Yi: mouth, jaws, cheeks, chin; swallow, take in, ingest; feed, nourish, sustain, rear.
Ideogram: open mouth.
Structure:
· Above 4 mountain stillness. Below 2 thunder and action.
· Stillness nurtures action. Action manifests stillness. Action and stillness unified.
Image: An open mouth. The lower jaw moves while the upper jaw remains
immobile.
The spirit and Earth create life and nourish all beings so
that each gains what it needs physically and spiritually. Earth nourishes us with food, air, water, land,
a body filled with life, and all manner of material gifts. The spirit blesses us with the Way of
humanity[1]
and gives our life meaning and direction, only asking in return that we care
for each other and the Earth.
The hexagram offers guidance on the human role in social and
spiritual nourishment. The humane manner
for providing nourishment depends upon us being in harmony with what benefits
all. The spirit and Earth bring forth
and nourish the myriad beings. Sages
nourish the wise and through them extend their benefits to all.
Nourish being
A beginning practice that
continues throughout the path is to be moderate and thoughtful about the food
we eat. We have been conditioned to enjoy food sensations rather than to
consider how these foods affect our health or how much suffering was caused to
produce them. Animal abuse, starvation,
malnutrition, destruction of habitat and pollution of water and land are all
caused by the industrialized food system, yet we ignore the great suffering of
our food system and eat ourselves into chronic health conditions because of
them. As we continue on the path, we
persistently lose our ignorance and find ways to nourish our health in ways to
reduce the harm we cause while increasing how our food choices benefit others.
Humans eat other life forms to
sustain our lives. It becomes our
responsibility to acknowledge the suffering we cause other life forms whom we
kill or enslave for our benefit and to find ways to reduce the suffering we
cause. In this way, the simple daily act
of eating itself becomes a spiritual practice.
People further nourish their health with shelter and clothing, rest and activity, yet these basics are carried to the extreme within unequal societies. The attraction of worldly concerns and the 10,000 things weaken our resolve to remain aware of what is important in life. This flow of external stimulation feeds our fears, greed, hatred, despair, and confusion, muddying our consciousness.
The wise follow the middle way,
balancing their material existence with that of the spiritual, living a life of
simplicity in harmony with the Earth.
We obtain this balance by being thoughtful and careful how we feed our
senses and thoughts.
How we feed our minds greatly affects our lives. Flooding our minds with worldly concerns
entangle us in them and shape our beliefs, attitudes and behavior. The wise distance themselves from worldly
concerns and open their minds to what is truly important in life through study
and practice.
The wise guard against filling their awareness with what
causes them to lose faith in their path and practice. The inner path leads through the world, but
the world [2]
does not overwhelm those devoted to the Way.
Yet if we can see through these delusionary struggles, the lessons will
nourish our development and teach us how to move through these difficulties in
ways that manifest our devotion to caring for all and the Earth.
Spiritual nourishment
We must intentionally choose the
spiritual path and resolutely move toward it. No one can do this for us. The default of not making this choice is to
live the conditioned life of worldly concerns.[3]
Because people find what they
seek, the wise seek the Way of humanity.
In stillness, we develop within our being what benefits all so that it
may flourish within our lives. Through conscious effort we escape our
conditioning by repeatedly turning away from what harms and developing the
capacities to manifest the spirit within the world.
Studying what the works of
accomplished sages of the past and living masters nourishes our practice. In this age we have wide access to their
works. Yet only through our own efforts
can we cultivate our spiritual being. We
need to practice what we learn and make it our own. Just going through the motions of what we
have been told to do leads nowhere.
Mind training through a regular practice of meditation
develop the capacities to hold feelings and thoughts with presence and to open
to spiritual wisdom. Within meditation
we can develop the skills we need to refrain from what harms and to move toward
loving interbeing.
Nourish Others and the World
We live within the interconnected web of life. The moment is the sacred altar upon which we place our offerings. The wise carefully consider what they offer. Commonly, we fill the moment with our aversions and resentments, our desires and wants, our fears and dread. The sage offers love.
Sages nourish and uplift others on
the path to extend their benefits to all.
Once sages have completed the spiritual path, they have the ability and responsibility
to guide others to do the same. Through nourishing
and developing others, the sage comes to fully realize the Way of humanity. The more others draw from the completed sage,
the more the sage has.
Sages live within the temple of
the moment and worship the sacred through how they live. In action, the sage practices what benefits
all.
To know someone, we need only observe on whom and what they
bestow their care and which sides of their own nature they nourish. The wise evaluate their practice and duty by
observing whether what they feed their senses leads to real knowledge and lucid
perception. They discern how they
nourish themselves and others by seeing how they avoid cultivating harmful
conditioned behaviors while nurturing those behaviors that will benefit
all. We are what we seek – worldly
concerns or the Way of humanity.
Lines: Bottom three lines nourish the body. The upper lines nourish virtue and justice.
Line 1: The line can live independently and
positively, yet it renounces this self-reliance, which goes against the Way. Discontent and envy of others in better
circumstances beset the line. The strong
and capable line acts in error, relying on others and the world for nourishment
rather than nourishing its own spiritual development. It nourishes worldly
concerns and loses spiritual fulfillment.
The line cannot contain its desires and continues to rely
upon the spiritual nourishment from others.
It wants to rise and delights in what it desires. It goes to the trough with the others,
arousing the contempt of the wise.
The firm and intelligent line has talent and wisdom
sufficient to nourish what benefits all.
The wise do not seek the external but nourish themselves inwardly. Yet this line succumbs to the temptations of
what the undeveloped feed upon. The line
is stirred by desires for worldly concerns.
The sage lives like a spiritual tortoise, who lives on
breath and goes without eating. Its
clear wisdom does not seek outside nourishment.
Line 2: Normally, people provide for their own
nourishment or receive nourishment from others in a proper manner from those
who have the duty and privilege to provide it for them. This line, weak in spirit, cannot support
itself. It feels uneasy because it has
shirked the proper way of obtaining a living and accepts favors from those in
higher places. This unworthy behavior
deviates from the line’s true nature and leads to misfortune if persisted in.
The weak line depends upon others to nourish it from sources
unrelated to it or from those that it should nourish.
Line 3: Those who seek nourishment that does not
nourish reel from desire to gratification and in gratification crave
desire. Mad pursuit of pleasure for the
sake of the senses never brings one to the goal. Nothing good comes from this path.
The line seeks personal advantage from the privileges of its
status and acts immorally. The line is even
unaware that there is a spiritual path it should cultivate.
The right way of nourishment seeks what nourishes the spirit
within and nourishes others according to duty.
Nourishing enlightened qualities perfects character.
The line represents the extreme of only having concern for
material gain and not for the essence of life.
Benefiting the self does not nourish living in harmony with the
spirit. The line does not know what and
how to nourish. This line represents
folly and ignorance and ends up wasting its life.
Line 4: The line occupies a high position and strives
to let its light shine forth. It needs
helpers because it cannot attain its lofty aim alone. The wise keep a lookout for the right people,
a blameless behavior as the effort benefits all.
The line has great responsibilities that it cannot fulfill
on its own. It seeks wise and capable
people from below, and thus all benefit.
The line has the dignity and spiritual attainment to avoid the contempt of
its peers for turning to the less powerful for nourishment.
Those in a high position must have ability, virtue, and the
respect of others to carry out what needs to be done with the cooperation of
the people. If those without power have
contempt for those who govern, the society suffers from disunity and discord.
Line 5:
The line knows that that it should nourish others, but it
does not have the strength to do so. It
seeks counsel from those more spiritually advanced but who are undistinguished
outwardly. As long as the line remains aware of its dependence, it desists from
promoting itself or acting on its own.
The line devotedly places itself below the spirit and wise
teachers. Thus, the line overcomes its
weaknesses and remains steadfast and upright.
The line submits to this guidance because it knows its weaknesses and
its difficulties in handling dangerous situations.
Line 6: The line remains aware of the dangers
inherent in its responsible position. It
mentors the 5th line, the ruler.
With firmness abiding in flexibility and resting in the
proper place, the line nourishes the its being and benefits the world. The line transmutes conditioned reality and
rests in the highest good, unconstrained by adversity or preference.
The line represents a highly developed sage from whom
emanates all influences that provide nourishment for others. Such a position brings heavy responsibility,
of which the line remains mindful. It
thus can confidently undertake even great and difficult labors to benefit all.
The line has the responsibility for those in the position to lead others. It exerts itself to the full. Many depend upon its wisdom to solve the problems of the world and make it safe.
[1] The Way of humanity shapes our behavior, aligning 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 conduct that benefits all. The Tao transforms life so that each attains its true nature and achieves its potential according to its being, which we call justice. The Tao perseveringly brings all beings into the great harmony of interbeing, which we call wisdom, and separates what endures from what perishes. The sage finds enduring joy in obeying the sacred commands to overcome their conditioned tendencies and to manifest the sacred within the world. Suffering ends when we have the lived experience that our being and the other are the same and that all experiences emerges from the sacred mystery.
[2] World does not refer to nature but to how people live within nature. 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.
[3] Worldly concerns are the ways in which the selfish willingly harm others for self-benefit and then ignore the suffering they cause. Selfish individuals seek power and domination over others and willingly use violence to do so. The selfish accumulate wealth through the unlimited exploitation and ultimate destruction of people, other life forms, and the Earth. The selfish believe themselves superior to others and express their self-cherishing through patriarchy, discrimination, and subjugation, willing to use violence to protect their rung within the hierarchy and to support the powerful. The selfish consume as much as they can and seek constant distractions for the pleasures they derive from their addictions.
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