The seeker.
Spiritual influence benefiting all.
In-no-way I seek the undeveloped seeker.
The undeveloped seeker seeks me
The initial oracle-consulting notifies me.
Twice, thrice: obscuring.
Obscuring, by consequence not notifying.
Benefit from asking the oracle and accepting the results.
Ideogram: A covered plant, hidden growth.
Structure:
· Danger within 3 and keeping still outside 4.
· Mountain above water. Keeping still above danger.
Image: A mountain gives rise to a spring. When water rises out of the ground, at first it does not know its way, but the water steadily fills up the deep places blocking its progress and then necessarily flows on.
Stopping in perplexity at the brink of a dangerous abyss
describes the confusion of those at the beginning of the path. Because they do not know which way to proceed,
beginners experience whatever arises through the lens of their self-cherishing
and ill-will. They rely upon their deeply
conditioned reactions to get them through the struggles of life and often stumble
into ever greater dangers.
Many live within such a confused state of being their whole
lives. They do not even know that they live
apart from the spirit. Those without a
spiritual path remain undeveloped as they never seek the needed wisdom to live
a spiritual life. Those filled with self-importance and a deluded sense of
their specialness will find it difficult to accept the teachings of
others. An overflowing cup cannot hold
more water.
Confusion at the beginning of the path does not cause harm if
the seeker finds a wise teacher to help us develop the understanding and skills
needed to have a meaningful and purposeful life. Only when students understand their ignorance
and seek wisdom can they open to instruction in the way that leads to spiritual
development. The gift of having someone
we trust penetrate our inner darkness with understanding inspires a profound
gratitude for the teacher. The I Ching is such a teacher.
Students show their readiness to learn from the I Ching by
their interest, respect for their teacher, and openness to the
instruction. The I Ching does not offer
itself to teach or seek out the confused but rather waits for the confused to
ask for instruction. This is the correct
relationship between a student and teacher, which ensures the readiness of the
student.
Before we can open ourselves to the teachings of the I
Ching, we need to trust its wisdom and guidance, a trust that blossoms into
faith over the years. We may never fully
fathom the I Ching, but its wisdom is knowable for those seek it.
For those who approach it with a sincere desire to learn how
nurture a spiritual path, the I Ching makes itself available as a guide. It teaches us to investigate our life
lessons, the struggles that present themselves and that we must master before
furthering our spiritual path. The Book
of Changes instructs on how to move from self-cherishing to selflessness, from
hostility for others to sameness with all, from wanting to possess to learning
how to live on Earth in ways that benefit all.
Those who play with life never amount to anything. The undeveloped must learn the seriousness of
life and submit to a moral discipline to stop harming and to form firm
principles and good habits. The I Ching
applies discipline at the path’s beginning.
The teacher sets behavior limits to help the confused know to be careful
and develop a sense of morality. The I
Ching first nurtures the student’s virtue[1],
of moral discipline. We learn how to
keep within natural and moral limits.
Using our own lived experiences, the I Ching teaches how to live
within natural and moral limits by investigating the consequences of
what happens when we exceed limits or do not follow them. The
student and teacher persevere in the instruction until the student masters the
points one by one. Those who follow the
I Ching demonstrate what they have learned by applying it to their lives.
As the student’s moral discipline matures, the I Ching
builds upon those lessons to develop the other virtues. Yet once the seeker has mastered a lesson,
the I Ching admonishes the student not focus on the discipline that was used to
learn the lesson. When discipline
degenerates into a drill or ritual, it has a humiliating effect and cripples
our power.
In teaching others, everything depends upon consistency. Only through repetition does the pupil master
the teachings. Just as water flows on and
on, the I Ching makes use of practice and repetition in teaching. Thus, it leads seekers further until the they penetrate
reality deeply and have no doubts.
Questions naturally arise when confused or learning a new
skill. Asking the teacher questions
helps to penetrate confusion. Someone
without questions or curiosity is really not a student. The seeker asks the I Ching its questions
with complete seriousness and total attention and gets a response that cuts
through its ignorance. The seeker then accepts
the instruction as a key for resolution of doubt and an insight into the way
forward.
However, we need to limit our questioning. If we overstep bounds with thoughtless or
mistrustful questions, the oracle gives one answer only and refuses to respond
to questions implying doubt. Repetitive questions reflect a lazy attitude that
annoys the teacher, who ignores such foolish questions and refuses to entangle itself
in the student doubt and self-cherishing.
The I Ching admonishes those who have mastered their
willingness to harm others for self-benefit to help those still on the Path. Rather than escape from the struggles of the
world[2],
accomplished sages have the holy duty to bring forth the spirit within the
world and create opportunities for others to follow what benefits all.
The wise see life as a learning experience and seek the
sacred within the teaching moment, opening and responding to experience in
beneficial ways. The spiritual path
perfects action, and action tests our spiritual path. We learn that every step
of the path contains the whole path, that the journey is the goal. What we learn from each lesson applies to our
current struggle and to our whole life as well.
Moving through the immediate challenge in a loving way has the same
movement as the cosmos.
The I Ching transforms us.
We begin the path as self-cherishing individuals with hostility for
others and indifference to the suffering of others. We become people who find joy and purpose in
serving those harmed and create opportunities for others to do the same. Living in the way that benefits all becomes
an established attribute of our being rather than an isolated occurrence.
A stream begins to flow down a mountainside. It moves through every challenge in its path
until at last the stream becomes the ocean.
Line 1: When the self arises, the wise immediately
resist and manage it strictly. If the
line indulges the self and lets it have its way, this opens the line to regret.
Seekers at the beginning of the spiritual path often take
things carelessly, but the teacher shows them the seriousness of life. Those who have yet to follow a settled path
must subject themselves to disciplines to develop firm principles and good
habits.
Line 2: This strong line represents the teacher. The
sage has inner strength and outward adaptability, the necessary qualifications
to guide seekers and leaders, tolerating with kindness their shortcomings.
Line 3: The weak line struggles to rise and
slavishly imitates a leader, thus losing itself. Such a servile approach harms both those who
behave this way and those they seek to emulate. The line makes itself
contemptible by such an approach. The
wise do not benefit from accepting such support.
The strong line yields excessively. It cannot stop itself from throwing itself
away to do the bidding of others, and thus loses the spiritual path. The wise do not become entangled with such
people.
Line 4: The yielding line is in a weak place and is surrounded
by weak lines. The line, entangled in
empty imaginings and ignorance, is surrounded by others who are as lost in
their delusions. The line does not know
it needs to seek out spiritual wisdom to break through its ignorance.
Line 5: The line seeks instruction and yields to
wise counsel. The seeker, devoid of
arrogance, submits itself devotedly to the teacher (2nd line.)
Line 6: Those who cling to their selfishness and
attraction to worldly concerns must be made to feel the harm their behavior
causes. Such penalties are restricted to
guarding against exceeding natural limits.
Penalties are never an end in themselves but serve to restore order. Those who impose the penalty should act only
defensively and not exceed moral and natural limits.
We attack our own inner darkness by controlling our willingness to harm others for self-benefit and ignore the suffering we caused. The line powerfully repels its conditioning that motivated self-cherishing and ill-will by ruthlessly restricting the conditioned behavior.
[1] Virtues shape our behavior and align us with the spirit. The Tao brings forth the good and great, which we experience as love. The Tao causes all life to develop and flow within natural limits, regulating and organizing love, which we call a moral discipline that benefits all. The Tao transforms life so that each attains its true nature, a power that we call justice that ensures that all life has the means to achieve its potential according to its being. The Tao harmonizes all life within interbeing, which we call wisdom, and separates what endures from what perishes. The completed sage uses these virtues to shape the world.
[2] World does not refer to the Earth but to how people live on Earth. The world – civilization, culture, history, society, science, economy, education, technology – is embedded as a subsystem within the natural system. People create their world through the choices they make.
