Hexagram 14 - The Great Possessing

The great possessing.

Manifesting the spirit.

Nurturing the spiritual growth of all.

 

Structure: 

·          Within dwells the firmness and power of the Creative 1.   On the outside 7, clarity and understanding prevail.  Inward strength, outward clarity. 

·          The empty line occupies the honored place and possesses all the strong lines.

Image:  The sun in the sky shines far and on everything, causing all to become visible in the light. 

Time:  The hexagram marks the time when inner strength to benefit all has the support of wisdom.  Power expresses itself wisely and gently, which supremely benefits all. 

The spirit blesses all.  Being and the unobscured spirit unite. All creation accord with the spirit.  Those open to its way find meaning and great joy.  Great blessings flow from the time and situation.  Selflessness holds together the strong creative forces, which express their power with simple gentleness and firm resolve.

The Creative loves the Earth and all life, its blessing extending to all just as the sun shines upon everything. The Creative only commands humanity to care for each other and the Earth. Fulfilling this responsibility requires a firm inner resolve to benefit all.  People obey the spiritual command by their quality of living the spiritual path.  The sage accords with the spirit and brings to life its ways.

Inner Practice:  Presence is the open awareness of the Creative within experience.  The sun brings to the light what causes suffering and what benefits all.  Inwardly, the sage subdues what harms and nurtures what furthers life and the Earth.  As soon as negative or self-cherishing feelings arise, we drop the story and hold the feelings within presence of the spirit.  When beneficial feelings and thoughts arise, the sage cultivates them, obeying the spirit and finding happiness in following the Way. We are called to uncompromisingly disentangle our lives from what harms.  Remaining conscious of the many difficulties we must overcome keeps us free of arrogance and persistent in following the spirit.

With a lucid mind, the sage discerns principles clearly and thoroughly, seeking truth with understanding, taking to whatever benefits all, reforming every fault, daily renewing itself.  Those with inner strength have a firm mind with a far-reaching will.  They cultivate every path and establish every virtue.[1]  The wise grow increasingly aware and effective as their wisdom grows.  We all make mistakes, but the wise simply recognize the fault and resolve to remedy it.

Practice in the world:  Manifesting the spirit within the world[2] depends upon sages fulfilling their responsibility to extend their blessings to all.  They do this by letting their spiritual treasures flow through them to others. The sage selflessly uses its great spiritual possession to serve creation. 

The belief that we somehow have earned the blessings we receive obstructs the spirit from flowing through us.  The wise avoid the distinction between mine and thine.  Blessings considered private property cannot endure.  Great possessions harm the petty because, instead of blessing others, those who self-cherish keep the blessings of creation for themselves. They selfishly give in order to gain and use their wealth to enhance themselves, unwilling to offer what they have received for the good of all.

Sages partner and cooperate with others to share the blessings of the spirit within the world. This work depends upon having partners equal to the task, those who understand the true purpose of life.  Collectively we can share the great responsibilities of stopping what harms and promote the ways of the spirit within the world.

The treasure:  The wise find happiness by fulfilling humanity’s sacred responsibility to stop what harms and to promote what benefits all, the true purpose and meaning of our lives.  Acting upon this spiritual responsibility is a great treasure to which no material possession can compare.  Without this direction, our lives feel empty.  When we try to fill this emptiness with anything other than our spiritual calling, we create suffering for ourselves and others.

Thus, the sage creates the conditions for possessing a great inward treasure, which it shares with all beings. Like the sun in the sky, the wisdom of the sage shines on everything, covers everything. All things come to the selfless and kind.  Their success in fulfilling heaven’s demand depends upon their firm determination and intelligent response to situations in a wise and gentle manner.

Sages with a great spiritual treasure employ strength and clarity together.  They daily renew their many blessings by acting with unobstructed knowing and strength to benefit all.  Such is the way of the spirit.

 

Line 1:  The sage has just begun to manifest within the world its spiritual treasures.  It has not yet made any missteps nor received any challenges.  It has no relationship with what harms.  Yet the line knows it will have to overcome the many difficulties ahead of it.  Great possession in a lowly place attracts danger; thus, the line remains mindful of these difficulties and avoids the mistakes of getting entangled in what harms. 

Line 2:  The wise practice the spiritual path and become a sage. The line removes the domination of its self-cherishing and hostility.

 Line 3:  Sages offer their talents and resources to benefit all as they do not regard their blessings as their own.  This attitude ensures continued blessings.  By serving the ways of the spirit, sages dissolve the barriers between experience and spirit.

The selfish harm themselves by keeping the blessings they receive as their own and give merely for the desire of gain. They think they have what they have not, glorifying themselves as gods. They oppose the spirit and will not serve it.

Luke 17:3: “Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it; and whosever loses his life will preserve it.”

 

Line 4:  Opposition surrounds the line, a dangerous position.  The line focuses on its work and shuns the temptation to conflict with others, remaining devoted to benefiting all.  The sage withstands criticism of others and stays with the path that benefits all.

Line 5:  The honored sage remains modest and true.  It moves the other lines to have confidence in the spiritual path and develops others by example.  Others willingly cooperate to benefit all as they have a mutual desire to manifest the spirit within the world. 

Line 6:  The top line, at the peak of illumination and understanding, does not hold on to its blessings but gives what it has.  It makes the virtues of the spiritual path its own and esteems the wise.  By this means it puts itself under the beneficent influence and protection of the spirit. 

Confucius: “To bless means to help.  Heaven helps those who are devoted.  Others help those who are true.  Those who walk in truth and are devoted in their thinking and who revere the worthy are blessed by heaven.  All they do furthers the good.” 

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[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.