Gen: Bound, limit, frontier; obstacle that prevents from seeing further; stop, still quiet, motionless; confine, enclosure; mountain, sunset, beginning of winter; solid, steady, stable, unshakable; heavy; straight, hard, adamant, obstinate; completing a cycle.
Structure: The top 4 has stopped, and the bottom 4 is still. Inwardly still and outwardly still.
Image: Mountain, mountain range.
Action: Stop, bring or come to a standstill, cease, terminate.
Ideogram: A foot stops walking.
Time: In the Chinese calendar, the trigram Mountain 4 marks the beginning of winter and the end of a cycle. The trigram represents the mysterious place where all things begin and end, where death and birth pass one into the other. The situation describes a limit or boundary, the end of cycle, a time to stop, reflect and prepare for the transition to a new phase. Active life comes to rest, a rest that allows energies to concentrate into the seed of a beginning.
True quiet means keeping still when the time has come to keep still and going forward when the time has come to go forward. Stillness and movement agree with the demands of the time, bringing light to life.
The final achievement of spiritual development comes only when we can rest in the realm of the ultimate good within both stillness and in action. Sages know where to stop, gently coming to rest within the sacred unbounded moment. Nothing restricts the actions of sages as they are at one with the spirit, the Tao.
Self and Other: The loss of our resting place within the spirit gives rise to the experience of self as an individual and of the other. When aware of self and others, the undeveloped do not know where to stop as they get lost in the 10,000 things even if they should want to stop. Selfishness focuses our attention onto whatever urges and thoughts bubble into consciousness.
The wise stay aware of the moment and of sameness even if in the midst of the world.[1] They still their self-cherishing so that they no longer have the awareness of themselves and the other, between inside and outside. Within stillness, the sage does not sense external things; thus, reactive feelings do not arise. Without a self or other, the mind rests within the spirit. The “I” disappears, and the sage begins to view the deeper layers of its being, an internal experiencing that encompasses all.
With an inner calm, the selfish individual transforms into interbeing. The sage no longer perceives a tumult and struggle of individuals. With this kind of mind, the wise understand the great laws of the universe and the ways to act in harmony with them. Whoever acts from these deep levels makes no mistakes.
Practice: An activated self-cherishing finds no place to rest. It cannot keep still because of the constant dissatisfaction with experience, which gives rise to reactive feelings and thoughts. Forcibly subduing this restlessness leads to unwholesome results, just as fire when smothered changes into suffocating smoke. When compulsive urges and fearful worries burn within, those who force the practice of keeping still cause harm to themselves.
The wise nurture an inner stilling by calming themselves, discerning the good, and holding fast to it. When resting with the spirit, interbeing arises: no self, no other. Only through selflessness and the spirit can we stop and forget our individualism. The wise ask themselves how they can best serve the moment, knowing their well-being depends upon that of others.
The wise do not stimulate self-cherishing reactions of wanting and attractions to worldly concerns.[2] Instead, they turn inward toward the spirit. Through this gradual practice, being stops at the unseen, and self-cherishing no longer disturbs the calm mind. Stillness arises out of selflessness and understanding the sameness of all and the sacred within the moment.
Stillness and Action: Urges and feelings keep us agitated when we do not have the capacity or inclination to simply resist them. The heart-mind thinks constantly: we cannot change this, but the movements of the heart should restrict itself to the actual lived experience. All thinking that goes over the past and beyond the present only makes the heart sore. We experience danger when fearful worries burn the heart.
The final achievement comes when being stably rests in the realm of the loving moment, free of the self. Those who fully rest there can then turn with an open heart to interbeing and helping others on the path. They can manifest the spirit within the world. Sages no longer strive as they have consummated the path and now rest within their being, regarding life and the moment as sacred.
Both action and stillness have their proper place and time. Through stillness, the sage develops the abode of rest. In action, the sage tests the abode of rest. Inside and outside have the same stillness, both staying in the same place without shifting. Action and stillness are one continuum. Then stillness does not become empty inactivity, and action does not turn into unbridled confusion.
The wise stop at the unseen, and nothing disturbs the mind. We achieve stillness by resting the mind, not the body. The actions of the sage have the direction of the spirit, not worldly concerns: the stillness of action. Either active or still, the sage inwardly rests within the spirit.
We must close the gates for the internal vision to occur. And, in keeping still, raise up the mountains within us. Although we rest a moment, it is neither death nor cessation, but a transition from old to new. Whether the future brings hardships and battles, whether it brings dangers, or urges to us sometimes to remove the wagon’s axletree, do not become discouraged or despondent. Instead, we want to keep free of the unrest such dangers might produce. In fact, we should confront the divine moments of the inner vision time and time again, because they bring rest, which is life-producing, and bring result in concentrating creative tension.
Richard Wilhelm, Lectures on the I Ching
Line 1: The line halts before it has even begun to move, remaining innocent as at the beginning it has not made mistakes. It sees things intuitively as they are because it has not been affected by external influences, which obscures our understanding with interests and preferences.
Those who halt at the beginning, who have not abandoned truth, find the right way. The wise keep from drifting irresolutely by their persisting firmness. The line does not become impatient but perseveres in keeping still.
The weak line at the bottom stops because it understands the timeliness of not acting. It first wants to gain insights into what the situation needs. Even though it stops, it remains steadfast and does not lose sight of the way.
Line 2: The line serves one stronger than it, one who moves powerfully down the path of wrongdoing. The line gets swept along by it even if the line does not itself do wrong. It cannot stop the other. When strong others press forward, the weak line despite its good intentions cannot rescue them.
The correct and central line wants to rescue itself and the extremely restless 3rd line, which it follows. The third line does not listen, which saddens the 2nd line. The line has attained the way of stopping, but it has no help from others.
The 2nd line cannot act freely because of its attachment to the 3rd line, just as when the thigh moves the calf must follow. The 3rd line controls its movement and stopping. The 2nd line can only encourage the 3rd line to do better, but it cannot act on its own.
When words are not heard, the other does not practice the path. The line has a heavy heart because it cannot fulfill its purpose as it has no help from those with understanding.
Line 3: The line indicates danger and confinement. Forcing stillness in this situation causes danger. When the strong lack flexibility and impulsively act without restraint, they know only how to go forward and not how to withdraw or adapt. It destroys their strength, and they stop only when forced. This is forced stopping of the strong in the midst of making a forced effort.
This line craves victory and quick success. The situation stops those making such a forced effort. The line, fixed at one point, stops with extreme decisiveness without adapting to the situation or the time. This forced stillness causes contradictions in how it responds to what arises both within and in the world
When we use force to stop the natural movements of thoughts to obtain a quiet heart, the feelings embodied in these thoughts move wildly and overwhelm us, causing a great distress and leading to unwholesome results. Fire when smothered changes into acrid smoke that suffocates as it spreads.
When we stubbornly hold our position, opposed by others, we struggle and stumble.Anger and fear inflames the heart. The wise do not force meditation results. True calm arises naturally out of a state of inner composure.
Line 4: The weak line in a weak place serves another weak line. In the time of keeping still, the line knows how to restrain itself at the right time. Although the line cannot stop others, it can stop itself. The line can improve itself but not others. It does not rely upon others to fulfill its responsibilities.
Forgetting the self is the highest stage of rest. Here, the line has not yet achieved this level. It can rest its thoughts and impulse, but it has not yet released itself from the self’s dominance. Yet keeping the heart at rest is an important accomplishment, which leads to the complete elimination of the self’s negativity and pleasure seeking.
Line 5: The wise speak so as to benefit the world and to teach others the Path. The line encourages others through speech to develop their virtue even if itself cannot act.
In difficulties, those inadequate to the situation may speak injudiciously. They talk to cover up their anxieties and create harm through what they say. They will have much cause for regret.
The words of the sage take definite form. When we can remain reserved in speech and stop ourselves from talking without a beneficial purpose, then regret vanishes.
Line 6: The line, the firmest solid line in stopping, does not go too far. This strong line exerts the most strength in stopping.
The line represents the culmination of the effort to attain calm. The line rests within the small matters of life but also in the acceptance of life as a whole, no longer seeing life as a struggle. This way confers peace and efficacy in relation to every individual matter.
This highest line has intrinsic light. The line does not strive further upward but quietly stays in its place. Because it comes to rest, it has full efficacy. It completely rests in the realm of the ultimate good, that which benefits all.
Many find it hard to persevere in stopping because they lose their discipline or get entangled in the self and things go to ruin over the long run. The wise persist in quieting the self. They maintain firmness in stopping the self through discipline, control, and care for details. The sage remains earnest to the end.
[1] World does not refer to nature but to how people live within nature. The world – civilization, culture, history, society, beliefs, worldly influences – is embedded as a subsystem within the natural system.
[2] Worldly concerns: praise becomes blame, pleasure becomes pain, fame becomes obscurity, gain becomes loss. We seek praise, pleasure, fame, and gain, but experience blame, pain, obscurity, and loss.
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