37. Chia Jen / The Family [The Clan]

rosada · Jan 21, 2008

37. Chia Jen / The Family [The Clan]

-----
----- above SUN THE GENTLE, WIND
-- --
-----
-- -- below LI THE CLINGING, FIRE
-----

This hexagram represents the laws obtaining within the family. The strong line at the top represents the father, the lowest the son. The strong line in the fifth place represents the husband, the yielding second line the wife. On the other hand, the two strong lines in the fifth and the third place represent two brothers, and the two weak lines correlated with them in the fourth and the second line place stand for their respective wives. Thus all the connections and relationships within the family find their appropriate expression. Each individual line has the character according with its place. The fact that a strong line occupies the sixth place - where a weak line might be expected - indicates very clearly the strong leadership that must come from the head of the family. The line is to be considered here not in its quality as the sixth but in its quality as the top line. THE FAMILY shows the laws operative within the household that, transferred to outside life, keep the state and the world in order.

The influence that goes out from within the family is represented by the symbol of the wind created by fire.

The rulers of the hexagram are the nine in the fifth place and the six in the second, hence it is said in the commentary on the decision: "The correct place of the woman is within; the correct place of the man is without."

THE SEQUENCE
He who is injured without, of a certainty draws back into the family.

Miscellaneous Notes
THE FAMILY is inside.

The upper trigram Sun means influence, the lower, Li, means clarity; accordingly the hexagram points to the outgoing influence that emanates from inner clarity.
-Wilhelm

Sparhawk · Jan 21, 2008

Tohpol · Jan 21, 2008

Thought I'd post some of Michael Graeme's I Ching Notes on 37. I think he has a light touch:

37

When we have overreached ourselves and suffered injury, we
are naturally inclined to return home, or to whatever it is that
grounds us in reality. So, after a time of Darkening o f the
Light, there follows The Household or The Family. After
suffering injury or humiliation in the greater world, the family
is the one place we can turn to where we might expect to be
received unconditionally for who we are, rather than for who
we are trying to be.

In ancient China the relationships, the order and the discipline
within a household, among family members, was seen as a
model for governing the state. In order to correct problems of
state, first everything in the household needed to be correct. If

society irretrievably breaks down at the family level, then the
state is doomed to fail regardless of the policies it adopts.
In personal terms this means that by returning to the key values
of openness, love and sincerity, it is possible to create harmony
in any situation, as a woman creates harmony in a well run
household b y exercising gentleness and an ability to nurture
those around her.

The message is that we must look to the inner woman,
regardless of our physical gender, and cultivate the feminine
qualities of receptivity and perseverance in our trust of the
unknown, rather than pursue external goals by force or in an
otherwise masculine manner. We may have recently suffered
injury or humiliation and we are not presently possessed of
sufficient wisdom and clarity in order impose a proper
direction on things. Instead, we must seek to ensure that the
truths we adhere to, or the foundation of our being, is correct.

Only by nurturing our ability to trust in the unknown can we
hope to win any lasting external influence. The writer who
does not know what he is talking about will have less influence
than the one who does. Before we can achieve such a position,
our words must be based upon something so lid, as a flame
depends for light upon its fuel. Words must be supported by
our conduct, by our inner conviction, otherwise how are we to
be believed?

Here we must be content to take the back seat for a while and
seek to reconnect, to nurture once more our sense of inner
truth. The ego might grow impatient but we must resist the
nagging temptation to get on and achieve something. Holding
to the sense of inner truth is sufficient for it to penetrate to
others and then our words will carry meaning.

__________

Topal

ravenstar · Jan 22, 2008

Wow! Thanks for posting this topal. I enjoyed reading Michael Graeme's I Ching Notes.

A song that came to my mind is the song by John Denver, "Sweet Surrender"

There's a spirit that guides me, a light that shines for me.
My life is worth livin', I don't need to see the end.
Sweet, sweet surrender...
Live, live without a care
Like a fish in the water
Like a bird in the air....

Surrender doesn't mean we give up or quit. It means we've let go of any emotional attachment. When we run into our mother's arms, for a time we feel loved, secure, a part of a family. We stop worrying and suddenly a big weight is taken off our shoulders. Our mind is set free, we trust again, which also helps to open the lines of communication between our inner and outer selves.

ravenstar

dobro p · Jan 22, 2008

I got just the one thing to say about 37: I think it ought not to be restricted to the idea of the family in the genetic sense only (although it can apply to that, for sure); it can also apply to any inner group of which you are a belonging, participating member. Inner group.

Trojina · Jan 22, 2008

dobro said:
I got just the one thing to say about 37: I think it ought not to be restricted to the idea of the family in the genetic sense only (although it can apply to that, for sure); it can also apply to any inner group of which you are a belonging, participating member. Inner group.

Agreed. Also it often refers to your inner sense of home purely within your self - not relating to actual others at all

frank_r · Jan 22, 2008

37 the Clan, the Family.

37 is one of the 12 karmic hexagrams, and belong together with 39,53 to 64.
64 is one of the 4 kosmic hexagrams.
37 has in this sense a connection with the stomach meridian in acupuncture.

The stomach energy is at it's highest level between 7 and 9 in the morning.
The stomach is the energy in the body that has a very yang force. It has to digest everything that has been eaten so it has no mercy with the food that it is eating. Because digestion is in that way a destruction from the old and reconcontruction of something new. The stomach must think first me, and then the other, otherwise it can not digest something. Somebody with a strong stomach energy is always fit, has a strong and harmonious heartbeat and has a beautiful voice.
Stomach belongs to the element of earth, and a well working family stands always on the Earth

In the family there must also be a hierarchy, the father and the mother are standing above the children in that way. Because when there is no foundation what is good and what is wrong there is chaos in the family. the father and mother have to be the leaders in the family.

In that way it is interesting that 64 is the nucleur hexagram of 37. A family is guiding in new directions but with old values.

Sparhawk · Jan 23, 2008

Just to throw a monkey wrench into this discussion. After raising two children I've learned to loathe Barney...

You'll understand

Tohpol · Jan 23, 2008

sparhawk said:
Just to throw a monkey wrench into this discussion. After raising two children I've learned to loathe Barney... You'll understand

: Family: the ruiner of all things good. (Care of Barney and associated muppet control mechanisms)

Topal

rosada · Jan 24, 2008

THE JUDGEMENT
THE FAMILY. The perseverance of the woman furthers.

The foundation of the familly is the relationship between the husband and wife. The tie that holds the family together lies in the loyalty and perseverance of the wife. Her place is within (second line), while that of the husband is without (fifth line). It is accord with the great laws of nature that husband and wife take their proper places. Within the family a strong authority is needed; this is represented by the parents. If the father is really a father and the son a son, if the elder brother fulfils his position, and the younger fulfils his, if the husband is really a husband and the wife a wife, then the family is in order. When the family is in order, all the social relationships of mankind will be in order.

Three of the five social relationships are to be found within the family - that between father and son, which is the relationship of love, that between husband and wife, which is the relationship of chaste conduct, and that between elder and younger brother, which is the relation of correctness. The loving reverance of the son is then carried over to the prince in the form of faithfulness to duty; the affection and correctness existing between the two brothers are extended to a friend in the form of loyalty, and to a person of wuperior rank in the form of deferance. The family is society in embryo; it is the native soil on which performance of moral duty is made easy through natural affection, so that within a small circle a basis of moral practice is created, and this is later widened to include human relationships in general.

rosada · Jan 24, 2008

Commentary on the Decision

THE FAMILY. the correct place of the woman is within; the correct place of the man is without. That man and woman have their proper places is the greatest concept in nature.

Among the members of the family there are strict rulers; these are the parents. When the father is in truth a father and the son a son; when the elder brother is an elder brother and the younger brother a younger brother, the husband is a husband and the wife a wife, then the house is on the right way.
When your house is set in order, the world is established in a firm course.

While the Judgement speaks only of the perseverance of the woman, because of the fact that the hexagram consists of the two elder daughters, Sun and Li, who are in their proper places - the elder above, the younger below - the commentary is based onthe two rulers of the hexagram, the nine in the fifth place and the six in the second, and speaks accordingly of both man and woman, whose proper places are respectively without and within. These positions of heaven and earth, hence this is called the greatest concept in nature (literally, heaven and earth).
The proper positions of the individual lines have been discussed above, The action of the family on the world corresponds with the action of fire, which creates the wind.
-Wilhelm

charly · Jan 25, 2008

rosada said:
Commentary on the Decision

THE FAMILY. the correct place of the woman is within; the correct place of the man is without. That man and woman have their proper places is the greatest concept in nature.
-Wilhelm

Rosada:

What happened to your post about H.37 as «connecting with the egg - home»?

I'm affraid it could have been censored. I agree very much with you. Furthermore, I believe that W/B concept of the correct place of the woman isn't but a mistake.

If we think a few, the correct place for the MAN is within, and that is what JIA REN is telling us. (1)

Maybe you can be allowed in the boys lobby.

(to be continued, I'm working with the stuff for an alternative etymology of JIA)

Yours,

Charly

___________________________
(1) Help, Luis, this is stronger than me, I cann't resist the tentation.

Sparhawk · Jan 25, 2008

charly said:
___________________________
(1) Help, Luis, this is stronger than me, I cann't resist the tentation.

Sure, go ahead, get me in trouble here with the ladies... :rofl:

rosada · Jan 25, 2008

Thanks Charly,
I deleted it myself! :rofl:

For those who missed it, I was making the argument that 37.Family might best be understood if the sequence 35 - 37 were interpreted thus..

35. Intercourse.
36. A lone sperm making it's way up the tube.
37. Connecting with the egg! Hi Mom, I'm home!

charly · Jan 25, 2008

rosada said:
... 37.Family might best be understood if the sequence 35 - 37 were interpreted thus..
35. Intercourse.
36. A lone sperm making it's way up the tube.
37. Connecting with the egg! Hi Mom, I'm home!

Hi, Rosada:

Chinese script was originally from top to down, Jia Ren is then:

家
人

being:
家jia1: home / family /
人ren2: man / person / people /

The MAN character is like an arrow pointing to HOME
The HOME character is composed of ROOF over a PIG. Here a sample of seal character:

From: http://www.chineseetymology.org/Cha...aspx?characterInput=家&submitButton1=Etymology

Isn't it the shape of a BABY within a WOMB?

The MAN is pointed to HOME, but HOME is yet inhabited by the PIG. You was right, the sperm yet connected with the egg at home.

The house is a well known symbol of mother's body. The pig is a well known symbol of fecondity. Chinese prints of a baby riding a pig are highly frequent.

thus:

Jia = home = house = mother = wife
Ren = man = husband
Pig = baby = fecondity = pregnancy

In the old custom, marriage only take place when the bride got pregnant.

Before to return to the boy's house the girl had some sexual freedom remnant of old communitarian social order. The pregnancy was almost assured and also reasonable genetical diversity.

Among some ethnic minorities the custom survived until not long ago.

To found a family is matter of fecondity and wealth. The promise of FAMILY is getting a profitable woman. (1)

Serious matter not for be taken as joke.

Now, we can see:

Jia = wife, mother, the girl got pregnant
Ren = husband, father, the boy commited with her

There is only a family when there are wife and husband but there is not a wife if not pregnant.

Old customs that challenge new social order ?

Yours,

Charly
____________________
(1) the chinese sentence:

利li4: benefit / profit / profitable
女nu3: female / woman / girl
貞zhen1: perseverance / divination / omen

profitable - woman - omen
OMEN [of getting a] PROFITABLE WOMAN.

I believe it's not about women's constancy.

rosada · Jan 27, 2008

THE IMAGE

Wind comes forth from fire:
The image of THE FAMILY.
Thus the superior man has substance in his words
And duration in his way of life.

Heat creates energy; this is signified by the wind stirred up by the fire and issuing forth from it.

THIS REPRESENTS INFLUENCE WORKING FROM WITHIN OUTWARD.

The same thing is needed in the regulation of the family. Here too the influence on others must proceed from one's own person. In order to be capable of producing such an influence, one's words must have power, and this they can have only if they are based on something real, just as flame depends on its fuel.

Words have influence only when they are pertinent and clearly related to definite circumstances. General discourses and admonitions have no effect whatsoever. Furthermore, the words must be supported by one's entire conduct, just as the wind is made effective by its duration. Only firm and consistent conduct will make such an impression on others that they can adapt and conform to it. If words and conduct are not in accord and not consistent, they will have no effect.

-Wilhelm

rosada · Jan 27, 2008

Wind is an effect of fire. Similarly, the effect of order within the family is to create an influence that brings order into the world. It is achieved when the head of the family has substance to his words, just as flame must rely upon fuel, and duration in his way of life, just as the wind blows without cease.

rosada · Jan 27, 2008

I think 37 makes sence if we consider "The woman" to mean the Unconscious, or the way we respond to Intention.

37 is about making one's words have meaning. A person may say something, but how we respond to it determines if those words make anything happen.

I'm just sort of fussing around with this, I think it will become clearer as we take up the lines individually:

A clear intention is easily understood.
If there are no distractions it is easy to fulfill.
But if there is confusion it is hard to trust.
When the Word and the Meaning are in sync the creative process flows.
Feeling supports intention.
Intention embodys feeling.

toganm · Jan 27, 2008

charly said:
Hi, Rosada:

Chinese script was originally from top to down, Jia Ren is then:

家
人

being:
家jia1: home / family /
人ren2: man / person / people /

The MAN character is like an arrow pointing to HOME
The HOME character is composed of ROOF over a PIG. Here a sample of seal character:

In the old times (and in some places still today) people would keep their animals, like pig, under their houses so they would get the warmth of their animals as way of warming the living area located above. Interestingly the lower trigram is fire, providing warmth.

Togan

rosada · Jan 28, 2008

THE LINES

Nine at the beginning means:

Firm seclusion within the family.
Remorse disappears.

The family must form a well-defined unit within which each member knows his place. From the beginning each child must be accustomed to firmly established rules of order, before ever its will is directed to other things. If we begin too late to enforce order, when the will of the child has already been overindulged, the whims and passions, grown stronger with the years, offer resistance and give cause for remorse. If we insist on order from the outset, occasions for remorse may arise -in general social life these are unavoidable- but the remorse always disappears again, and everything rights itself. For there is nothing more easily avoided and more difficult to carry through than "breaking a child's will."

charly · Jan 28, 2008

toganm said:
In the old times (and in some places still today) people would keep their animals, like pig, under their houses so they would get the warmth of their animals as way of warming the living area located above. Interestingly the lower trigram is fire, providing warmth.
Togan

Togan:

The chinese text:

家jia1: home / family
人ren2: man / person / people
利li4: benefit / profit / profitable
女nu3: female / woman / girl
貞zhen1: chaste / perseverance / divination / ome

... is translated by W/B as

«The perseverance of the woman furthers»,

... maybe it could been translated as:

«Profitable women omen»
or «An omen of gettig a profitable woman»

Maybe more important than women's constancy is women's warmth.

As you say, lower trigram (|<|) is fire. As by W/B uppet trigram is wind (||<), but also could be tree or wood.

W/B say at H.57(||<||<) : «It is the eldest daughter and symbolizes wind or wood; it has for its attribute gentleness, which nonetheless penetrates like the wind or like growing wood with its roots.»

Fire below wood, the image of passion.

Condition of building a home is getting a profitable woman, if you have a profitable woman, you have a home.

Home is:

Inner middle daughter (war, fire, passion, the pig),
Outer eldest daughter (constancy, pepetrating (1), growing, the roof).

Yours,

Charly

toganm · Jan 28, 2008

charly said:
The chinese text:

家jia1: home / family
人ren2: man / person / people
利li4: benefit / profit / profitable
女nu3: female / woman / girl
貞zhen1: chaste / perseverance / divination / ome

... is translated by W/B as
... maybe it could been translated as:

«Profitable women omen»

or «An omen of gettig a profitable woman»

Maybe more important than women's constancy is women's warmth.
.....
Condition of building a home is getting a profitable woman, if you have a profitable woman, you have a home.

Now all women are profitable

. The real question is how one can profit from the virtue of the woman. The virtue being the yin inward, nourishing, nurturing, holding together etc. as yin is the foundation of yang

Togan

Sparhawk · Jan 28, 2008

charly said:
or «An omen of gettig a profitable woman»

Charly

I imagine a pimp (fiolo, Charly) getting this line and going on a business trip to Eastern Europe... :rofl:

rosada · Jan 28, 2008

I note how the Image says "The superior man has substance to his words and DURATION to his way of life." Duration means something that lasts over time. You can't know if a person is sincere just because he says, "I love you." He may also says he "loves" fresh air. How can you really know what is meant, if his words have "substance"? All you can do is respond to what you think is his meaning, but it is only by seeing how he acts over time that you really know the intention behind the words.

The persevering "Woman" in this hexagram is the unconscious persevering in responding to the true intention behind the words, even if the words themselves make no sence. Like a mother who teaches her child to talk by responding to what the child means, rather than to what he says, as when the child says "ba" and she responds as if he said "ball", because she understands that was his intention behind the word. Because she has faith in him and persevers in responding to that faith, ultimately the child learns to talk.

Furthermore, If the man, the conscious mind, constantly lies, constantly says, "Let's do lunch," but never follows through, the woman, the unconscious mind, loses faith in him, stops making space for this on her calendar and thus it never happens. But if the man says "Let's do lunch," and means it, the woman will set the date, make the reservations, and maybe even make the lunch.

So the important thing is that the Man/The Intention and the words be in alignment because it is the Intention that the Woman/The Unconscious will make manefest.

charly · Jan 28, 2008

sparhawk said:
I imagine a pimp (fiolo, Charly) getting this line and going on a business trip to Eastern Europe...

Luis:

Thanks for the translation for «pimp». (1)
Surely you have read «Tango» from Hugo Pratt, local organizations went to Europe in search of profitable women:

Also chinese were famous by his brothels. But I speak of another type of profitability.

The 利li4 charactrer was used for Matteo Ricci for his chinese name.

Old and new writers alike give this advice:
There's no advantage to roaming outside,
Keep the heart inside, for
That brings the profit.
From: The Sorrow of the Shepherd Boy,
at http://branemrys.blogspot.com/2004/10/sorrow-of-shepherd-boy.html

I don't undestand it very well, but the advice is clear: «better to be inside». that's profitability.

Un abrazo,

Charly
___________________
(1) like the JunZi, the Noble Man -see the Da Xiang- he speaks lovely and exhibits a good way of life, that's how he gets to engage profitable women («minas»).

Sparhawk · Jan 28, 2008

charly said:
Also chinese were famous by his brothels. By I speak of another type of profitability.

Un abrazo,

Charly

Oh, I knew that! Besides, I'm the only one here with a dirty mind... I'm the "Alberto Olmedo" of Clarity.

charly · Jan 28, 2008

sparhawk said:
Oh, I knew that! Besides, I'm the only one here with a dirty mind... I'm the "Alberto Olmedo" of Clarity.

Luis:

What about the Matteo Ricci advise? Your dirty mind is telling you something?

Charly

Sparhawk · Jan 28, 2008

charly said:
Luis:

What about the Matteo Ricci advise? Your dirty mind is telling you something?

Charly

Actually, I like better the translation by the blog's author than Spence's, that is, the one you quoted.

Sundry sages, old and new, have said
It is vain, so restless to roam;
Hold your heart within and rest;
This, alone, gives glorious gain.

I wouldn't be surprised that Ricci's source of inspiration had something to do with the advise of 37.

Sparhawk · Jan 28, 2008

By the way, it is clear that Mateo Ricci is talking about introspection and finding gain within oneself, rather than the physical, inside/outside metaphor...

Trojina · Jan 28, 2008

Charly if you are a woman doing a consultation finding profitable women doesn't mean much, just like the glowing naked woman of 36 (according to you) doesn't amount to much meaning wise if you are a female with your own naked body that doesn't glow.

Seems to me like you relate every hexagram to a womans body and how it can be of use to a man - and it all seems to limit meanings in a most depressing way IMO.

Being inside does not have to mean being inside a woman as in ******* her - and I actually think thats pretty far off what 37 is about.

37. Chia Jen / The Family [The Clan]

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