Reading
The young maiden is to be married, but without advantage.
The marriage is a forming of union between heaven and earth, but in seeking enjoyment, and obeying emotion, the real is sought in the false. When habits form, and incorrect action and desire are set, yin and yang go awry, and heaven and earth do not settle naturally without effort. The east is host, your essence—the west is guest, your feeling. The thunder, your previous merit, is in the east, but a lake, seeking punishment, will swallow it all, dissipating positive energy. Follow your merit. Evolve from maiden to mother. Keep in mind the far-distant end to ward off pleasure seeking that may result in bad beginnings. Essence is not found in emotion.
Translation Reference
Judgment
The Marrying Maiden.
Undertakings bring misfortune.
Nothing that would further.
A maiden who is taken into the family without being the chief wife must conduct herself particularly cautiously and with reserve. She must not set forth from her own initiative in order to displace the housewife, for this would mean disorder, and one would come thereby into untenable conditions.
This refers to all free relationships among people. While the legally ordered relationships show a firm connection of duties and rights, the inclination-relationships of people rest in their duration purely on tactful reserve.
This inclination as principle of relationships is of greatest significance in all conditions of the world, for from the union of heaven and earth comes the existence of all nature, and likewise among people the free inclination as principle of union is beginning and end.
Image
Above the lake is thunder:
the image of The Marrying Maiden.
Thus the noble one recognizes through the eternity of the end the transient.
The thunder stirs the water of the lake, which follows it in shimmering waves. This is the image of the maiden who follows the man of her choice. But every union of people with one another holds the danger in itself that aberrations creep in that lead to endless misunderstandings and inconveniences. Therefore it is a matter of taking the end continually into consideration. If one lets oneself drift, one comes together and goes apart again as the day ordains. If, on the other hand, one fixes one's eye on a lasting end, one will succeed in going around the cliffs that stand in the way of closer relationships of people with one another.
Commentary
Above is Chen, the eldest son; below is Tui, the youngest daughter. The man goes ahead; the maiden follows him joyfully. Depicted is the entry of the maiden into the house of the man. There are four hexagrams altogether that depict relationships between spouses. Number 31, Hsien, "general influence," depicts the attraction that a young couple exerts on each other. Number 32, Heng, "duration," depicts the lasting conditions of marriage. Number 53, Chien, "development," depicts the hesitating and ceremonial proceedings at the conclusion of a correct marriage. Kuei Mei, "The Marrying Maiden," finally shows an older man whom a young maiden follows in marriage.
Note: In China monogamy formally prevails. Every man has only one official wife. This union, which concerns less the two directly involved than the families, is concluded under strict observance of the forms. Yet the man retains the right also to give ear to the tenderer inclinations of a personal kind. Indeed it is the most beautiful duty of a good wife to help him in this. In this way the relationship becomes a beautiful and open one. The maiden who enters the family according to the man's choice modestly subordinates herself to the housewife as a younger sister. Of course these are very delicate and tender questions that require much tact on every side. Yet when the circumstances are favorable, there is found here the solution of a problem that European culture has not succeeded in solving. Of course womanhood in China corresponds as little to the ideal as marriages in Europe on average are in accord with European marriage ideals.
Changing Lines
Line 1: The maiden will be secondary in the husband's eyes, but the lame will walk.
Though there be a lameness to the connection between heaven and earth, the maiden can take the second position, providing great help. Maintain integrity, and external objects can not impose their defilement. Practice in this way, and you will walk.
Commentary
The princes of antiquity had a firm order of rank among the palace ladies, who were subordinate to the queen as the younger sisters to the eldest. They were also often from the family of the queen, who herself led them to her husband.
The sense is that a young maiden, when she enters a family in agreement with the wife, does not stand on a level with her outwardly, but will modestly step back. But if she knows how to fit herself into the connection, she gains a position that is thoroughly satisfactory, and she will feel herself sheltered in the love of the husband to whom she bears children.
The same meaning arises in the relations of officials. A prince has perhaps a man with whom he is personally friendly and whom he takes into his confidence. This man must tactfully step back outwardly behind the official minister of state. But although he is hindered by this position like a lame person, he can still accomplish something through the goodness of his being.
Line 2: With one eye, you can still see. Chastity will prevail.
Though there may be a blindness to the connection between heaven and earth, the solitary widow can achieve constancy. Be flexible in strength, and like the one-eyed who can see, you are outwardly dark, and inwardly bright. Consider essence as primary, be chaste and single-minded in the Dao, and in seclusion you will know true pleasure. Do not pursue what is not right.
Commentary
The situation here is that the maiden has bound herself to a man who disappoints her. Husband and wife should work together like the two eyes. Here the maiden has been left solitary. The man of her choice has either become unfaithful or has died. But she does not lose the inner light of faithfulness. Though the other eye has also been extinguished, she holds faithfulness fast even in solitude.
Line 3: Turning back to proper orientation, the maiden makes a great second.
Improprieties have led to the maiden being wedded off into less than ideal status, though she can be a proper secondary wife. In weakness, the orientation is off, and externals pierce your nose to draw you off like cattle. Turn from error.
Commentary
A maiden who is in a lowly position and gets no husband may under some circumstances still find a place as concubine.
The situation is that one desires pleasures too much that one cannot attain on the normal way. Thus one puts oneself into a situation that does not wholly accord with one's own dignity. Neither a judgment nor a warning is added, but the situation is simply disclosed as such, so that everyone can draw their own lesson from it.
Line 4: When it is the wrong time to marry, delay until conditions are right.
Though the time is late to be married, still the maiden may make a good wife. The Dao is focused stillness, yielding in strength—if the mind of Dao is set before action is required, then the outcomes can be fortuitous. Move from wrong to right, and await the proper time.
Commentary
The maiden is very good, does not want to throw herself away, and thereby misses the usual time of marriage. But that does no harm. She is rewarded for her purity and finally, though late, still finds the mate destined for her.
Line 5: The Emperor's younger sister marries—the timing is auspicious.
With noble character, even a scheming half-sister can not usurp the maiden's position. Settled, virtuous, and deferential to the wise and noble, those who foster the mind of Dao are able to shine. All the better if you can find wise aid. The moon is full of sunlight—here and now, good fortune is found.
Commentary
The sovereign I is T'ang the Completer. He issued a law that the imperial princesses in marriage must likewise be subject to their husbands (compare Number 11, line 5). The emperor does not wait for wooing, but gives his daughter in marriage according to free judgment. Therefore the initiative on the side of the maiden's family is here in order.
We see here a maiden of noble descent who marries into modest conditions and knows how to adapt with grace to the new situation. She is free of all vanity of outer adornment, forgets her rank in marriage, and places herself under her husband, as the moon, which is not yet quite full, does not step directly opposite the sun.
Line 6: Sacrifice without blood, an empty chest—there is no benefit here.
With an empty basket, there will be no advantage to this union. Ignorantly fulfilling yin and yang through conditions, being indulgent, seeking to force immortality, is like being gifted an empty box—though you may appear fortunate, this behaviour will only lead you to failure.
Commentary
At the sacrifice for the ancestors the woman had to offer the fruits in a basket, the man personally to slaughter the sacrificial animal. Here the forms are fulfilled only superficially. The woman takes an empty basket, the man pierces a sheep that has already been slaughtered, only to preserve the form. But this impious, frivolous disposition promises no good fortune for the marriage.