I CHING

52

Kên / Keeping Still, Mountain Restraint

The image of this hexagram is the mountain, the youngest

son of heaven and earth. The male principle is at the top

because it strives upward by nature; the female principle is

below, since the direction of its movement has come to its

normal end.

In its application to man, the hexagram turns upon the

problem of achieving a quiet heart. It is very difficult to

bring quiet to the heart. While Buddhism strives for rest

through an ebbing away of all movement in nirvana, the Book

of Changes holds that rest is merely a state of polarity that

always posits movement as its complement. Possibly the

words of the text embody directions for the practice of yoga.

THE JUDGMENT

KEEPING STILL. Keeping his back still

So that he no longer feels his body.

He goes into his courtyard

And does not see his people.

No blame.

True quiet means keeping still when the time has come to keep still, and

going forward when the time has come to go forward. In this way rest and

movement are in agreement with the demands of the time, and thus there

is light in life.

The hexagram signifies the end and the beginning of all movement. The

back is named because in the back are located all the nerve fibers that

mediate movement.

If the movement of these spinal nerves is brought to

a standstill, the ego, with its restlessness, disappears as it were. When a

man has thus become calm, he may turn to the outside world. He no

longer sees in it the struggle and tumult of individual beings, and

therefore he has that true peace of mind which is needed for

understanding the great laws of the universe and for acting in harmony

with them. Whoever acts from these deep levels makes no mistakes.

This means that it is time for stopping, of not following a rhythm that at

the moment is not convenient. Therefore, to quiet the back means to

leave aside the impulsive thing, to avoid reacting to things. The still

means let something happen without acting, not to be an active part of

the facts.

Not seeing the people means that one isn't attached to any group.

Keeping still shows how is possible to modify the influence that the

environment has on one.

THE IMAGE

Mountains standing close together:

The image of KEEPING STILL.

Thus the superior man

Does not permit his thoughts

To go beyond his situation.

The heart thinks constantly. This cannot be changed, but the movements

of the heart --that is, a man's thoughts-- should restrict themselves to the

immediate situation. All thinking that goes beyond this only makes the

heart sore.

The mountains standing close together represent what stays in its

placed, what can't be moved. It means a situation that remains an

intention of not advancing.

Not to allow the thoughts to go beyond this situation means that one

doesn't take into consideration matters that, at the moment, are not

pertinent, being, instead, focused on current circumstances. It also

means not to be a dreamer, not to give credit to illusions.

THE LINES

Six at the beginning means:

Keeping his toes still.

No blame.

Continued perseverance furthers.

Keeping the toes still means halting before one has even begun to move.

The beginning is the time of few mistakes. At that time one is still in

harmony with primal innocence. Not yet influenced by obscuring

interests and desires, one sees things intuitively as they really are. A man

who halts at the beginning, so long as he has not yet abandoned the truth,

finds the right way. But persisting firmness is needed to keep one from

drifting irresolutely.

To keep the toes still means to stop the march, not to throw in. A further

perseverance means that it is convenient to be consequent.

Six in the second place means:

Cuidado, custodia su ternero calmo. Keeping his calves still.

No puede rescatarse de quienes He cannot rescue him whom he follows.

His heart is not glad.

The leg cannot move independently; it depends on the movement of the

body. If a leg is suddenly stopped while the whole body is in vigorous

motion, the continuing body movement will make one fall.

The same is true of a man who serves a master stronger than himself. He

is swept along, and even though he may himself halt on the path of

wrongdoing, he can no longer check the other in his powerful movement.

Where the master presses forward, the servant, no matter how good his

intentions, cannot save him.

To keep still the calves means an action that is not enough to achieve

the detention. One cannot stop the movement that has already started

because a force more powerful is pushing ahead.

Nine in the third place means:

Keeping his hips still.

Making his sacrum stiff.

Dangerous. The heart suffocates.

This refers to enforced quiet. The restless heart is to be subdued by

forcible means. But fire when it is smothered changes into acrid smoke

that suffocates as it spreads.

Therefore, in exercises in meditation and concentration, one ought not

to try to force results. Rather, calmness must develop naturally out of a

state of inner composure. If one tries to induce calmness by means of

artificial rigidity, meditation will lead to very unwholesome results.

The restraint is applied to the wrong point and with excess. This is an

intransigent and unwholesome attitude that annoys the heart.

Six in the fourth place means:

Keeping his trunk still.

No blame.

As has been pointed out above in the comment on the Judgment, keeping

the back at rest means forgetting the ego. This is the highest stage of

rest. Here this stage has not yet been reached: the individual in this

instance, though able to keep the ego, with its thoughts and impulses, in a

state of rest, is not yet quite liberated from its dominance. Nonetheless,

keeping the heart at rest is an important function, leading in the end to

the complete elimination of egotistic drives. Even though at this point

one does not yet remain free from all the dangers of doubt and unrest,

this frame of mind is not a mistake, as it leads ultimately to that other,

higher level.

To maintain still the trunk means to control the whole individuality in a

balanced manner, without being influenced by external factors.

Six in the fifth place means:

Keeping his jaws still.

The words have order.

Remorse disappears.

A man in a dangerous situation, especially when he is not adequate to it,

is inclined to be very free with talk and presumptuous jokes. But

injudicious speech easily leads to situations that subsequently give much

cause for regret. However, if a man is reserved in speech, his words take

ever more definite form, and every occasion for regret vanishes.

To keep the jaws still means not to speak without care, just to speak the

fair and necessary. To keep the jaws still gives the idea of thinking what

one will say before saying it.

For that reason the remorse disappears, because what is spoken is

what corresponds.

Nine at the top means:

Noblehearted keeping still.

Good fortune.

This marks the consummation of the effort to attain tranquility. One is at

rest, not merely in a small, circumscribed way in regard to matters of

detail, but one has also a general resignation in regard to life as a whole,

and this confers peace and good fortune in relation to every individual

matter.

The highest point in the still has been reached. One can contemplate

things taking place from an impartial perspective, neutral, unaware of

their stimuli, and the fortune will come.