#hexagram 1

Michel Gall in I Ching, the Chinese bible is usually succinct in his statements. On this occasion, it's a comment on hexagram Chien The Creative (1) of The Book of Changes when completely changing to Kun The Receptive (2):

✨ Synthesis ✨

The sequence  talks about combining opposites, the strong with the weak, hard with soft, so an energic and severe action is effective being light and agile at the same time. There's no adjective to characterize this because it is defined by both negativity and positivity,  and things are moving as much as resting.

In a transformation combining forces, a state of complete receptivity inside holds a disposition to a total domination that might turn visibly at any moment.

Quintessential light, life, strength, creativity. Indomitable.

6 Dragon unbalanced, too proud, too strong, too stiff; there is cause for regret.

5 Dragon in the sky, bringing balance to the world: follow your own kind.

4 Dragon in the nest, waiting for the right moment: make a careful choice.

3 Work away the day, keep watch through the night: look with- in, become faultless.

2 Dragon in the field, balanced and correct: seek wis- dom in great men.

1 Dragon in the egg at the beginning of strength: don’t spread wings too soon.

Hexagram 1: Six yang lines — total creative energy, day, sun, active, male, questing, firm… an expansive series of polar opposites unfold, the foundations of Chinese folk wisdom, religion, aesthetics, astrology, medicine, alchemy…

In some traditional approaches, Hexagram 1 is one’s first lesson in the philosophical underpinnings of the I Ching, and a model for all that follows. Chih-hsu Ou-i, writing in the late 18th Century CE, offers no less than 10 interpretive perspectives on this hexagram alone. The lesson: the interpretative process is dynamic and conditional, depending on the nature and state of the querent and the query. One must enter into the interpretation as an active participant, a willing student, rather than a passive observer. This is not fortune-telling. You must work toward understanding and put the lessons to use in your own life.

Dragons — the quintessential symbol of Asian culture, appear here for the only time in the I Ching (aside from a brief mention in Hexagram 2). The dragons’ progress illustrated in the first hexagram is repeated, with many variations, in the remaining 63. Line one shows a hidden dragon, at the beginning of strength, just entering into a situation. The lines indicate developmental steps, culminating in the stagnation that comes from a failing to change with the times.

Hexagram 1 is quite unbalanced — too much Yang energy grows expansively self-confident, sclerotic, superficial, trusting far too much on the apparent at the expense of the latent.  One may set things in motion for good or otherwise. The outcome is never clear.

A slightly more pop-cultural rendition of the overall judgement:

Attend to neither that big bright screen nor the little man behind the curtain. See beyond structure.

Line 4 is variously interpreted as a “dragon in the nest” or “in the abyss” or simply “leaping,” perhaps testing its wings for the first time. I am amused by that leaping young dragon:

  Quintessential light, life, strength, creativity. Indomitable.

6 Dragon unbalanced, too proud, too strong, too stiff; there is cause for regret.

5 Dragon in the sky, bringing balance to the world: follow your own kind.

4 Dragon in the nest, waiting for the right moment: make a careful choice.

3 Work away the day, keep watch through the night: look with- in, become faultless.

2 Dragon in the field, balanced and correct: seek wis- dom in great men.

1 Dragon in the egg at the beginning of strength: don’t spread wings too soon.

Hexagram 1: Six yang lines — total creative energy, day, sun, active, male, questing, firm… an expansive series of polar opposites unfold, the foundations of Chinese folk wisdom, religion, aesthetics, astrology, medicine, alchemy…

In some traditional approaches, Hexagram 1 is one’s first lesson in the philosophical underpinnings of the I Ching, and a model for all that follows. Chih-hsu Ou-i, writing in the late 18th Century CE, offers no less than 10 interpretive perspectives on this hexagram alone. The lesson: the interpretative process is dynamic and conditional, depending on the nature and state of the querent and the query. One must enter into the interpretation as an active participant, a willing student, rather than a passive observer. This is not fortune-telling. You must work toward understanding, and put the lessons to use in your own life.

Dragons — the quintessential symbol of Asian culture, appear here for the only time in the I Ching (aside from a brief mention in Hexagram 2). The dragons’ progress illustrated in the first hexagram is repeated, with many variations, in the remaining 63. Line one shows a hidden dragon, at the beginning of strength, just entering into a situation. The lines indicate developmental steps, culminating in the stagnation that comes from a failing to change with the times.

Hexagram 1 is quite unbalanced — too much Yang energy grows expansively self-confident, sclerotic, superficial, trusting far too much on the apparent at the expense of the latent.  One may set things in motion for good or otherwise. The outcome is never clear.

A slightly more pop-cultural rendition of the overall judgement:

Attend to neither that big bright screen nor the little man behind the curtain. See beyond structure.

Line 4 is variously interpreted as a “dragon in the nest” or “in the abyss” or simply “leaping,” perhaps testing its wings for the first time. I am amused by that leaping young dragon: