I Ching - O Livro das Mutações - cont

21 Biting Through thunder below, fire above

Biting through is successful. It is beneficial to apply justice.

... as Yin is in a Yang position, this represents having an aberrant intellect, which is like poison.

However, being strong without excess, one will surely be able to master oneself,...

It is lucky if there is the quality of balance, which is to be valued; this is like finding gold.

"Wearing a cangue destroying the ears" means not listening clearly. ... Generally one comes to this because one does not listen clearly and does not know how to repent of faults and take to the good.

Idem

Ligações (E)Ternas @

... para a Cristina ... @

Mystique romantique

"Toutes choses

Proches ou lointaines,
Secrètement
Sont relieés les unes aux autres,
Et vous ne pouvez toucher une fleur
Sans déranger une étoile."

Francis Thompson

Sagesse du nô

"Le coeur est la Forme"

Nô non identifié cité par Fenollosa

Sagesse hindoue

"Le Seigneur seul va de forme en forme"

Sankara

Textes recueillis par Marguerite Yourcenar en La Voix des choses - ed. Gallimard,1987.

I Ching - O Livro das Mutações - cont.

35 Advance

earth below, fire above

If one is very powerful and upright, them one can advance to the realm of self-help and helping others.

Light emerges over the ground, following and cleaving to great illumination. ... the light of fundamental real knowledge emerges by breaking through the ground of ignorance;

Concentration and insight are together, stopping confusion and seeing truth are not two; ... The real nature of ignorance is none other than the buddha-nature. When ignorance is overturned, it transforms into enlightenment,...

... philosopher Mencius ... said, "Fate has its own nature; developed people do not speak of fate."
When developed people illumine the quality of enlightenment by themselves, they should be dark on the outside and light on the inside - that is, they should be outwardly unnoticeable while inwardly illumined. But this fourth yang represents outward strength with inner weakness, outward light with inward darkness - it is like a squirrel, which can run and jump, but not very fast and not very far. Its capabilities are limited, and it is in danger. This is the case of people who are in high positions without any real virtue. ... goring people with horns is bad for them.

Idem

O Amor de Octávio Paz

Foto de Marta Figueroa - catrela.blogspot.com

" O amor é representado em forma de um nó; tem de acrescentar-se que esse nó é feito de duas liberdades enlaçadas."

I Ching - O Livro das Mutações - Cont.

13 Sameness with People fire below, heaven above

Sameness with people in the wilderness is successful. It is beneficial to cross a great river. It is bebeficial for a leader to be correct.

Once one has gone beyond birth and death, one should return to cross the great river of birth and death, to bring other people across.

A leader is one who can communicate with the wills of the world.

Once we have witnessed the true being of buddhas, we must exercise enlightened qualities to liberate people; this is called creative action. Health through civilization and enlightenment, responding with balance correctly is like the sun and moon shining in the sky, their reflections spontaneously appearing wherever there is clear water. This is the correctness of leaders.

Leaders are those who have already cut off ignorance and found the center of reality, and who adapt the inherent ability to command any of the roles or states open to humankind. Therefore they can communicate with the wills of the world, joining all people and all beings in the same sorrows and longing for release that are shared by all forms of life.

... when the right time comes, the design will be self-evident. This is the secret of cultivating the mind - do not forget, but do not try to help. ... accurate insight and true wisdom appearing, without effort;

Therefore it is necessary first to cultivate many practices, accumulate resources for enlightenment, and rely on the power of innumerable good qualities and works; only after that will one discover the true way to reality. It is because this is direct focus on the essence of complete awareness at the center of everything, whereby it is possible to go far beyond the truths of emptiness and conditionality, that there is "first weeping, afterward laughter".

... though concentration and insight are again equal, nevertheless one is at the culmination of creativity and can only get the empty experience of nirvana, incapable of entering the ordinary world and extending help to others; therefore "the aspiration is not yet attained".

Idem

I Ching - O Livro das Mutações - cont.

11 Tranquillity heaven below, earth above

... The small goes and the great comes, getting through auspiciously.

... to calm endurance of both strong and weak demons, so that the demons recede and the way of enlightenment goes through.

This is the development of myriad beings due to the combination of heaven and earth. Above and below communicate, so their wills are the same. Yang inside and Yin outside, strong inside and docile outside, a leader inside and an ordinary person outside; the path od a leader goes on and on, while the path of an ordinary person vanishes.

... if you get the small to go and the great to come, then the heaven inherent in you combines with the earth that you have cultivated, so that all things develop together. Transcendental mystic enlightenment and active work in the world combine, so that understanding and action are not separate.

Inwardly you have the power of strong action unceasing, while outwardly you have the means to adapt to the world. Inwardly you are a leader on the way to enlightenment, while outwardly you are an ordinary person in the same continuum of mental experiences. Because it can transform all realms of mental experience, so that they become objects of enligttenment, the path of such a leader goes on and on, while the path of an ordinary person dies out.

Influencing the people means that one is not destroyed by demons, strong or weak, and so can use these two kinds od demons as servants.

Positive strength is at the begining of tranquillity; but does that mean one should spend one's whole life in a low state? It is by taking similar people along to progress, the will not being limited to personal od family concerns, that it is possible to guarantee the tranquillity of the world in the end.

So here it is good to be tolerant, and accept the uncultivated and unskilled, and see afther their welfare. As for those of talent, who can, so to speak, "cross rivers", employ them. Do not overlook those who are far way. Do not just be a partisant of other strong people, but cooperate seriously with those on a higher level who are flexible yet balanced and sane, so that enlightenment will become widespread.

There is no level without incline, no going without returning. Be upright in difficulty.

So among people of the same aspiration there is mutual trust, without any formal pact; therefore it is still possible to preserve this tranquillity.

When tranquillity culminates, there must be obstruction; the forces of time assure us of this. Passive flexibility has no ability to get rid of confusion, hence the caution not to use the army.

If you want to calmly endure strong and weak demons, you must depend on the power of concentration and insight.... so once inner demons are conquered, outer demons will also submit, as when one pulls out a reed and takes others along with it.

When one knows that demons have no reality, the demons become one's assistants and are like neighbors.

Idem

I Ching - O Livro das Mutações - cont.

58 Delight lake below, lake above

Delight comes through, beneficial if correct.

When one is fulfilled, others find satisfaction in this;

... developed people do not enjoy attempts to delight them with what is not right, so delight is only beneficial if correct. As the classics say, do not destroy people to follow your own desires; do not deviate from the right path to win peoples's praise.

... delight is beneficial if correct; this is how to obey heaven and respond to humanity. ... The greatness of delight is how it inspires the people.

When strength is balanced, there is no biased selfishness of emotional desires; when flexible outside, there is no belligerence or violence. This is the most correct delight, the virtue shared by heaven and earth. If people are led with this virtue, the people will naturally forget their toil. If difficulty is entered into with this virtue, the people will naturally forget their death. This is the greatness of delight; the people inspire themselves and transform each other for the better. It does not mean someone else urges them on.

Joined lakes are joyful. Thus do developed people study and practice with companions. Associating with companions in cultural pursuits is study; fostering humanity through association is practice. Study without practice leads to nothing; practice without study leads to danger. ... when you study, the unsaid is said; when you practice, what is said becomes the unsaid.

Only if you are firm and independently decisive, swift and unhesitanting, will you have happiness.

This represents one with positive strength balanced and correct, whose sincerity within shows outside, developed to the highest degree. Thus one can exercise sincerity not only toward good people, but even toward people who heve fallen from the right way, getting them to change their evil ways and follow what is good, to turn away from error and return to rectitude; so there is inspiration therein. Once one has the qualities and also has the position, one's influence can be this great.

Idem