The Wing of the I Ching describing the Sequence of Hexagrams, the Xugua, generally has a laconic style, sometimes saying scarcely more than, ‘this hexagram is bound to follow from that one.’ But there’s an exception to this when you arrive at Hexagram 31, Influence.
This is the first hexagram of the Lower Canon, and the author takes this opportunity to describe not just how Influence follows from Clarity, but how one thing following from another creates all the kinds of relationship:
“There are heaven and earth, and so there are the ten thousand things.
There are the ten thousand things, and so there are man and woman.
There are man and woman, and so there are husband and wife.
There are husband and wife, and so there are father and son.
There are father and son, and so there are leader and servant.
There are leader and servant, and so there are above and below.
There are above and below, and so there can be rules of worship and righteousness.”
This introduces a whole society founded on ‘above and below’, on hierarchy, so it seems odd to quote it and mention ‘holism’ in the same breath. But there’s a core idea here that’s shared by William Bloom, writing (in Soulutions) that,
“All through nature and the universe, new elements are continually being birthed – people, plants, stars, ideas, atoms, particles, waves – and they do not behave chaotically. There is an unseen dynamic, an attractor, a propellant that always draws these new and diverse elements together. The new organisms, the new bits and pieces, self-catalyse to create coherent systems. They do not remain disorganized and disconnected. They emerge, connect and form wholes.”
“All through nature and the universe, new elements are continually being birthed”; “there are heaven and earth, and so there are the ten thousand things”. The writer of the Sequence is recapitulating his opening words, with which he introduced Hexagram 3 and the world of ‘Sprouting’ things that fill the space of heaven and earth to overflowing. He and Bloom alike are marvelling at the plenitude of creation and the emergent order they see within it. (Their ideas of the nature of that order are different; they share the idea that there is one.)
And the Xugua draws attention to the role of Hexagram 31: it is that ‘unseen dynamic’ of attraction. In readings it represents inner influence, the experience of being inwardly moved and drawn into relationship. It’s also the traditional hexagram of attraction and engagement.
The first thing to arise from the ten thousand things is man and woman, and from them comes partnership, husband and wife. I think this gives a robust answer to the question, ‘What does marriage represent in the I Ching?’ It’s the initial connection that makes a world of experience, creation relationship and harmony possible. ‘Take a wife’ (hexagram 31): actively seek out and participate in a new connection. ‘Marry’ as a woman (as in 11.5): enter into a world of relationships where you belong.
Hi Hilary,
Thanks for responding to my question! Although I didn’t state it explicitly, I was wondering if the authors viewed marriage as a model for other relationships. You seem to have intuited where I was going with this quite well. Thanks again!
Eric
Thanks for asking it!
Of course, chasing after what the original authors thought is a potentially endless hunt (how would you know when you’d “got it”?), so I always write more about what seems to me to work in divination now. But I do remember learning that ‘husband and wife’ could routinely be used to represent ‘king and minister’.
Yes, I agree that learning from your own experience with divination is crucial. As you know, many parts of the text reveal their meaning much more readily when they are encountered in reference to some real-life issue that one is working through (though some may consider this too subjective). This is one reason why I think that the academic treatment of the text, while certainly valuable, has its limitations. Unless one is willing to spend the time working through real-life issues with the Yi as a guide it is unlikely that one would ever truly grasp the essentials. How would you know when you “got it”? Perhaps the Yi can tell you. 🙂
Thanks.
Eric
And that needs engraving somewhere, or printing in big letters on the front of every translation, or something. Nothing substitutes for that uncanny experience of having the ground taken from under your feet again…
Uncanny indeed….
Thank you I Ching- always always, #31, the sweet and essential relationship
Even when I was really young, I had the sense that a given answer was always multifacted.
But specifically, this matter–can taking a wife, as in #31 or #44 mean other than actually getting married, to a woman?Of course.
A new situation, taking something or someone new on in life trying to *attract* someone or something etc.
When I was about 16 or so I always felt that the I Ching was trying to answer me as best it could with what it had.:-)
I’m not saying that that is the truth or the actual way it does work, but it does seems that if I ask about a relationship, and received an answer about harvesting, or asked about a job, and received an answer about marraige. that the Sage of the I Ching was trying to present images to me to show me my situation–rather like dream- like abstract images are formed.
I think your 16-year-old self had the right idea. I’d add that the images offered are good for thinking in: marrying your job, reaping a harvest from a well-grown relationship – these things shake the mind out of its usual rut.