35. Progress to 59. Dispersion

Changing lines

1. Line 2

   The second line, magnetic, shows its subject with the appearance of advancing, and yet of being sorrowful. If she can be firm and correct, there will be good fortune. She will receive great blessing from her grandmother. [Compare this line and its situation with line two of Hexagram 62., Ed.] Line two is magnetic, as is her correlate line five; therefore she has to mourn in obscurity. But her position is central and correct and she maintains the momentum until eventual success is achieved. The Symbolism says she receives it from her grandmother, and readers will be startled by the extraordinary statement as I was when I first read it. Literally the text says "the king's mother, " but "king's father" and "king's mother" are well-known Chinese appellations for "grandfather" and "grandmother." This is the view given on the passage by Ch'eng-tzu, Chu Hsi and the K'ang-hsi editors. They all agree that the name points us to line five, the correlate of two, and the ruler of the hexagram. Line five is the sovereign who at length acknowledges the worth of the feudal ruler, and gives her the great blessing. I am not sure that "motherly king" would not be the best and fairest translation of the phrase. Canon McClatchie renders it as "Imperial Mother" -- that is, the wife of Imperial Heaven (Juno) who occupies the "throne" of the diagram, viz. the fifth line, which is soft and therefore feminine. She is the Great Ancestress of the human race.

2. Line 4

   The fourth line, dynamic, shows its subject with the appearance of advancing, but like a marmot. However firm and correct he may be, the position is one of peril. Line four is dynamic, but in a magnetic place and not central. It suggests the idea of a marmot or rat, stealthily advancing. Nothing could be more opposed to the idea of the feudal lord in the hexagram.

3. Line 5

   The fifth line, magnetic, shows how all occasion for repentance disappears from its subject. But let her not concern herself about whether she shall fail or succeed. To advance will be fortunate, and in every way advantageous. In line five the ruler of the hexagram and her intelligent sovereign meet happily. She holds on her right course, indifferent as to results, but things are so ordered that she is, and will continue to be, crowned with success.

The present judgment

In Advance of Consciousness we see a prince who secures the tranquility of the people presented on that account with numerous horses by the king, and three times in a day received at interviews.

The later judgment

Expansion intimates that there will be progress and success. The king goes to his ancestral temple. It will be advantageous to cross the great stream. It will be advantageous to be firm and correct.

What the move asks

Advance with clarity and integrity to dissolve obstacles and harmonize your interactions.

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