Hexagram 56

Cast 09/17/18, 9 @ Four

56. Lü / The Wanderer

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 a man is a wanderer and stranger, he should not be gruff nor overbearing. He has no large circle of acquaintances, therefore he should not give himself airs. He must be cautious and reserved; in this way he protects himself from evil. If he is obliging toward others, he wins success.

A wanderer has no fixed abode; his home is the road. Therefore he must take care to remain upright and steadfast, so that he sojourns only in the proper places, associating only with good people. Then he has good fortune and can go his way unmolested.

THE IMAGE

Fire on the mountain:

The image of THE WANDERER.

Thus the superior man

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 himself with trivial things,

He draws down misfortune upon himself.

A wanderer should not demean himself or busy himself with inferior things he meets with along the way. The humbler and more defenseless his outward position, the more should he preserve his inner dignity. For a stranger is mistaken if he hopes to find a friendly reception through lending himself 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.

He has his property with him.

He wins the steadfastness (1) of a young servant.

The wanderer here described is modest and reserved. He does not lose touch with his inner being, hence he finds a resting place. In the outside world he does not lose the liking of other people, hence all persons further him, so that he can acquire property. Moreover, he 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.

He loses the steadfastness of his young servant.

Danger.

A truculent stranger does not know how to behave properly. He meddles in affairs and controversies that do not concern him; thus he loses his resting place. He treats his servant with aloofness and arrogance; thus he loses the man’s loyalty. When a stranger in a strange land has no one left on whom he can rely, the situation becomes very dangerous.

Nine in the fourth place means:

The wanderer rests in a shelter.

He obtains his property and an ax.

My heart is not glad.

This describes a wanderer who knows how to limit his desires outwardly, though he is inwardly strong and aspiring. Therefore he finds at least a place of shelter in which he can stay. He also succeeds in acquiring property, but even with this he is not secure. He must be always on guard, ready to defend himself with arms. Hence he is not at ease. He is persistently conscious of being a stranger in a strange land.

Six in the fifth place means:

He shoots a pheasant.

It drops with the first arrow.

In the end this brings both praise and office.

Traveling statesmen were in the habit of introducing themselves to local princes with the gift of a pheasant. Here the wanderer wants to enter the service of a prince. To this end he shoots 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 a man to seek a home in foreign parts. If he knows how to meet the situation and how to introduce himself in the right way, he 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 he loses his 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 he lets himself go, laughing and jesting, and forgets that he is a wanderer, he will later have cause to weep and lament. For if through carelessness a man loses his cow—i.e., his modesty and adaptability—evil will result.

1. [Literally, “perseverance.”]

The ruler of the hexagram is the six in the fifth place. Therefore it is said in the Commentary on the Decision, “The yielding attains the middle outside,” and also, “Keeping still and adhering to clarity.” The fifth line is in the outer trigram; this symbolizes the wanderer in foreign parts. It is in the middle place as ruler of the trigram Li; this symbolizes attainment of the mean and adherence to clarity.

The Sequence

Whatever greatness may exhaust itself upon, this much is certain: it loses its home. Hence there follows the hexagram of THE WANDERER.

Miscellaneous Notes

He who has few friends: this is THE WANDERER.

This hexagram is so organized that the two primary trigrams tend to pull apart. Li, flame, goes upward, Kên, the mountain, presses downward; their union is only temporary. Kên (mountain) is a hostel, Li (fire) is the wanderer who does not tarry there long but must push on. This hexagram is the inverse of the preceding one.

THE JUDGMENT

THE WANDERER. Success through smallness.

Perseverance brings good fortune

To the wanderer.

Commentary on the Decision

“THE WANDERER. Success through smallness”: the yielding attains the middle outside and submits to the firm.

Keeping still and adhering to clarity; hence success in small things.

“Perseverance brings good fortune to the wanderer.” The meaning of the time of THE WANDERER is truly great.

The ruler of the hexagram is the six in the fifth place. It is yielding, hence it represents reserve and unpretentiousness. It is in the middle, hence it cannot be humiliated, though it is outside, in a strange land. It submits to the strong lines above and below, hence does not provoke misfortune. The lower trigram Kên indicates keeping still, inner reserve, while the upper trigram Li indicates clinging to outside things. A wanderer in a foreign country cannot easily find his proper place, hence it is a great thing to grasp the meaning of the time.

THE IMAGE

Fire on the mountain:

The image of THE WANDERER.

Thus the superior man

Is clear-minded and cautious

In imposing penalties,

And protracts no lawsuits.

Usually, it is a question of criminal cases when clarity and movement come together (hexagrams 21, BITING THROUGH, and 55, ABUNDANCE). Here also we have clarity, in the upper trigram; the calm of the mountain signifies caution in imposing penalties. Dispatch in the settlement of criminal cases is moreover indicated in the mutual relationship of the trigrams. Fire does not linger on the mountain, but passes on rapidly.

THE LINES

Six at the beginning:

a) If the wanderer busies himself with trivial things,

He draws down misfortune upon himself.

b) “If the wanderer busies himself with trivial things”: thereby his will is spent, and this is a misfortune.

This is a weak line at the very bottom of the trigram Kên, hence the suggestion of unworthy, trivial things. Kên denotes standing still. The line is far away from the trigram Li, clarity, hence it has no breadth of vision and consumes its will power on trivialities. For this reason its connection with the nine in the third place has not an enlightening but a harmful effect—just as throughout the hexagram, fire is regarded chiefly as a consuming, injurious force.

Six in the second place:

a) The wanderer comes to an inn.

He has his property with him.

He wins the steadfastness1 of a young servant.

b) “He wins the steadfastness of a young servant.” This is not a mistake in the end.

This line is yielding and central, in the middle of the trigram Kên, which means door and hut; hence the image of an inn. The nuclear trigram Sun means market and gain; hence, “He has his property with him.” The young servant is the six at the beginning.

Nine in the third place:

a) The wanderer’s inn burns down.

He loses the steadfastness of his young servant.

Danger.

b) “The wanderer’s inn burns down.” This is a loss for him personally.

If he deals like a stranger with his subordinate, it is only right that he should lose him.

The line is too hard, since it is hard in a strong place. Hence it does not show devotion to its superior, therefore the latter does not help it, and its dwelling burns down. Owing to its hardness, it is unfriendly toward its subordinates and so loses their loyal affection, which naturally means danger. The line is at the top of the trigram Kên, meaning hut, and Li, fire, is immediately above it, hence the idea of the hut burning down. The servant is the six at the beginning.

Nine in the fourth place:

a) The wanderer rests in a shelter.

He obtains his property and an ax.

My heart is not glad.

b) “The wanderer rests in a shelter.” He has not yet obtained his place.

“He obtains his property and an ax.” But he is not yet glad at heart.

The shelter is only temporary, because the line is outside the trigram Kên. It rests only briefly, because it has not yet reached its true place (the line is strong, the place is weak). Although it has property, it also needs an ax for defense (Li means weapons, and the nuclear trigram Tui means both metal and injury). Hence it is not yet glad at heart.

Six in the fifth place:

a) He shoots a pheasant.

It drops with the first arrow.

In the end this brings both praise and office.

b) In the end he rises through praise and office.

This line, which is yielding, and in the central place outside,2 is the wanderer. Being central and devoted, it succeeds in gaining friends below (the nine in the fourth place) and an official position above (nine at the top); thus it rises.

The trigram Li denotes pheasant and weapons. The nuclear trigram Tui is metal, hence the idea of shooting. Tui is also the mouth, hence praise.

Chu Hsi interprets the second sentence as follows: “An arrow is lost.” Grammatically this version is of course also possible.

Nine at the top:

a) The bird’s nest burns up.

The wanderer laughs at first,

Then must needs lament and weep.

Through carelessness he loses his cow.

Misfortune.

b) Being at the top as a wanderer rightly leads to being burnt up.

“Through carelessness he loses his cow.” In the end he hears nothing.

The strong line at the top, whose movement moreover tends upward, loses its foundations. Thus all gaiety leads only to losses, because the line neglects all too much the duties of a wanderer, and even injury does not make it the wiser.

Li is bird and also flame. The place is high up, over the nuclear trigram Sun, hence the image of a nest. The idea of laughing derives from the nuclear trigram Tui, meaning gaiety and mouth. The idea of lamenting derives from the destructive force lurking in Tui. Li is cow; it is lost because of gaiety and carelessness in a high place. There is no hope for this line; it never comes to its senses, because it merely goes on striving further upward, giving no thought at all to return.

Associated Tao Te Ching

73

Daring to do

Brave daring leads to death.

Brave caution leads to life.

The choice can be the right one

or the wrong one.

Who will interpret

the judgment of heaven?

Even the wise soul

finds it hard.

The way of heaven

doesn’t compete

yet wins handily,

doesn’t speak

yet answers fully,

doesn’t summon

yet attracts.

It acts

perfectly easily.

The net of heaven

is vast, vast,

wide-meshed,

yet misses nothing.