需
GUA 05 · XU
ANTICIPATION
Overall Image (大象)
The clouds rise into the sky
Anticipation
The noble young one, accordingly,
Takes refreshment and sustenance
With peace of mind and cheer▼
Overall Image (大象)
The clouds rise into the sky
Anticipation
The noble young one, accordingly,
Takes refreshment and sustenance
With peace of mind and cheer
The plump, wet clouds have released nothing yet, obeying celestial rules, but not the demands of beings in thirst below. Desire and purpose belong to life, not the stars. What will be a blessing some day is now a troubled hope. But the time is always perfect for something, not all of life is on hold. What a sage must have or do must first await better timing. And yet the heavens seem to cater to his wants. What might such a one sacrifice for rain? His neediness, perhaps, to wait with a greater strength, working on merit, acceptance and gratitude. Hope is not filling enough. To make the best use of the meanwhile means to use this time, to wait like there’s no tomorrow.
Main Judgment (Anticipation) (卦辞)
Be true
Honor fulfillment
Persistence is timely
Worthwhile to cross the great stream▼
Main Judgment (Anticipation) (卦辞)
Be true
Honor fulfillment
Persistence is timely
Worthwhile to cross the great stream
The real problem here is not how late the rain is: it is how much too early one comes with one’s mind and its set of big expectations. It is not heaven’s business to cater to the beings. Heaven could starve us to death and not care, and not have a reason to do so. It is up to each of the beings to make what provisions it needs. Of course we will get what we need, as soon as we can look back in time. It is meeting what might be called needs while looking ahead that causes these questions of why, and all of their vacuous answers. Needs are more easily met than wants, much more than wishes and hopes, but none are binding on anything other than life. What must be done might not be. Stars are said to serve wishes, but wise ones wish now for what is at hand, and later for what was to come. And not being busy meeting those needs means they will have a lot of free time, and so can take all of the time that they need. Some think they can kill time while they are waiting. This is just not a sane thought. The best sort of patience is artful and moves towards the best place to wait. There is no better time to cross the great stream than the days near the end of a drought.
Key Words (关键词)
Waiting, awaiting, readying, earliness, suspense, calculated inaction, patience▼
Key Words (关键词)
Waiting, awaiting, readying, earliness, suspense, calculated inaction, patience
Gratification deferred involuntarily, satisfaction postponed, delays, deprivation Presence of mind, window of opportunity, being properly ready, providing for Nourishment, necessities, essentials, prospects, hunger and thirst, prerequisites Doing without, biding time, working on worthiness, maximizing the meanwhile Making the most of emptiness & want; getting ready, invocation; looking out for
Structure & Connections
Structure Class
No Family
This classification indicates the hexagram's role in the 12 Sovereign Cycle (Earthly Branches) or its structural family.
Astrology
note:Uranus in Water
planet:Uranus
element:Water
Tarot
card:Two of Cups
suit:Cups
Qabalah
note:Chokmah in Briah
sphere:Chokmah
The Lines
11st • YangWaiting on the outskirts
Worthwhile to use what endures
No blame▼
1
1st • YangWaiting on the outskirts
Worthwhile to use what endures
No blame
05.1x Waiting on the outskirts:
Not rushing into difficult action
* Worthwhile to use what endures (and) avoid error:
Before losing the principle
He waits by the fence at the edge of the farm, far afield and far removed. Nothing is compelling. He does only business as usual. If the thing or noise or strange light off on the far horizon is destined to endure it will need to endure the journey to here. All things come that are real enough, but why not let nature work some of it out first and make this time come to him for a change? There’s a good long view out here, it is not as though he can’t see this thing coming. There is still time for waiting, the groundwork and ditches await, and a drought is the best time to clean out the well. Working those heavy shovels and hoes strengthens that sword arm too. This will free up some time to come to terms with the present, to get stuff out of the way, and perhaps even clean up that pit of a house, to be prepared for this big visitation.*
22nd • YangWaiting on the sand
The small will talk
In the end promising▼
2
2nd • YangWaiting on the sand
The small will talk
In the end promising
05.2x Waiting on the sand:
Abundance lies in the middle
* Even though the small will talk
Consider the promising outcome
The rains will always come, sometimes in seven days, or sometimes in seven years, so here is a workday’s day at the beach, making the most out of little or nothing, laying back by the edge of the stream, idly watching the high clouds drift by, with a faraway look for all the big pictures, in limbo and loving it, pondering the changes and torrents to come, their white waters tearing down rocks, piling up beaches and dunes with infinite patience. And of course distant voices will slander and gossip, with petty little abrasives, a less pleasant babble than water, but no less pleasantly meaningless. The small will live any life but their own, with nothing better to do than you with your nothing at all. So you wait where only the big floods will hit, on an ample margin of error. Studying time is work best done with large samples.
33rd • YangWaiting in mud
Inviting predators to approach▼
3
3rd • YangWaiting in mud
Inviting predators to approach
05.3x Waiting in mud:
Misfortune waits beyond
* Of our own accord to invite predators:
Attention (and) mindfulness avoid ruin
The long awaited thing has not shown, but everything else has been dropped in its honor. The meanwhile is as if null and void. Waiting is not going nowhere, just as not doing is not doing nothing. Calculated inaction invites all sorts of exciting and complex events, fast fun, and emergencies too. Too ready to be the first to arrive, waiting where small floods hit first, way down in the lowly depression, too stuck in only what’s coming, not sure of footing or basis, foreclosing all other options, one had best heed that sinking feeling. Thieves and predators both like to watch for swine who wait in the mud, too sloppy to flee, such a special treat for the slowest of thieves, such easy bait they will look for traps first. Biding time well is bidding things come. When they do one wants to be well, but here one loses all firmness.
44th • YangWaiting in blood
Get out of the pit▼
4
4th • YangWaiting in blood
Get out of the pit
05.4x Waiting in blood:
Comply on the way to comprehending
Obsessed with the thing not forthcoming, so that nothing else can exist, he limits his view of objectives. Like standing down in a pit of great depth, his horizons might be all watched at once. The suspense is killing him. It is eating him alive. The mind without patience or input will make up things and events on its own, including the scariest monsters, who so love these deep, dark pits, and can hardly wait to be fed. Bloody hell! What a trench to die in! What a hole to defend! Unable to maneuver, or get outside of himself, has himself too well cornered, in a nightmare of a drama. We are trying to coax him out now, you see, but he still thinks that he is a leader. This is such a good hole to give up. Better to hunker down in a tunnel, then move towards the light. What is he waiting for now? Out is simply the way that’s not in.
55th • YangWaiting at wine and food
Persistence is promising▼
5
5th • YangWaiting at wine and food
Persistence is promising
05.5x (At) wine (and) food, persistence (is) promising:
Making use of the mean(while) correctly
The meanwhile is not that mean after all. In an interval of less stress, a calm center between busier times, a peace between troubles and wars, toasting and feasting and even rebreeding get started. It is not a down time at all. There is no need to wait for old reasons. So the sage arrives half a day early, all agog at the food and spices of life, all that forgotten fun, getting first fingers in all of the pies, making sure that the wine is just right. Where else should sagacity lead now? They say that life is not a rehearsal. This rewards presence, not patience. Tomorrow’s meal is just not half as satisfying today. This is not a pause between times, but a climax all on its own, not a calm before some storm, but the center of the weather, and not some stop on the way to one’s going. There is simply no good reason to have an inferior time.
6Top • YangEntering into a pit
With no invitations extended to visitors, three people arrive
To attend to them will end in good fortune▼
6
Top • YangEntering into a pit
With no invitations extended to visitors, three people arrive
To attend to them will end in good fortune
05.6x With no invitations extended, visitors arrive
To attend to them will end in good fortune:
Although not a proper situation
Still less than a major mishap
Waiting properly also waits for the things not expected, and is seldom disappointed. You had all that time on your hands to get ready, even when you knew not what for, but all that you did was long out the window for something that had not yet arrived. Now come what may has. You might think you could have kept house in less pitiful shape, but waiting does not work well in the past, and there is no could have been. What’s not done’s not done. The question now is how quickly to learn, since now is a meanwhile too, even during the knocks at the door. There is still time to salvage some dignity and get a good attitude ready. This is where the guests will most want their welcome. Of course every host in the sociable world will apologize for their pit. At least you will not have to lie now. Clear a quick trail and receive them as honored.
Reference in Original Text & Resources
This content is derived from Bradford Hatcher's THE BOOK OF CHANGES: Yijing, Word By Word.
Original text for Hexagram 5 begins on Page 90-98.
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