小畜
GUA 09 · XIAO3 CHU
RAISING SMALL BEASTS
Overall Image (大象)
The wind travels high in the sky
Raising small beasts
The noble young one, accordingly,
trains and refines the character▼
Overall Image (大象)
The wind travels high in the sky
Raising small beasts
The noble young one, accordingly,
trains and refines the character
The west wind drives across the sky, invisibly and without effort, yet making vast changes. The vultures climb high on the zephyr, barely seen, watching the land in great detail, for signs of life to erase. The winds of time remove the rough edges, unsharpen stones, twist the great trees, erase the intrusions of self-importance and human significance, all monuments to the small. The gentle breeze has the whole of earth’s climate behind it, and all of the time in this world. The sage makes his profile small to the wind, refines his outward nature, attending minutia and detail, polishing surfaces, becoming a part of the unseen forces and part of the friendly persuasion.
Main Judgment (Raising small beasts) (卦辞)
Fulfillment
Thick clouds but no rain
From our western horizon▼
Main Judgment (Raising small beasts) (卦辞)
Fulfillment
Thick clouds but no rain
From our western horizon
The zephyr, for all of its subtlety, still has the strength to drive the dense clouds from the region, to haul all that heavy water away. Living things too small to see transform a planet from lifeless desert to garden. And the logic of ignorant fools can transform it right back into desert. The power to tame possessed by the small counts time by the eon, no hurry, no matter. What is this season or that to the wind? Culture waits for the crops, crops wait for rain and the rain waits for just the right whim. How much more can less do? On the other side of the world, the butterfly’s wing whips up a furious storm. But which butterfly was it? The sage will take care and attend to his smallness, give up self-importance to side with a vaster presence, to side with what endures, and in this way outlives himself and his footprints. This might explain his attention to seed, and why his eyes look beyond. The gods will dwell in the details, but the devils will dwell in there too. So who will take charge? Who will master this breeze? The masters are already up there, doing the most with the least, at one with the wind’s wearing forces, watching for signs of life to erase.
Key Words (关键词)
Complexity, complications, attenuation; chaos, complexity, little things adding up▼
Key Words (关键词)
Complexity, complications, attenuation; chaos, complexity, little things adding up
Micromanagement, diminishing returns, getting caught up in the details, fussiness Irritants, nuisances, trifles, worries, cares, distractions, the back-breaking straws Attrition, erosion, small demands; wearing forces, shaping, refining & polishing Long-term finitude, insignificance, limited influence, tiny pieces of big puzzles Subtle persuasion, gradual adaptation and cumulative changes, fine adjustments
Structure & Connections
Structure Class
Xun-Zhen Family
This classification indicates the hexagram's role in the 12 Sovereign Cycle (Earthly Branches) or its structural family.
Astrology
note:Pluto in Air
planet:Pluto
element:Air
Tarot
card:Ten of Swords
suit:Swords
Qabalah
note:Malkuth in Yetzirah
sphere:Malkuth
The Lines
11st • YangReturning to one’s own path
How is this an error?
Promising▼
1
1st • YangReturning to one’s own path
How is this an error?
Promising
09.1x Returning to one’s own path:
This ought to be promising
Small digressions are a part of even the greatest, most singular purpose. The path twists and turns. The root learns to live among stones, learning by going forward that the right path was not this or that. If a tree would grow its roots only according to plan, no rocky place would have any trees. Instead they’ll explore the cracks in the harshness to make themselves at home. The lightning, crooked as well, turns as it learns where resistance to it is not. This does not seem to slow down its progress. Being true to one’s path is not the same thing as being faithful to aim or direction. Life is not the idea of living. Life is not life’s goal. Life is what is carried forward, learning as it goes that sometimes it has second thoughts and sometimes less than the perfect adventure. We broaden our paths a little and return with greater choices.
22nd • YangDrawn to returning
Promising▼
2
2nd • YangDrawn to returning
Promising
09.2x Drawn to returning is in the center
Truly nothing of one’s own (is) given up
A young man returns to his humble home and greets the little woman. He kindles a modest fire and enjoys a bite of dinner. And after they’ve put the wee ones to bed, they have a bit of time left for small talk. They are partners in a short, little story, about nearness and relevance. Is this a great life or what? No great meaning here, no lofty ideals, nothing to shatter the earth, no mighty strides towards some great and distant purpose. Nothing to get engraved upon tablets. Just feeling one’s way, to take the place of high purpose, following subtle longings, getting tugged home, not off to greatness. It is too small an ambit to call it ambition. But small is one of the world’s great dimensions. All of life begins and goes forward through time by seed and other small signals. These lucky folks live where the good things begin.
33rd • YangThe carriage throws off its wheel spokes
Husband and wife are wild-eyed▼
3
3rd • YangThe carriage throws off its wheel spokes
Husband and wife are wild-eyed
09.3x Husband (and) wife (are) wild-eyed:
Unable to rectify domestic affairs
The journey across time begins, with big plans to travel great distances. But only a short way from home the small bumps and curves take their toll. Husband and wife set to, attempting to fix each other’s perspectives when they both should be fixing the wheel. They are carried away by a miscarriage, of what ought to be important. The grand scheme is lost to short sight, if rolling one’s eyeballs can be thought of as sight. The squabble is petty, the problem small, but the power these have to ruin the journey is great. There is surely some extra baggage here, weighty little things maybe not worth the effort, and small stuff not worth the sweat. Especially given that just up ahead are many tall molehills to climb. But small, useful things add up as well: returned to the wheel and hub, those scattered sticks can be spokes again.
44th • YangBe true
The bleeding stops, anxiety leaves
No harm is done▼
4
4th • YangBe true
The bleeding stops, anxiety leaves
No harm is done
09.4x Be true, anxieties leave:
A higher (and) unifying purpose
Small, insignificant things like to blow themselves out of proportion, never more so than when they play on fear and insecurity, on anxiety and doubt. Then whole new perspectives are needed, larger frames of time or space, different light on the context. Watch the little court fool as he flatters the king, beating himself with a bladder, only a light and shallow amusement, a distraction from serious things. He speaks a truth all twisted safely around. A little well-timed diversion turns the events at the choicest of points. The king can no longer locate his aggression, his worries now feel silly, and all sublimated away. A little finesse stays the heavy hand, a magic idea with an army behind it is halted or set into motion. A mind is no big thing to change, with a twinkle here or a discharge there, a wider horizon perceived or a little time to heal.
55th • YangBeing true is as good as a bond
Enrichment is by way of one’s neighbors▼
5
5th • YangBeing true is as good as a bond
Enrichment is by way of one’s neighbors
09.5x Being true (is) as good as a bond:
There is no enrichment alone
Life fights its war with attrition by being the sum of its selves and then more. And thus we learn to grow collectives, we little ones pulling together to tame the greater beast, stronger, more durable in our numbers, a network of allies, with a greater pool of resource and skills. It all begins on a small enough scale, sharing the garden tools and stockpiles for the winter. Now fire and the wheel, or agriculture and husbandry need only be invented one time. We think we wax mighty. Legacies will outlive their heirs, empires their founders, cultures their sages, oracles their humble scribes, just as our pools of genes outlive their living forms. And then we are dwarfed again, out of our own control again, our bonds become chains, our reasons laws. The greatness we have made does not live and feel. When we lose these true bonds we go too far.
6 • YangThe Original Zhouyi Line Statements▼
6
• YangThe Original Zhouyi Line Statements
09.6x Xiao Xiang or Little Images, Comments on the Yao Ci
Part of Wings 3 & 4
This commentary is sometimes (but not always) relevant
Zhi Gua 05 The Changed Gua or Resultant Hexagram
Fan Yao 05.6 The resonant line in the Zhi Gua. This is not part of the Yi’s response, but it may hold clues to the Changing Line’s meaning 09, Several of the key Wing and Han structural dimensions Dimensions See Dimensions. Find: 09, D ***
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 9 begins on Page 63-122.
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