I CHING

56

Lü / The Wanderer The Traveler

The mountain, Kên, stands still; above it fire, Li, flames up

and does not tarry. Therefore the two trigrams do not stay

together. Strange lands and separation are the wanderer's lot.

THE JUDGMENT

The Wanderer. Success through smallness.

Perseverance brings good fortune

To the wanderer.

When a man is a wanderer and stranger, he should not be gruff nor

overbearing. He has no large circle of acquaintances, therefore he should

not give himself airs. He must be cautious and reserved; in this way he

protects himself from evil. If he is obliging toward others, he wins

success.

A wanderer has no fixed abode; his home is the road. Therefore he must

take care to remain upright and steadfast, so that he sojourns only in the

proper places, associating only with good people. Then he has good

fortune and can go his way unmolested.

The wanderer is a symbol of transitory things that only remain for a while.

Success through smallness means what ends up being big or small

depends therefore on the time of dedication that can be rendered, thus

there is just possibility of achieving small things, because anything big

can be sought in a short lapse.

The perseverance of the wanderer must be adapted to the natural limits

of the situation, which only allows accomplishing small and transitory

things.

THE IMAGE

Fire on the mountain:

The image of THE WANDERER.

Thus the superior man

Is clear-minded and cautious

In imposing penalties,

And protracts no lawsuits.

When grass on a mountain takes fire, there is bright light. However, the

fire does not linger in one place, but travels on to new fuel. It is a

phenomenon of short duration. This is what penalties and lawsuits should

be like. They should be a quickly passing matter, and must not be dragged

out indefinitely. Prisons ought to be places where people are lodged

only temporarily, as guests are. They must not become dwelling places.

To punish with wisdom avoiding long lawsuits means to eliminate what it

is necessary to eliminate in an intelligent way, avoiding further quarrels.

THE LINES

Six at the beginning means:

If the wanderer busies himself with trivial things,

He draws down misfortune upon himself.

A wanderer should not demean himself or busy himself with inferior

things he meets with along the way. The humbler and more defenseless

his outward position, the more should he preserve his inner dignity. For a

stranger is mistaken if he hopes to find a friendly reception through

lending himself to jokes and buffoonery. The result will be only

contempt and insulting treatment.

A wanderer busy with trivial things means to walk in a bad direction, to

behave in a bad way, with the result that he has deviated himself from

his goal, he has lost the sense of his itinerary. For that reason, fatality

will come towards him, because he won't find more than rejections.

In other interpretation level it means that what arrives is not good,

therefore, it is not convenient to accept it, it is not convenient to give it a

place.

Six in the second place means:

The wanderer comes to an inn.

He has his property with him.

He wins the steadfastness of a young servant.

The wanderer here described is modest and reserved. He does not lose

touch with his inner being, hence he finds a resting place. In the outside

world he does not lose the liking of other people, hence all persons

further him, so that he can acquire property. Moreover, he wins the

allegiance of a faithful and trustworthy servant --a thing of inestimable

value to a wanderer.

To come to an inn means to have achieved a role, to reach a goal. It

also means to be received, to be welcome, to be accepted.

The property represents what he is, his path. The young servant

symbolizes the support he receives, which is good, but also limited, as

a young servant who isn't capable of great things.

Also, the inn is a place of rest. This implies a renovation of energy to

continue the travel.

Nine in the third place means:

The wanderer's inn burns down.

He loses the steadfastness of his young servant.

Danger.

A truculent stranger does not know how to behave properly. He meddles

in affairs and controversies that do not concern him; thus he loses his

resting place. He treats his servant with aloofness and arrogance; thus he

loses the man's loyalty. When a stranger in a strange land has no one left

on whom he can rely, the situation becomes very dangerous.

To lose both the lodging place and the servant steadfastness is no

casual. It is the result of a self-willed behavior. If one without support is

too much hard and arrogant, this is the natural consequence.

This means also an alienation state. Nobody will take care of him nor

will offer him no credit, because he will be seen as someone who does

not care about elementary norms. For that reason, being foreign, he

loses his reliability.

Nine in the fourth place means::

The wanderer rests in a shelter.

He obtains his property and an ax.

My heart is not glad.

This describes a wanderer who knows how to limit his desires outwardly,

though he is inwardly strong and aspiring. Therefore he finds at least a

place of shelter in which he can stay. He also succeeds in acquiring

property, but even with this he is not secure. He must be always on guard,

ready to defend himself with arms. Hence he is not at ease. He is

persistently conscious of being a stranger in a strange land.

Here reference is made to the fact of not adapting to the place where

one has arrived.

To get a place means achievement, conquest. To get an axe means to

be defensive, to feel fear, to distrust; and it can also means very hard

work to get settled.

Therefore, to get a shelter and an axe could mean to have been

installed in a not comfortable environment, for that reason, his heart is

not glad. It also implies not to still arrive to the convenient placement.

Six in the fifth place means:

He shoots a pheasant.

It drops with the first arrow.

In the end this brings both praise and office.

Traveling statesmen were in the habit of introducing themselves to local

princes with the gift of a pheasant, killing it at the first shot. Thus he

finds friends who praise and recommend him, and in the end the prince

accepts him and confers an office upon him.

Circumstances often cause a man to seek a home in foreign parts. If he

knows how to meet the situation and how to introduce himself in the

right way, he may find a circle of friends and a sphere of activity even in

a strange country.

To shoot a pheasant with the first arrow –the single one arrow, In other

translations-- means a decisive achievement. The pheasant represents

something valuable, looked for, appreciated. To shoot it with the first

arrow means to give with the valuable thing in a sure and effective way,

to have seen the great possibility and not to have wasted it. The first

arrow represents the first intention, that is to say, the first impulse, the

most genuine, more original attitude.

To bring both praise and office means that such a success is

recognized and it is rewarded.

Nine at the top means:

The bird's nest burns up.

The wanderer laughs at first,

Then must needs lament and weep.

Through carelessness he loses his cow.

Misfortune.

The picture of a bird whose nest burns up indicates loss of one's resting

place. This misfortune may overtake the bird if it is heedless and

imprudent when building its nest. It is the same with a wanderer. If he

lets himself go, laughing and jesting, and forgets that he is a wanderer, he

will later have cause to weep and lament. For if through carelessness a

man loses his cow --i.e., his modesty and adaptability-- evil will result.

The wanderer laughs at first when it conquests the nest, which means a

lofty position (the top placement in the hexagram).

One stranger occupying a high position would be object of envy by

everyone, and if he isn't careful he will lose his nest and his cow. He

hears nothing, Confucius says, thus he has not communication with other

people, may be because he is stubborn and proud.

As in the case of nomadic people, the cow symbolizes here the

subsistence base. To lose the cow, then, means to lose an

indispensable element for life.

Naturally, in the end he will lament and weep, but it will be too late to

correct the mistake.