Truth, confidence and captives

Harmen has just published a new article, which is always a wonderful thing (even if I wish he’d translate his Chinese sources for me!). This one is about fu – that word from the name of Hexagram 61 that means truth or trust or sincerity or confidence, or ‘conforming’ in Ritsema/Sabbadini – or, on oracle bones and in the mind of Richard Rutt, prisoners of war.

Harmen describes fu specifically as the quality of sincerity that inspires confidence and allows connection. He makes the connection (one that most people don’t attempt to explain) with the early, oracle bone meaning of ‘war captives’ because captives prove the king to be a trustworthy war leader. I’d add that they are also your only official evidence that a war has been fought and won at all. (It’s not as if journalists had been broadcasting from the front lines!) The returning leader might make claims, but with captives there is very present proof.

The old character fu shows a hand or claw coming down to grasp a child (see LiSe’s page on Hexagram 61). This sense of present grasp is important, I think. Fu in the Yijing is contrasted with cares and warnings, and particularly (four times) with regrets. If you have regrets, you’re only half here, and half in the past. If you have fu, you are entirely present: regrets vanish.

17, line 4 draws a contrast that’s especially interesting in the light of those grasped war captives:

‘Following makes a catch. Constancy, pitfall.
With fu, holding to the path [dao] with clarity,
How can this be wrong?’

Following to capture something is a bad principle to follow; it’s very different from fu and mindful presence on the path. By definition, fu is what you have here and now – it’s not somewhere else, not something to pursue.

Harmen cites lines from the Shijing and from Yi that show fu as confidence inspired in others, especially by the king. In Hexagram 49, Radical Change, fu seems to be what makes a king. Yet it’s also what binds communities and connects neighbours (hexagrams 8 and 9), and the way the messenger speaks truth to the prince in 42.3.

And beyond the human world, fu is a spiritual connection: when Stephen Karcher chose a single phrase to translate all instances of fu, he opted for ‘connection to the spirits’. Fu is the key ingredient when you make offerings (20, 41, 45.2, 46.2). In Hexagram 5, Waiting, there is fu connecting you to the spirits who will bring the weather you need. And in Hexagram 29, there is fu and holding fast the heart (or a joined, connected heart) creates success, even in repeated chasms. Fu can overcome the darkness and uncertainty of the situation.

Harmen – obviously speaking from a diviner’s understanding of the Yijing, as well as a scholar’s understanding of a word – writes:

So what does it mean when you read in the Yijing that there is fu? It depends on the situation, but it could indicate that there is sincerity (genuineness, naturalness, authenticity), which enables to connect with the goals that are set, or with the means that can be put to use. Without fu there is no connection and it will be very difficult (though not impossible) to achieve anything. Fu works on the long term, without fu you are only able to achieve limited goals on the short term. Fu enables you to get and keep processes going, it is the oil that keeps the motor running smoothly and avoids damage. If there is no fu in you or the person(s) involved, it is better to reconsider your plans and think about your motivations and intentions. Fu is a quality that is essential when you work with other people. Without it, cooperation can be pretty tough.

The key to all this seems to be that ‘without fu there is no connection’. This is what truth, sincerity, trust and confidence have in common: connection, with people, goals and means, and simply with what is. Given this connection, things flow freely:

‘The well gathers,
Don’t cover it.
With fu,
Good fortune from the source.’