I Ching - O Livro das Mutações - cont

22 Adornment fire below, mountain above

Adornment is successful. It is beneficial to go somewhere in a small way.

In terms of contemplating mind, this means adornment with concentration and insight after perfecting observation of the development of mental states.

Observe the adornment of heaven to see the changes of the times; observe the adornment of humanity to transform and complete the world.

... insight with appropriate concentration...

Embellishment and substance complement one another; concentration and insight balance one another. This is inherent so, and not something forced, so it is called the "adornment of heaven". Embodying insight with concentration, calm yet ever aware, is "civilization". Embodying concentration with insight, aware yet ever calm, is "control". This means using culture to unite with nature; this is called the "adornment of humanity".

Inherent qualities create all possible realms of experience, so by observing them one can see the changes of the times. In terms of cultivated qualities, all possible realms of experience ultimately rest in one mind; therefore by observing them one can transform and complete the world.

..."there is fire below a mountain" stands for outward stillness with inward illumination... Understanding what is right and what is wrong about all things, one ultimately does not create emotional opinions grasping and rejecting by judging one as right and one as wrong;

Adorn the feet; leave the car and walk.

This represents concealing one's virtues and living a simple life in obscurity, walking instead of riding. This is adorning oneself with rightteousness.

Flexible docility balanced and correct, one opens one's mind to derive benefit from the wise. This is adorning oneself through the agency of teachers and companions.

... doubts. They are not enemies but patners,...

Sincere students and those full of virtue are also helpful associates. Seeing the wise, one thinks of how to be equal to them; seeing the unwise, one reflects on oneself.... not presume to believe in oneself or act arbitrarily. This is adorning oneself with an open mind.

When one is flexible but balanced, and has a positive strong will, one is able to know the joy of enlightened virtue and does not pride oneself on power ou position. Rather, one looks upon the honor of exalted rank as equal to hills and groves, just like the ancient sage-king who ate poor food, wore poor clothing, and lived in a poor house. This is the image of the regret of the roll of silk being small; but really one has no complaints and comes to an auspicious end. This is adorning oneself with abundant virtue.

... growing more illumined as one gets older, one's qualities becoming pure and flawless.

... adorning oneself with generosity,...

... adorning oneself with discipline,...

... adorning oneself with preseverance ...

... adorning oneself with concentration...

... adorning oneself with wisdom.

... adornment with an ideal, not letting inherent qualities displace cultivated qualities.

... adornment with intelectual understanding,...

... adornment with contemplation practice,...

... adornment with conformity, not dwelling on religious attachment....

... adormnet with partial realization, not missing the absolute truth, conventional truth, or the center of balance....

... adornment with ultimate realization, returning to the original essential nature...

Idem

I Ching - O Livro das Mutações - cont

19 Overseeing lake below, earth above

Overseeing is very successful, beneficial if correct.

... this means getting rid of meditation illness and progressively cutting off delusions;

Great success in a correct manner is the way of nature.

... A correct manner means one in harmony with the beneficial consummation of creative development deriving from the original energy of the universe; this is the original quality of inherent power.

... the earth supports beings, the oceans support the earth.

... to oversee the populace it is important to be human and flexible. ... to get rid of ills it is appropriate to apply the power of insight;

... if you are flexible and intelligent, you will be able to take stock of yourself and change;

... using correct concentration corresponding to correct insight;

What is appropriate for a great leader is balance in action. ... The way of balance comprehends all things,...

In Buddhist terms, once subtle concentration is deep, it naturally awakens genuine insight, realizing that there are no objects outside of mind, so that one does not seek anything outside mind.

Idem

I Ching - O Livro das Mutações - cont

61 Sincerity in the Center lake below, wind above

Sincerity in the center is auspicious when simple-minded. it is beneficial to cross great rivers. It is beneficial to be upright.

Because the four seasons have regularity, all beings trust them, and each attains its growth and development. Because measures and virtuous conduct have regularity, everyone in the land trusts them, and this makes them sensitively responsive. ... the center is the source of sensitive response and integration.

But in order to reach this path, it is beneficial to cross great rivers, and it is also beneficial to be upright...achieve the ultimate fluidity to go anywhere. ... If one does not cross great rivers,one cannot refine the mind by experience and effectively function. If one is not beneficially upright, one cannot integrate phenomena throught the design of reality and establish a basis.

Joyful and docile, sincerity then transforms the nation. ... It is beneficial to cross great rivers, riding on a wooden boat that is empty.

If we look at the whole hexagram, the two flexible lines are inside: this stands for true obedience with an open mind, without the slightest bit of belligerent selfishness.

If we look at the hexagram divided into upper and lower parts, two firm lines are in the center: this stands for truthfulness and genuine sincerity, unadultered by emotional desires.

The joy symbolized by the lake trigram moves people harmoniously; the docility symbolized by the wind trigram integrates with people harmoniously.

The boat is empty inside, and the wood is strong; therefore it can carry anything and travel any distance. When people are flexible inside, they are like and empty boat; when their strength is in balance, they are like strong wood: they can go through myriad ups and downs without being defeated.

Sincerity in the center is the ultimate righteousness in the world. Only by being beneficially upright can one attain sincerity in the center. This cannot be forced; it is just response to natural inherent qualities.

Observe how dolphins leap in the waves when a strong wind is about to arise. The dolphins have no intentions of sensing the wind, and the wind has no intention of responding to the dolphins. It is because their minds are empty that their patterns are fulfilled.

So it is with the essence of the human mind in the immediate present: it is not inside, not outside, not in between, not in the past, not in the present, not in the future.

Comprehending things whitout missing anything can be called ultimate fulfillment. Emotional attachments are fundamentally empty, while the substance of mind is truly real and certainly cannot be called empty. ... Therefore flexibility and firmness are not two things, the inside and the center are not two places. Only those who know this can be called upright, can cross rivers, and can reach simplicity in sincerity, thus leading to good fortune.

True leaders know that when people do wrong, sometimes it arise from circumstances beyond their control; if they know how the people feel, they are sympathetic and sad for them, so they consider their judgments, giving weight to the people's merits and trying to minimize their faults.

Developed people are wary of what they may not notice. ... The fundamental essence is itself the work,... As soon as a thought arises,... the mind changes, and one is not at rest. ... one who is obscure but daily becomes more illustrious. ... someone of similar qualities in a relationship of mutual trust and sincerity.

... one in whom hidden virtues are well developed, who is therefore like the moon approaching fullness. ... one must get rid of that association and rise higher to unite with universally impartial sincerity in the center, in order to be without fault.

... one who believes in his own good name, lofty status, and intellectual views, and does not know the way of inner flexibility and balance. ... people will surely think it strange and kill him, so he cannot last.

Idem

I Ching - O Livro das Mutações - cont

17 Following thunder below, lake above

Following is very successful, beneficial if correct. No fault.

...when the rulers and ruled are pleased with each other, they will follow each other.

...once one has attained the joy of truth, once can harmonize with the true character of things.

Following is very successful if it is correct; ... when the right time arrives, the truth is self-evident. Standards change; it is good to be correct... and it is good to follow what is right.

Involved with the child, one loses the adult. Involved with the adult, one loses the child. Just follow the right and obey; get closely involved and you will be stabilized.

Only if one has deep faith in the right way is the trail of mind clear and faultless.

Truthfulness in good is auspicious because the state is correctly balanced.

One must firmly believe in the true way out of the mundane; then the matter of mind can finally be clarified. The fifth Yang represents firm strength that is balanced and correct, helping oneself and helping others. ... The second Yin represents flexible obedience that is balanced and correct.

...the power of insight, so it is possible to give up the individual and take to the universal.

Only by the power of sincere faith, directed toward the west, wich in Buddhist terms means the western paradise Amitabha, the land of ultimate happiness, is it possible for anyone who cultivates this dedication to go there.

Idem

I Ching - O Livro das Mutações - cont

62 Small Excess mountain below, thunder above

It is beneficial to be correct. It is all right for small matters, not for great matters.

When true leaders establish measures and consider virtuous conduct, they make as regular as the four seasons, so that even ignorant people trust them.

But it is essential to be correct. When one is correct, small excess then becomes no excess. If one is not correct, then small excess turns into great excess. ... to be correct, which means to act in accord with the time.

People have two qualities, firmness and flexibility. If they are in charge of great matters, it is appropriate to use firmness. In dealing with small matters, it is appropriate to use flexibility.

Deference is a remedy for arrogance; pity is a remedy for disregard; abstemiousness is a remedy for extravagance. The remedy uses excess to make up for lack, seeking only to attain equilibrium.

All the birds have left; leaving the group and rising alone, one eventually dies. ... When ancient tyrants lost their countries, this was also simply, because they tried to go higher when they should have lowered themselves.

Idem

I Ching - O Livro das Mutações - cont

12 Obstruction earth below, heaven above

The great goes and the small comes.

... heaven and earth do not commune, so myriad beings do not develop. When above and below do not communicate, no country can exist.

Unable to attain enlightenment yourself, you cannot influence others to attain enlightenment;

People always fear demons, strong and weak, so the tradition on Tranquillity uses words of utmost felicity to comfort them and enable them to avoid shrinking back, intimidated. People always love religious attachment in following a way, so the tradition on Obstruction uses words of utmost lament to warn them not to become attached.

Embracing service, small people are lucky; great people get through obstruction. ... in the sense that they are not deranged by the crowd.

... represents flexible docility balanced correctly, responding to the leader with positive firmness balanced correctly,... who develops people's heart with humaneness and kindness, bringing back the celestial fortune. So small people who embrace service to enlightened order are lucky.

But from the point of view of the great person,... this is where one sees the world not yet at peace and is still choked and uneasy at heart; yet it is precisely because of this unease that one can bring about a successful way through impasses and be invulnerable to mass derangement.

If there is anything you can do to help the rescue of people from obstruction, you will do it, without concern for petty reputation or petty manners.

... trouble is always overcome when it has not yet happened, and disturbance always arises in what is overlooked. Therefore it is necessary to be calm yet not forget danger, to live without forgetting death, to be orderly but not forget disorder. This should be kept firmly in mind. Who but great people can do this?

When strength is not balanced correctly, first there is obstruction.

Idem

I Ching - O Livro das Mutações - cont

60 Regulation lake below, water above

Regulation is successful, but painful regulation is not to be held to.

Water is dispersed by wind, regulated by a lake. When it is regulated, it does not overflow and does not dry up, so it can always provide moisture; ... If dispersal is excessive, it results in exhaustion, so it is taken up with regulation; but too much regulation results in suffering, so it is not to be held to permanently.

Painful regulation is not to be held to, because that would lead to an impasse. Work through danger joyfully, take charge of the situation with discipline, get through with balance and rectitude. As heaven and earth are regulated, the four seasons take place. When laws are established with regulation, they do not damage property or injure people.

When one attains balance, one does not suffer pain. When one suffers pain, one comes to an impasse, and when one is at an impasse, one cannot deal with ordinary life. If one does not suffer pain, one is joyful, and so can also work through danger. ... Nature has four seasons, kings have laws; both of these are what is referred to as getting through by balance and rectitude.

Customary social relations are conducted based on virtues...

In terms of timing, this means first indulging in feelings and doing what you please, without knowing how to regulate yourself; afterward troubles come and you lament in vain.

Here positive strength is balanced and correct, in the position of honor. This is one who manages the situation with discipline. There is neither excess nor lack, so there is contentment and a good outlook.

Idem