Originally posted under Asian Forum Journal August 23, 2006
By Fuqueng Warrior
In the ancient China
Among the means for making an assessment, is the use of the hexagrams of the I Ching. It is a highly idea oriented and nature-based tool for making assessment.
One of the I Ching's perculiarities is in the description of a good King and his enemies. A scrupulous, disciplined, righteous and uncorrupt King, is usually called in the I Ching, as one of the great or superior men, the lead superior man with a following of equally good and principled lieutenants.
On the other hand, the corrupt, unprincipled and unscrupulous ones are called the small men.
KIEH HEXAGRAM
In the state that is indicated by the Kieh diagram, the advantage will be found in the Southwest. If no further operations are necessary, there will be good fortune in coming back to the old conditions. If some operations need to be done, there will be good fortune in the undertaking them early.
One will not commit error.
There will be hunting, three foxes, and obtaining the yellow (read : golden) arrows. With firm correctness there will be good fortune.
There is a porter with his burden, momentarily riding in a carriage. He will merely tempt robbers to attack him. However firm and correct he may try to be, there will be a cause for regret.
'Remove your toes. Friends will then come, between you and whom there will be mutual confidence.
The superior man (read: The Ruler), executing his / her function of removing whatever is injurious to the idea of the hexagram, in which case there will he good fortune, and confidence in him will be shown even by the small men.
Finally, there will be a prince with his bow, he is shooting at a falcon on the top of a high wall, and hitting it. The effect of his action will be in every way advantageous.
THUN HEXAGRAM
Thun indicates successful progress. To a small extent it will still be advantageous to be firm and correct.
Retiring tail. The position is perilous. No movement in any direction should be made.
Holding one's purpose fast as if by a thong made from the hide of a yellow ox, which cannot be broken.
One retiring but bound -- to his distress and peril. If he were to deal with his binders as in nourishing a servant or concubine, it would be fortunate for him.
Retiring notwithstanding his real preference and determination. In a superior man this will lead to good fortune; a small man cannot attain to this.
Retiring in an admirable way. With firm correctness there will be good fortune.
Retiring in a noble way. It will be advantageous in every respect.
The ancient Chinese are wont to say, when the SMALL MEN get their way with things. In Confucius' belief, in their time, they were pretty convinced that not all the leaders are good and not all leaders govern as true leaders would or could. (There is however nothing by way of an aside, or an exact statement, that says whether all leaders have the capacity for good, or that leaders that are good could turn bad, and vice versa.)
People that are unscrupulous, evil and corrupt, are called SMALL MEN. They also have their occasions to rule. At the opportune time, they create enormous trouble and grab the power from the GREAT MEN or SUPERIOR MEN.
The GREAT or SUPERIOR MEN obviously will be the sworn enemy of the SMALL MEN -- because they are exact opposite --- and proceed to plunder, lay waste and wretched the society we live in. This is a very radical departure from the sociology though, that we learn about in school.
This ancient kind of philosophy however, is very eye-opening revelation in many ways. For indeed, didn't we have that mustachioed president who thrived on slapstick but did the most heinous things -- guaranteed privacy by his cordon sanitaire? We struggled against that. Raged and so did we overcome.
Then, the SMALL MEN bide their time and now, today, they think that it is the high tide and they shall sail for the capital.
If they sense and smell weakness, they will grab that opportunity to prop up their weaponry, their armies and ride in boats and in chariots and make a push toward the location of the SUPERIOR MEN in a Caravan. When they reach the Great City
Those amongst our communities then, who merely flow with the cycle, certainly will do nothing. There are those who do not wish to be in a chaotic situation though, and with their sit-by-the-fence attitude, they usually just wake up that they are getting to be towed around by the SMALL MEN.
I am not even sure where I stand now. (But most certainly, I will not prefer to be in the auspices of the THUN when superior men retreat in the face of the SMALL MEN. If I had a choice, I would however, be happy to be in the auspices of the KIEH wherein I will take part in removing the menace of the SMALL MEN from the Kingdom.)
But back when the mustachioed idiot was President and yet was being bashed at every turn, I even tried to court sympathy for the bastard. Until I realized that it was clearly difficult, even if I was under the employ of the Government, to be on the side of the SMALL MEN.
For heaven's sake, to make things easier to swallow, they even offered me to be an Undersecretary even at that my age during that time (although by then I was already of qualifying age, by Civil Service and uniformed service standards)!
But I refused! Even as the SMALL MEN were very adamant about the offer, I stood my ground. They raised their voices, showed contempt for him, still I refused.
It was war. War against the SMALL MEN. War against everything they stood for. War against them for placing our country in the pits. In the quagmire. The SMALL MEN had by then become the instant Overlord of the men and women behind dangerous drugs and substances, the Kuratong Balelengs, the illegal gambling geniuses like Atong Ang, illegal loggers and kidnapping for ransom gangs, among so many other criminal minded groups.
A classic representative of the SMALL MEN was a lady who up to now is happily moving in the high circles. She is also a familiar face at a University on Taft Ave.
She waited on a pretty lady and her beau for the sake of leader. Lady and beau kept an office in a plush subdivision. But beau, only happened to be one of the most wanted, most notorious men in Malaysia
So now you understand why it had to be War. (It was the beginning of the auspices of a KIEH condition.)
Even if you had to brush elbows with thieves whom you would see ascend to the Palace gaily participating in the insane contest for the spoils of War...
That is why, whatever they say now, it will be the words of the SMALL MEN against those of the GREAT MEN. I shall gladly defend the latter. To the death.
Especially under the proper auspices of the KIEH conditions, were it possible. And it appears so, now.
Description of the Kieh Hexagram
Kieh is the symbol of loosening, or unraveling a knot or resolving a complication; and as the name of this hexagram, it denotes a condition in which the obstruction and difficulty indicated by the preceding Kieh have been removed.
The objective of the philosopher author here is to show, as if from the lines of the figure, how this new and better state of the kingdom is to be dealt with. In the Thwan of Kien for 'the advantage to be found in the Southwest.' If further active operations are not necessary to complete the subjugation of the country, the sooner that stability is restored, the better. The new masters of the kingdom should not be anxious to change all the old manners and ways. Let them do, as the in historical China
There is a weak line, instead of a strong, in the first place; but this is compensated for by its strong correlate in 4.
A scholar Ku Hsi says he does not understand the symbolism under line 2. The place is even, but the line itself is strong; the strength therefore is modified or tempered. And 2 is the correlate of the ruler in 5. We are to look to its subject therefore for a minister striving to realise the idea of the hexagram, and pacify the subdued kingdom. He becomes a hunter, and disposes of unworthy men, represented by 'the three foxes.' He also gets the yellow arrows, the instruments used in war or in hunting, whose colour is 'correct,' and whose form is 'straight.' His firm correctness will be good.
Line 3 is weak, when it should be strong; and occupying, as it does, the topmost place of the lower trigram, it suggests the symbolism of a porter in a carriage. People will say, 'How did he get there? The things cannot be his own.' And robbers will attack and plunder him. The subject of the line cannot protect himself, nor accomplish anything good.
What is said on the fourth line appears in the form of an address to its subject. The line is strong in an even place, and 1, its correlate, is weak in an odd place. Such a union will not be productive of good. In the symbolism 1 becomes the toe of the subject of 4. How the friend or friends, who are to come to him on the removal of this toe, are represented, I do not perceive.
Line 5 is weak in an odd place; but the place is that of the ruler, to whom it belongs to perfect the idea of the hexagram by removing all that is contrary to the peace and good order of the kingdom. It will be his duty to remove especially all the small men represented by the divided lines, which he can do with the help of his strong correlate in 2. Then even the small men will change their ways, and repair to him.
Line 6 is the highest line in the figure, but not the place of the ruler. Hence it appears as occupied by a Duke, who carries out the idea of the figure against small men, according to the symbolism employed.
Description of the Thun Hexagram
A retiring tail seems to suggest the idea of the subject of the lines hurrying away, which would only aggravate the evil and danger within the period in question.
'His purpose' in line 2nd line is the purpose to retreat. The weak 2nd line responds correctly to the strong 5th line, and both are central. The purpose therefore is symbolled as in the text. The 'yellow' colour of the ox is introduced because of its being 'correct,' and of a piece with the central place of the line.
Line 3 has no proper correlate in 6 and its subject allows himself to be entangled and impeded by the subjects of the 1st and 2nd line. He is too familiar with them, and they presume, and fetter his movements;--compare Analects, 17. 25. He should keep them at a distance.
Line 4 has a correlate in line 1, and is free to exercise the decision belonging to its subject. The line is the first in Khien, symbolic of strength.
In the Shu IV, v, Section 2. 9, the worthy I Yin is made to say, 'The minister will not for favour or gain continue in an office whose work is done;' and the Khang-hsi editors refer to his words as an illustration of what is said on line 5. It has its correlate in the 2nd line, and its subject carries out the purpose to retire 'in an admirable way.'
Line 6 is strong, and with no correlate to detain it in the 3rd line. Its subject vigorously and happily carries out the idea of the hexagram.
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