Reading
Judgment
The Clinging. Perseverance furthers.
It brings success. Care of the cow brings good fortune.
The dark clings to the light and thereby completes the brightness of the light. As the bright radiates light, it needs the persevering within, so that it does not burn itself out entirely but can shine continuously. All that shines in the world is dependent on something to which it clings, so that it can shine continuously.
Thus sun and moon cling to heaven; grain, grasses, and trees cling to the earth. Thus the twofold clarity of the called man clings to what is right and is thereby able to shape the world. When the human being, who is conditioned and does not stand independent in the world, acknowledges this conditionedness and makes themself dependent on the harmonious and good forces of the world's connection, they have success. The cow is the symbol of utmost pliancy. By cultivating this pliancy and voluntary dependence in oneself, the human being attains clarity without sharpness and finds their place in the world.
Remark: It is a curious coincidence, worthy of note, that here as in the Parsi religion fire and the care of the cow are joined together.
Image
The bright rises up twice: the image of fire.
Thus the great man, through the continuation of this brightness,
illuminates the four regions of the world.
Each of the two single hexagrams represents the sun in one day's course. Thus a repeated activity of the sun is represented. Thereby the temporal effect of light is suggested. The great man continues the work of nature in the human world. Through the clarity of their being they cause the light to spread ever further and to penetrate the human being inwardly ever more.
Commentary
This hexagram too is a doubled one. The single hexagram Li means "to cling to something," "to be conditioned," "to rest on something," "brightness." A dark line clings to a bright one above and below, the image of an empty space between two strong lines, through which these become bright. It is the middle daughter. The Creative has taken up into itself the central line of the Receptive, and so Li arises. As an image it is fire. Fire has no definite shape, but clings to burning things and thereby becomes bright. As water comes down from heaven, so fire flames up from the earth. While K'an signifies the soul enclosed in the body, Li signifies nature in its transfigured form.
Changing Lines
Line 1
A nine at the beginning means:
The footprints run crisscross.
If one is earnest about it: no blame.
Commentary
It is early morning. Work is beginning. After the soul has been shut off from the outer world in sleep, the relations to the world now begin again. The traces of impressions run crisscross. Hurried busyness prevails. Important in this is to preserve inner collectedness, not to let oneself be carried away by the bustle of life. If one is earnest and collected, one attains the necessary clarity for coming to terms with the numerous impressions that storm in upon one. Precisely at the beginning is such collected earnestness particularly important; for the beginning contains the seeds of all that follows.
Line 2
A six in the second place means:
Yellow glow. Sublime good fortune.
Commentary
The midday of the day is reached. The sun shines in yellow glow. Yellow is the color of the middle and of measure. A yellow glow is therefore the image of perfect culture and art, whose highest harmony consists in measure.
Line 3
A nine in the third place means:
In the glow of the setting sun
people either beat on the pot and sing,
or loudly sigh over the approach of old age.
Misfortune.
Commentary
Here is the end of the day. The glow of the sinking sun reminds one of the conditionedness and transience of life. In this outer unfreedom, people mostly also become inwardly unfree. Either transience becomes for them a motive to even more boisterous merriment, to enjoy life while it is still there, or they let themselves be carried away by sorrow and spoil the precious time through lamenting the approach of age. Both are evil. To the noble one, an early or late death is not a thing of difference. They cultivate their person and await their lot, and thereby firm up their destiny.
Line 4
A nine in the fourth place means:
His coming is sudden;
he flares up, dies down, is thrown away.
Commentary
Clarity of understanding is related to life as fire to wood. Fire clings to the wood, but it also consumes the wood. Clarity of understanding is rooted in life, but it can also consume life. It depends on how it is exercised. Here is the image of a meteor or of a straw fire. An excited, restless character comes to rapid ascent. But lasting effects are lacking. Under these circumstances it is evil to exhaust oneself too quickly and to burn oneself up like a meteor.
Line 5
A six in the fifth place means:
Weeping in streams, sighing and lamenting. Good fortune!
Commentary
Here is the high point of life. Without warning, in this position one would consume oneself like a flame. If one instead gives up fear and hope, recognizes the nullity of everything and weeps and sighs, careful to preserve one's clarity, then out of this sorrow comes good fortune. This is a matter of real turning back, not, as in the nine in the third place, merely a passing mood.
Line 6
A nine at the top means:
The king uses him to set forth and to chastise.
It is best then to kill the leaders
and take the followers prisoner. No blame.
Commentary
The purpose of chastisement is to create discipline, not to let punishment be exercised blindly. It is a matter of healing the evil at the root. In state life it is a matter of removing the ringleaders but sparing the followers. In self-formation it is a matter of rooting out bad habits but tolerating harmless ones. For too strict asceticism, like too strict penal judgments, leads to no success.