turning to the summit
For provision of nourishment
Brings good fortune.
Spying about with sharp eyes
Like a tiger with insatiable craving.
No blame.
In contrast to the six in the second place, which refers to a man bent exclusively on his own advantage, this line refers to one occupying a high position and striving to let his light shine forth. To do this he needs helpers, because he cannot attain his lofty aim alone. With the greed of a hungry tiger he is on the lookout for the right people. Since he is not working for himself but for the good of all, there is no wrong in such zeal.
Six in the fifth place means:
Turning away from the path.
To remain persevering brings good fortune.
One should not cross the great water.
A man may be conscious of a deficiency in himself. He should be undertaking the nourishment of the people, but he has not the strength to do it. Thus he must turn from his accustomed path and beg counsel and help from a man who is spiritually his superior but undistinguished outwardly. If he maintains this attitude of mind perseveringly, success and good fortune are his. But he must remain aware of his dependence. He must not put his own person forward nor attempt great labors, such as crossing the great water.
Nine at the top means:
The source of nourishment.
Awareness of danger brings good fortune.
It furthers one to cross the great water.
This describes a sage of the highest order, from whom emanate all influences that provide nourishment for others. Such a position brings with it heavy responsibility. If he remains conscious of this fact, he has good fortune and may confidently undertake even great and difficult labors, such as crossing the great water. These undertakings bring general happiness for him and for all others.
1. Book of Mencius, bk. VI, sec. A, 14. [Mencius lived from 389 to 305 B.C.]
2. [See here, sec. 5.]
Secondary Commentary
The rulers of the hexagram are the six in the fifth place and the nine at the top. These are the lines referred to in the Commentary on the Decision: “He provides nourishment for men of worth and thus reaches the whole people.”
The Sequence
When things are held fast, there is provision of nourishment. Hence there follows the hexagram of THE CORNERS OF THE MOUTH. “The corners of the mouth” means the providing of nourishment.
Miscellaneous Notes
THE CORNERS OF THE MOUTH means providing nourishment for what is right.
The two primary trigrams are opposed in movement. Kên, the upper, stands still; Chên, the lower, moves upward. This suggests the jaws and teeth. The upper jaw is immobile, the lower moves; hence the designation of the hexagram as THE CORNERS OF THE MOUTH. In contrast to Hsü, WAITING (5), which also deals with provision of nourishment but emphasizes man’s dependence on nourishment, the theme of the hexagram I is rather the human role in the providing of nourishment. A secondary meaning is that of providing nourishment first for men of worth, in order that thereby the people also may be nourished. The two hexagrams therefore present provision of nourishment as a natural process (Hsü, WAITING) and as a social problem (I, THE CORNERS OF THE MOUTH). A similar contrast obtains between the two hexagrams denoting nourishment in itself—Ching, THE WELL (48), the water necessary for nourishment, and Ting, THE CALDRON (50), the food necessary for nourishment.
THE JUDGMENT
THE CORNERS OF THE MOUTH.
Perseverance brings good fortune.
Pay heed to the providing of nourishment
And to what a man seeks
To fill his own mouth with.
Commentary on the Decision
“THE CORNERS OF THE MOUTH. Perseverance brings good fortune.” If one provides nourishment for what is right, good fortune comes.
“Pay heed to the providing of nourishment,” that is, pay heed to what a man provides nourishment for.
“To what he seeks to fill his own mouth with,” that is, pay heed to what a man nourishes himself with.
Heaven and earth provide nourishment for all beings. The holy man provides nourishment for men of worth and thus reaches the whole people. Truly great is the time of PROVIDING NOURISHMENT.
As an image the hexagram is conceived as a whole—as the image of an open mouth; consequently there is no need of explaining how it came to mean provision of nourishment. But it stresses the idea that as regards the manner of providing nourishment, everything depends on its being in harmony with what is right. In accord with the character of the two trigrams—movement and keeping still—there is no relation of correspondence between the relevant lines of the lower and the upper trigram. The lower trigram seeks nourishment for itself, the upper affords nourishment for others.
THE IMAGE
At the foot of the mountain, thunder:
The image of PROVIDING NOURISHMENT.
Thus the superior man is careful of his words
And temperate in eating and drinking.
Thunder is the trigram in which God comes forth; the mountain is the trigram in which all things are completed. This is the image of PROVIDING NOURISHMENT. From the hexagram as a whole, as representing an open mouth are derived the movements of the mouth, speech and the taking in of food. This movement corresponds with the character of the trigram Chên. It must be moderated if it is to be correct. This is in correspondence with the character of the trigram Kên.
THE LINES
Nine at the beginning:
a) You let your magic tortoise go,
And look at me with the corners of your mouth drooping.
Misfortune.
b) “You … look at me with the corners of your mouth drooping”: this is really not to be respected.
Structurally the whole hexagram recalls the trigram Li, the Clinging, hence the image of a tortoise.
The hexagram contains three ideas—nourishing oneself, nourishing others, and being nourished by others. The strong line at the top, the ruler of the hexagram, provides nourishment for others. The weak middle lines are obliged to depend on others to provide them with nourishment. The strong line below should indeed be able to provide nourishment for itself (the magic tortoise needs no earthly food but can nourish itself on air). Instead, however, it too moves toward the general source of nourishment and wants to be fed with the rest. This is contemptible and disastrous. “You” is the nine at the beginning, “me” is the nine at the top.
Six in the second place:
a) Turning to the summit for nourishment,
Deviating from the path
To seek nourishment from the hill.
Continuing to do this brings misfortune.
b) If the six in the second place continues to do this, it brings misfortune, because in going it loses its place among its kind.
The six in the second place could seek nourishment from its peer, the nine at the beginning. Instead, it turns aside from this path and seeks nourishment at the summit, that is, from the upper ruler of the hexagram (the upper trigram is Kên, mountain). This brings misfortune.
Another interpretation reads: “To seek to be provided with nourishment the other way round (by the nine at the beginning) or, leaving the path, to seek nourishment from the hill (the nine at the top) brings misfortune.”
Six in the third place:
a) Turning away from nourishment.
Perseverance brings misfortune.
Do not act thus for ten years.
Nothing serves to further.
b) “Do not act thus for ten years,” because it is all too contrary to the right way.
This line also, standing at the top of the trigram Chên, movement, seeks nourishment from the nine at the top instead of from the nine at the bottom. “Ten years” is implied by the nuclear trigram K’un, whose number is ten. The reason why this behavior is so severely criticized is that the line seeks personal advantages on the basis of its relationship of correspondence, which is not valid in this hexagram.
Six in the fourth place:
a) Turning to the summit
For provision of nourishment
Brings good fortune.
Spying about with sharp eyes
Like a tiger with insatiable craving.
No blame.
b) The good fortune in turning to the summit to be provided with nourishment inheres in the fact that the one above spreads light.
This line likewise turns to the nine at the top to be provided with nourishment, but because it belongs to the same trigram as the latter, this brings good fortune, in contrast to the fate of the six in the second place. “Spying about with sharp eyes” derives from the form of the hexagram, which is reminiscent of Li. The trigram Li also means eye.
Six in the fifth place:
a) Turning away from the path.
To remain persevering brings good fortune.
One should not cross the great water.
b) The good fortune in remaining persevering comes from following the one above devotedly.
This line is in the place of the ruler, but as a yielding, submissive line, it stands in the relationship of receiving to the strong line above it. Hence it devotedly places itself below the latter. (When the hexagram changes into the next one, the upper trigram Kên becomes Tui, lake. The fifth line then gets into the middle of the water, hence it is not favorable to cross the great water.)
Nine at the top:
a) The source of nourishment.
Awareness of danger brings good fortune.
It furthers one to cross the great water.
b) “The source of nourishment. Awareness of danger brings good fortune.” It has great blessing.
The danger comes from the responsibility of the position at the top of the hexagram and from the fact that, in addition, the line receives authority and honor from the yielding ruler in the fifth place. But in this position it dispenses great blessing. Being thus aware of the danger, it is able to undertake great enterprises, such as crossing the great water. (When the hexagram changes into the following one, this line is on the surface of Tui, the lake, hence, unlike the preceding line, not in danger of drowning.)
Associated Tao Te Ching
34
The Great Way runs
to left, to right,
the ten thousand things
depending on it,
living on it,
accepted by it.
Doing its work,
it goes unnamed.
Clothing and feeding
the ten thousand things,
it lays no claim on them
and asks nothing of them.
Call it a small matter.
The ten thousand things
return to it,
though it lays no claim on them.
Call it great.
So the wise soul
without great doings
achieves greatness.
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