Chinism highlights

Although it is generally considered that there is no such a thing as a Chinese religious tradition, perhaps we could say that the Chinese religious tradition exists, but is unstructured, fragmented. There are pieces that would constitute a religion, but they are loosely tied, each on their own. So the appearance is that there is no Chinese religion, but if we take a certain distance, look at all the pieces and try to connect them, there might be a certain design of a religion, something that could be designed as "chinism”. Each piece on its own is not a religion, but as a whole, even if it has never worked in a unified way, perhaps we might consider it as such.

Let us consider seven pieces: 1) very old reference books. We will only focus on one, a divinatory book, full of wisdom and experience: the I Ching (or Yi Jing), the Book of Transformations; but there are five more classic books: the Treaty of Rituals, the Book of Documents, the Book of Odes, the Book of Music and The Spring and Autumn Annals; 2) Taoism, a mysticism as well as a meditation on personal life, centered in a unique principle that cannot be named, the Tao (or Dao); 3) Confucianism, a consideration on the good way to behave, on ethical conduct, especially at a collective level; 4) a sophisticated set of exercises and positions that open to subtle dimensions, the t’ai chi ch’uan (or taijiquan, or tai chi); 5) a rich traditional medicine, of which the best known aspect is acupuncture; 6) feng shui, an elaborated analysis of the appropriate location and orientation of things in space; 7) traditions of folk religion of ancestral origin. Maybe more pieces could be added, but these seven pieces would be enough to draw the basic features of a religious tradition, albeit implicit and manifested in a scattered way. Here we will not discuss all of them in detail, but we will see some highlights of a number of them.

We leave to the end the reference to the Yi Jing, and begin with the piece that has more often been regarded as a religion by itself: Taoism (or daoism, Daojiao in Chinese). It refers to a variety of related philosophical and religious traditions and concepts cristalyzing in China probably in the sixth century BC. It is reflected in the Daodejing (a brief and precious collection of aphoristic poems from the late fourth century BC; jing means "book", de means "virtue": Book of Dao and Virtue). The book is attributed to Lao Tse (or Lao-Tzu, or Laozi, "old master" or "venerable master"). The other major Taoist text is the Zhuangzi, written by Zhuangzi (369-286 BC).

Taoism was led to operate as a religion in the late Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). During the Northern and Southern Dynasties (386-589), neo-Taoism adopted concepts and methods of its rival, Buddhism. Some emperors supported it for political reasons while many educated men and women were attracted by its beauty and power. Taoism experienced its silver age from the Tang Dynasty (618-907) to the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). Taoist temples and Taoist masters spread throughout China.

Taoism gradually developed with the support of governments. However, during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), national conflicts undermined the energy and support for Taoism. It was at the end of this period that the Jesuit Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) was one of the founding figures of Jesuit missions in China. In the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the Manchu rulers adopted Tibetan Buddhism and lost interest in Taoism; they favored Confucian classics over Taoist works. After 1949, the People's Republic of China considered Taoism detrimental to the construction of socialism. Banned during the Cultural Revolution (along with all other religions), Taoism is currently undergoing a certain revival in China and is a subject of growing interest in the West, where it was popularized, among others, by Alan Watts (1915-1973).

Dao (or Tao) is the Way, the great principle of order that governs everything, the great cosmic rhythm, the breath of the universe, from where everything comes and to where everything goes back. To make the experience of Dao it is necessary to go through emptiness, to overcome rational knowledge, to leave behind behavior moved by interest. According to Huston Smith, it must be said that the notion of Tao is used in three compatible but differentiated senses:

- In the first place, Dao refers to the way to maximum reality. It is what escapes all perception or conception, since it is too large for the human reason to imagine it. It cannot even be named or, as said by the first chapter of Daodejing: "The Tao that can be expressed is not the true Dao, the name that can be given to it is not its real name." But in order to talk about it the name Dao was given to it, as noted in chapter XXV: "There is something inherent and natural that exists before heaven and earth. Motionless and impenetrable, it remains alone and never changes, ubiquitous, inexhaustible. It could be called the Mother of the world. I do not know its name, but if I have to give it a name I will call it Dao, I will call it the Supreme." This ineffable and transcendent Dao is the ground of everything, the womb from where all life emerges and returns; it is the basic mystery of life, the mystery of mysteries.

- In the second place, Dao refers to the way of the universe, the norm, the rhythm, the propelling power of the whole nature, the organizational principle that is behind and at the heart of all life. In this second sense, Tao incarnates and informs everything. So it is transcendent but also immanent.

- In the third place, Dao refers to the way of human life. The key way humans have to conform their life to Dao is to live according to wu wei, or creative stillness, a combination of activity and quietness. This requires a certain “surrender” of the conscious mind, which has to know how to give up its leading role, thus allowing an opening to the subliminal being from where genuine creativity arises (the mere rational effort does not usually lead to creativity but tends to block it, as artists well know). Wu wei is the supreme action, the precious complacence, the simplicity and liberty that flow in us, through us, when the individual ego and the conscious effort give way to that power beyond them. The resulting action has a subtle and complex strength, a consummated grace arising from an abundant vitality that does not need brusqueness or violence. Wu wei is life without tension, is letting the Dao flow in such a way that life becomes a dance without foolishness or unbalance, an incarnation of subtleness, simplicity and liberty.

A basic idea of Taoism is the integration of humankind in nature, of harmonizing with the natural processes, with the spontaneous flow of the universe. That is why the flow of water is one of its favorite images. The observation of the way nature operates allows to discover what should be the proper behavior. The human being must avoid being foolish and aggressive towards nature, has to have a relation of friendship with it, has to look for harmony with nature, not to dominion over it.

Another fundamental part of what we name “Chinism” or Chinese religious tradition is Confucianism, an ethical and philosophical system, sometimes described as a religion in itself but often not considered as such (there are long discussions on the subject of whether Confucianism is a religion or not). Confucianism developed from the teachings of Chinese philosopher Confucius (孔夫子 Kung Fūzi or K'ung-fu-tzu, literally "Master Kong", 551-479 BC). He was an official of modest origin and an excellent scholar. He envisioned a situation of social harmony – like the one that had existed, perhaps mythically, during the Western Zhou Dynasty - based on a system of well articulated social hierarchies: rulers should obey heaven, subjects should obey rulers, women should obey husbands, children should obey parents. For the Tao to flow through this chain, humans have to be "truly human" (ren or jen, "Humanity” in Chinese). And to be ren one has to love others, be good, be fair, be equitable, have no prejudices, be loyal, be honest, be respectful of one self and of others, be responsible, favor the public good rather than one's advantage. To reach this program, Confucius believed that education was essential, and devoted himself to teach everyone he could. He also compiled the ancient traditions on several books, so that everyone could have easier access to them.

Confucianism placed itself between two schools:

- On one hand, the “realist” school of Han Fei Tzu, which considered that social order could only be reached by force, by the threat of repression, by a system of punishments and rewards. This school was based on a pessimist view of the human condition, seen as dominated by lower instincts and shortness of sight.

- On the other hand, there was the “idealist” school of Mo Tzu, which defended universal love as the remedy for the social problem, an altruist vision with a religious basis, since it was considered that it had the support of Shang Ti, the Sovereign of the Heights, a personal god that created the world and who deeply loves humans.

Confucius considered that the “realist” proposal was rude and extreme, incapable to generate interpersonal links and to provide sense and motivation; and that the “idealist” proposal of Moism (Mojia in Chinese) was utopian: nobody would reach to be as concerned by the family of someone else as by its own. Love is important for life, but has to find support in social structures. Neither laws nor personal commitment are enough. Altruism is not obtained through exhortation. There is a need for referents ordering society, and he found them not in reason, the dynamics of which lead to the development of one’s own interest, but in tradition, as modulator of the inclinations and attitudes, as bringer of models of behavior that had been operational and had been improved in a preterit golden age of Chinese society, the Era of the Great Harmony, the times of the Zhou dynasty, when traditions were obligatory and respected by people, but where at the same time very well built, and thus generators of peace and happiness.

Confucius did not ask for a return to the past, because he was aware of the process of change experienced in China between 1000 BC and 500 BC, with a growing individual consciousness and a stronger capacity to cogitate; accordingly, it was not possible to pretend that good habits arose spontaneously, but they had to be the result of a “deliberated tradition”, in other words strengthened through conscious attention. He aspired to maintain the connection with the past and at the same time to take into consideration the new conditions of the present. This is why he took tradition and interpreted, modified, reformulated it; he moved tradition from an unconscious base to a conscious one. He did it intuitively, but accomplished that critical intelligence was simultaneously useful to maintain the strength of tradition and to determine the new finalities to which it had to serve. He knew that a people has to start by deciding which values are important for its collective welfare, which explains the importance given by Confucianism to the study of the proper attitudes and to education as a way to interiorize values, thus reaching a stage where people had a good social behavior even when law was not watching them. And to reach this stage he considered the referents, the “models of prestige”, had to be used, where the appropriate tool.

The social life that Confucius aspired to reach through education has five key reference concepts: Ren, Xun tzu, Li, Te and Wen.

- Ren (or jen) is human cordiality, which leads to goodness, benevolence, love. It is the virtue of virtues. It simultaneously implies a feeling of humanity towards others and respect towards oneself, a deep sense of the dignity of human life.

- Xun tzu refers to the mature person, the person in plenitude, to the human condition in its splendor. It is the contrary of meanness, evilness, a small spirit. It relates to others as a house master that tries to please guests, with calm and security, with an unquestionable and serene behavior.

- Li is correction, the establishment of the correct way to make things, the proposal of models of reference. Nothing in surfeit, search of the fair middle term, refuse of both excess and indulgence, harmony, balance; correction in the use of language; assumption by everybody of its responsibilities in social relations. This correction drives individual life to become a ritual, a sacred dance, where every gesture has a model, from the way the emperor gives accounts to heaven to the way tea is served at home.

- Te is the power by which humans are governed, the power of moral example. Governors cannot ignore the confidence of the people, and this confidence only appears when the people notices that its leaders are capable, devote themselves sincerely to the common good and possess the kind of personality that deserves respect. Goodness does not root in society by force or by law, but for the influence of the people we admire, for their righteousness. Those governing must not have personal ambitions. Confucius formulated it this way, brilliantly and concisely: “Are appropriate to govern those who would prefer to be exempted of doing so.” Te is the moral authority of the good governor.

- Wen is the humanities, culture in its esthetic and spiritual expression, music, painting, poetry. For Confucius, art had the capacity to transform human nature and lead it to virtue, it could ennoble the heart. And the Confucian project proposed to go through the unending process of cultivating oneself in order to become more fully human; for him, the good person is the one that always tries to be better.

How does the ideal society function for Confucius? According to The Analects (literally ordered sayings), Confucius’s ideal society is based on the notions of filial piety, virtue and leadership. Confucius prime concern is the human being, and how to establish a good society based on a good government and on harmonious human relationships. Confucius envisioned a situation of social harmony based on a system of well-articulated social hierarchies. He believed that the social world should function in the same effortless and spontaneous way as the natural world: “What does Heaven ever say? Yet the four seasons are put in motion by it, and the myriad creatures receive their life from it. What does ever Heaven say?" (The Analects, 17.19) Confucius thought speaking was distasteful, yet his own speech was a necessary evil sent from the Heavens to bring the world back in the right direction, the Tao (Edward Slingerland, (2003) “Analects: With Selections from Traditional Commentaries” Introduction pp. xxi). In Confucius’s writings, Tao refers to the global socio-political order.

One key element of the society in Confucius’s doctrine is filial piety, or Xiao. Confucius described filial piety as follows: “If there is work to be done, disciples shoulder the burden, and when wine and food are served, elders are given precedence, but surely filial piety consists of more than this.” (The Analects, 2.8). This suggests that filial piety consists of two key elements: respect for the elders, but also a sincere affectionate bond in any kind of relationship (be it father-son or ruler-people) (Edward Slingerland, (2003) “Analects: With Selections from Traditional Commentaries” pp. 11). This virtue of filial piety is an internal, spontaneous process that comes from within oneself – the father does not impose authority on the members of his family. This natural virtuous behavior learned within the family can then be extended to the entire society, to prevent it to be regulated by an external order (legalism).

This is where the notion of Li comes into play: it prescribes one’s behavior in terms of role, status and position within a structured society. Li can be seen as a combination of morality and etiquette, teaching humans how to perform naturally their separate roles in a society whose harmony is maintained by the fact that everyone plays their part. This central place occupied by Li leads to a pyramidal society: “Let the ruler be a ruler; the minister, a minister; the father, a father; and the son, a son” (The Analects, 12.11). This suggests that there is an established hierarchy and that everyone, regardless of their social status, should respect it.

The leader stands above everyone else, which implies that for the Tao to flow correctly through the pyramid the leader has to be “truly human”, to practice Ren. According to Confucius, Ren can be achieved through education, which means that the pyramidal society is based on meritocracy and not one’s birth rank. Moreover, Confucius believed that “In education, there should be no class distinction” (The Analects, 15.38). He was eager to promote equality of chances between individuals so as to allow everyone to reach the highest position possible in the society. In addition, Confucius said “If you try to guide the common people with coercive regulations and keep them in line with punishments, the common people will become evasive and will have no sense of shame. If, however, you guide them with Virtue, and keep them in line by means of ritual, the people will have a sense of shame and will rectify themselves” (The Analects, 2.3). This means that according to Confucius, a good leader should govern through virtue and Li rather than through law and punishment. This pyramidal society can reasonably be considered fair in the sense that everyone sticks to his or her role and there is no imposition of an external order. Plus, through education, everyone can become a leader. Therefore, this social order is characterized by accordance between internal morality and external etiquette, which in turn makes the society harmonious.

To become a fully human being implies to transcend successively egoism, nepotism, localism, ethnocentrism and chauvinist nationalism. To do this it is necessary to develop the binomial empathy-sympathy, designed in Chinese as hsin, which covers both thought and feeling and that grows in concentric circles that start in oneself and successively cover the family (thus overcoming egoism), the community (thus overcoming nepotism), the nation (thus overcoming localism) and finally the whole of humanity (thus overcoming ethnocentrism and chauvinist nationalism).

Confucianism originated as an ethical, political and social teaching during the Spring and Autumn Period (771-476 BC), but later, during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD), it developed metaphysical and cosmological elements. Following the official abandonment of Legalism in China after the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), Confucianism became the official state ideology of the Han. However, from the Han period onwards, most Chinese emperors used a mix of Legalism and Confucianism as their ruling doctrine. The disintegration of the Han in the second century AD opened the way for Buddhism and Taoism to dominate intellectual life at that time. A revival of Confucianism occurred during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). At the end of the Tang period, Confucianism developed aspects on the model of Buddhism and Taoism and was reformulated as Neo-Confucianism. This revitalized form was adopted as the basis of imperial exams and as the core philosophy of the scholar official class in the Song Dynasty (960-1279).

The abolition of the examination system in 1905 marked the end of official Confucianism. The New Culture intellectuals of the early twentieth century blamed Confucianism for China’s weaknesses. They searched for new doctrines to replace Confucian teachings, as Marxism. At the end of the twentieth century, some people credited Confucianism with the rise of the East Asian economy, which allowed it to enjoy a rise in popularity both in China and abroad.

One of Confucianism’s fundamental ideas is that of authority, seen as the result of an internal process of forming the personal unconscious so that it can resonate in the collective unconscious. The guide should act in an exemplary way in everything he does, so it may influence the collective unconscious and establish order in a natural way: "The one who is just does not have to give commands; everything goes well. The one who is not just can give all the commands he wants, he will not be obeyed." Or: "When government is exerted through edicts and order wants to be created through punishment, people are diverted and have no conscience. When government is exerted through the force of being and order is created through custom, then the people have awareness and reach goodness." The key, then, is the self-education and exemplarity of the guides, of the politicians. Richard Wilhelm explains this in his commentary of the opinion of the hexagram Guan, contemplation, of the I Ching: "To a man destined to influence on humankind, the contemplation of the divine meaning of the universal becoming octroys him the means to exercise identical effects. Therefore an interior recollection as the one that religious contemplation produces in great and strong in their faith men is needed. In this way they contemplate the mysterious and divine laws of life and, through the maximum seriousness of their interior recollection, they allow these laws to be fulfilled in their own person. Consequently, from the vision they present of themselves arises a mysterious spiritual power that acts on men and conquers them without them being aware of how this happens."

Confucianism underlines the importance of good manners and etiquette, i.e. of the proper regulation of behavior. Confucius opposed luxury and the external pomp because he considered that the important thing is the exact expression of the feeling, never falling into exaggeration. Norms should be used to enhance this exact expression of feeling, neither too little nor too much. As Marcel Granet says: "The protocolary expression of feelings, precisely because it is done with the help of agreed symbols and required gestures, has the virtue of disciplinating passions. Chinese pain rituals clearly show this. Sorrow, in grief, for example, has to be expressed in regulated moments (...) The way of crying itself (...) was something imposed, controlled. Nothing was left to the inspiration of the moment: all personal impulse, all fantasy were severely condemned and disqualified their author, both if it was too little or too much that it was made."

The core of Confucianism is humanistic. It focuses on the practical order, inscribed in an awareness of the Tian (Heaven, the equivalent to Tao) and proper respect for the gods (Shen). It puts a special emphasis on the importance of the family, rather than into a transcendent deity or into what will happen after death. This position is based on the belief that humans are teachable, improvable and perfectible through personal and communal endeavor, especially self-cultivation and self-creation. The thought of Confucius focuses on the cultivation of virtue and maintenance of ethics. The basic Confucian ethical concepts include ren (an obligation of altruism and humanity towards other individuals), yi (the defense of justice and of the moral disposition to do good), li (a system of ritual norms that determines how a person should properly act in everyday life) and zhi (the ability to see what is right and fair, or the opposite, on the behaviors exhibited by others). Confucianism believes the person responsible, either passively or actively, for the failure of upholding the cardinal moral values of ren and yi.

Many of the thoughts of Confucius were collected by his disciples in the book Lun Yu ("discussions and proverbs", also translated as the "Analects"). Let us see two examples:

"When the great truth wins, then the land will be owned by everyone. The wisest and most competent will be chosen to maintain peace and harmony. Then men will not just love their own people, will not only procure for their own children, but all old people will have their last days in peace, all the strong will have a useful work, all children will be stimulated in their growth, the widows and widowers, the orphans and the lonely, the sick and the weak will find protection, men have their jobs and women their homes. No one will want goods to spoil, but no one will want to store them for themselves, particularly. No one will want tasks to remain undone, but no one will want to do them just for their own benefit. Therefore there will be no need for locks, since there will be no bandits or thieves. Doors will be left open. This is called the great community."

"There is a principle that governs all my teachings, the principle of reciprocity: do not do to others what you do not want others do to you."

Another of the pieces conforming “Chinism” is popular religious traditions. An important role is played in them by natural forces and the spirits of the ancestors, which from the invisible world deal with the visible world. Some of those spirits have become homeless, and they are worshiped in the celebration of "Food for ghosts" so they can rest in peace. There are spirits relevant to the community, such as Matzu, the generous daughter of a tenth century fisherman who died young and is revered as Holy Mother of Heaven and protector of the people of the sea. In the houses (it is usual to have small domestic shrines) as well as in temples, offerings to the gods and ancestors (fruit and cooked rice) are made, as well as burning incense, etc. On the 4^th - 5^th of April the festival of Qing Ming is celebrated, in which families visit the cemeteries. The most important festival is the New Year, with a duration of 15 days, with family parties, gift exchanges, dragon processions and fireworks to commemorate the defeat of the Nian monster, that devoured people and which was defeated using noisy gongs, drums and fireworks.

It is worth referring to the ancient precedents of this popular religiosity. The religious background of ancient China (before Confucius) was structured by the following scheme: heaven/sky and earth form an indissoluble continuum. In heaven inhabit the ancestors (ti) governed by the supreme ancestor, Shang Ti. The two reigns are imbricated and in permanent contact. Earth communicates with heaven through sacrifices (it seems intelligent and natural to share one’s goods with the ancestors…). The ascending smoke of the sacrificial fires brings the essence of terrene goods towards heaven. Heaven communicates with earth through hints. Ancestors, from heaven, know the future, and since they are concerned by their offspring, they want to make the future known to the living humans. Since they no longer have voice, they have to do it through signals. These are things that happen without being the result of a purpose, things happening “by themselves”; they have to be treated carefully, since they could transmit indications from heaven. Some signals are internal (scratching, sneezes, contractures, dizziness, ear noises, involuntary eye clinging…) and others are external (thunder, lightning, the movement of the stars, the attitudes of insects, birds and animals in general). This scheme allows to understand old religious rituals not only from China, since sacrifices were typical of many cultures, as was the search for signals or indications from heaven, as shown by the Greek oracles themselves.

We left for the end an elementary approach to the "Book of Changes", the I Ching or Yi Jing, a strange combination of implacable logic and symbolic wisdom. We think it is worth to go a little in detail into its logic, which is one of the foundations of the Chinese tradition of thought and of what we are calling "Chinism".

The I Ching finds one of its foundations in the notion of polarity, which seems to derive from the fact that reality uses to unfold: the one divides into two opposites, from the interaction of which things arise... The duality-polarity would thus be a deployment of the unity allowing it to manifest itself (we see duality and we suspect unity...). What kind of interaction is established in a polarity? At first, it may seem that the elements of a duality are complementary: as one grows, the other diminishes, when one goes up, the other goes down. But reality does not follow such a simple logic: there is a simultaneous growth, a parallel expansion, albeit in an alternate or a hidden way: at the heart of one, there is the other; the fulfillment of one, creates the other; when one grows, the other grows too. The whole is not simply the result of adding two complementary forces, nor is the result of the violent overcome of a conflict between two forces, but the whole is the result of the sweet breathing of one inside the other, which allows both to grow simultaneously, becoming one through the other, in the other, with the other, without any of the two decreasing or disappearing. Therefore: so that one can fully deploy its power not only there is no need for the other to reduce its own power, but must develop it, must fully exert it. No "more of one, less of the other" but "maximum deployment of both".

From where comes the difficulty in capturing this dynamics of simultaneous deployment, which leads to see things in terms of complementarity? It comes from the fact that this simultaneity occurs normally in a hidden germination process manifested in the form of rotation, alternance. One pole is growing manifestly and the other does it in a hidden way (germination), so that when the manifest reaches fullness it leaves way to the other, which is then manifested, and it continues its process in the hidden way. This generates the rhythm of rotation, so that the dynamic interaction between the two poles generates a vibration, a rhythm, a harmony; this breathing, the cadence of movement, creates harmonic vibrations. This is what tries to express the well-known traditional Chinese image of polarity:

Esoteric? Symbolic? Suggestive? Incomprehensible? Everyone will decide it. But we have to make things still a little less understandable. At a first glance, reality may seem chaotic. But some wise men observed it carefully and saw the regular presence of 64 "gua", which can be considered as images, ideas or concepts, structures or situations archetypical of the human experience. These gua occur at all levels: cosmic, social, historical, family, job or at any other level. Each gua received a name, a graphic formed by the combination of six yin and yang lines (broken and unbroken, _  _ i ___) and a description (an image and a judgment or opinion). With a good understanding of the 64 gua the world can be understood, can be known in depth (wisdom dimension) and known in its dynamics, in its processes of change (oracular dimension). As the 64 gua provide insight and understanding of a changing world and the "I Ching" is the set of these 64 gua, the book was named the "Book of Changes", "Book of Transformations" or "Book of Mutations".

Let us now try to make an approach to the logical bases of these gua. We will make this approach by considering four steps, stages or levels:

1.- We will start with the yang-yin duality (yin-yang if read from right to left), that we will represent with the unbroken and the broken lines: _____  and  __  __  

In this first level we will associate yang-yin with "yes" and "no", and heaven or sky ("Kien") and earth ("Kun").

2.- The second step will be the combination of the two elements in pairs, generating four new elements:

                   _  _                     _  _                     ___                  ___

                   _  _                     ___                     _  _                  ___

                         Big yin                               Little yang                       Little yin                  Big yang

                         Old yin                              Young yang                    Young yin               Old yang

                         No                                      Yes, but                            No, but                   Yes

                         6                                          7                                          8                                9

                         North                                West                                 East                          South

                         Winter                              Fall                                     Spring                      Summer

3.- The third step is the combination of the two yin-yang elements in groups of three:

                   __  __                __  __                __  __             __  __

                   __  __                __  __                _____             _____

                   __  __                _____                __  __             _____

                   _____                _____                _____             _____

                   __  __                __  __                _____             _____

                   __  __                _____                __  __             _____

To these eight trigrams a name is given, they are associated to a physical element and they are correlated with a cardinal point, thus arriving at a sequence called the Rear Heaven or intraworld order, attributed to King Wen, which will be the one we will use here.

We will now see in detail the associations made to each of these eight trigrams:

                                                                     __  __                       (The river that flows

KAN                                                            _____                      between the two

(The Abysmal)                                          __  __                       earth riversides)

- To the North, the night (when the Polar star raises),

                                   water (that always runs toward the abyss),

                            the moon (aster of the night, ruling the tides),

                                   winter (when the night is longer and it is cold)

- Cold, clouds, rain, darkness

- The abyss, the unfathomable, the unconscious, the hidden, the secret, the mystery (what is hard to understand)

- Depth, profundity, deepness

- Passion, Eros, danger, difficulty, anxiety, melancholy, roughness, cunningness

- The second son, the ear, the pig

                                                                    _____                      (A lot of earth

GEN                                                            __  __                       reaching

(Keeping still)                                           __  __                       the sky)

- To the North East, dawn (when light appears),

                                    the mountain (the first thing that can be distinguished at dawn)

- Quietness, stillness, to stay still, rest, meditation, the external rest that vitalizes the interior

- Solidity, firmness, immobility, tranquility, calm

- Prudence, humility, resistance, waiting, loneliness

- Stubbornness, perversity

- The third son, the hand, the dog

                                                                     __  __                       (Heaven penetrating the earth,

XEN                                                             __  __                       life bursting

(the Arousing)                                          _____                      under the earth)

- To the East, the rising sun,

                        thunder, the commotion (of the air),

                        irruption (of light on earth),

                        penetration (of the earth by heaven),

                        spring (life surging from earth)

- Action, initiative, incitation (the beginning of all movement), impulse, expansion, growth, decision

- Agitation, provocation, excitement, impetuosity

- The first son, the foot, the neighing horse

                                                                     _____                      (A lot of sky on the earth

SUN                                                             _____                      the wind blowing,

(the Gentle)                                               __  __                      licking the field)

- To the South East, the morning,

                                    air, the gentle wind that penetrates everything

                                    wood (firm and flexible), the tree

- Smoothness, sweetness, gradualism, gentleness

- Serenity, following, simplicity, honesty

- Regular and constant work, what brings its fulfillment to everything, formality, the norm

- Indecision, the offensive and the retreat (as the air, which comes and goes), vehemence, contradiction, the intermediary

- The first daughter, the thigh, the fowl (the cock and the hen)

                                                                     _____                      (The sun surrounded by beams,

LI                                                                  __  __                       the core surrounded by

(the Clinging)                                             _____                      the shell)

- To the South, noon (the sun’s highest point),

                           fire, light, clarity, warmth,

                           the sun (aster of light and warmth), the day,

                           summer (when the day is longer and it is hot)

- Knowledge, reason, consciousness, the "logos", lucidity, awareness, intelligence, attention, illumination, communication

- Elegance, beauty, radiance

- The clinging, what bounds, dependence, glare, dryness

- The second daughter, the eye, the pheasant

                                                                     __  __                       (Total openness,

KUN                                                             __  __                       receptive earth)

(the Receptive)                                         __  __                      

- To the South West, the afternoon,

                                      earth, ground

                                      the Earth (our mother, our planet)

- Receptivity, the welcoming, protection

- Fecundity, nourishment

- Fidelity, devotion, delivery, flexibility

- Docility, adaptability, abnegation, success through sweetness and serenity

- Submission, passivity, weakness, surrender

- The mother, the belly, the cow

                                                                     __  __                       (The hole, the pool

DUI                                                              _____                      that gathers water)

(the Joyous)                                              _____            

- To the West, the sundown

                           the lake

                           serenity, calm

                           joy, bliss

                           the fall

- Happiness, satisfaction, pleasure, sensuality, attraction, the lover, the neighbor

- Openness

- Magic

- Persistence, excess, the party that can end badly

- The third daughter, the mouth, the sheep, the goat

                                                                     _____                      (Full power,

KIEN                                                            _____                      the whole of the sky)

(the Creative)                                            _____                     

- To the North West, the evening (when the sun penetrates the night, the abyss;

                                                              when consciousness penetrates the unconscious)

                                      the sky, heaven

                                      creativity, inspiration

- Strength, power, ascension, firmness, plenitude, dominion, sublime success, creative energy

- The father, the head, the dragon

General considerations on the eight trigrams:

- They all have the same importance; none is privileged over the others

- The sky and the earth do not coincide with the sun and the moon; creativity does not coincide with reason, nor receptivity with the unconscious; the system is more nuanced

- This multipolar system is more elaborated and rich than ours, normally dual or at most of four elements

- It is not a bad exercise to try to discover which is the trigram with which one feels personally more identified, closer, the one that corresponds to us.

4.- The fourth logical step will be the combination of the eight trigrams two by two, generating 64 elements of six lines. They are the 64 "gua" or hexagrams that form the '"I Ching".

Basic names of the 64 gua or hexagrams:

1.- The Creative (Possessing Creative Power and Skill)

2.- The Receptive (Needing Knowledge and Skill; Do not force matters and go with the flow)

3.- Difficulty at the beginning (Sprouting)

4.- Youthful Folly (Detained, Enveloped and Inexperienced)

5.- Waiting (Uninvolvement (Wait for now), Nourishment)

6.- Conflict (Engagement in Conflict)

7.- The Army (Bringing Together, Teamwork)

8.- Holding together (Union)

9.- Small Taming (Accumulating Resources)

10.- Treading (Conduct) (Continuing with Alertness)

11.- Peace (Pervading)

12.- Standstill (Stagnation)

13.- Fellowship (Partnership)

14.- Great Possession (Independence, Freedom)

15.- Modesty (Being Reserved, Refraining)

16.- Enthusiasm (Inducement, New Stimulus)

17.- Following

18.- Work on the Decayed (Repairing)

19.- Approach (Approaching Goal, Arriving)

20.- Contemplation (The Withholding)

21.- Biting Through (Deciding)

22.- Grace (Embellishing)

23.- Splitting Apart (Stripping, Flaying)

24.- Return (Returning)

25.- Innocence (Without Rashness)

26.- Great Taming (Accumulating Wisdom)

27.- Mouth Corners (Seeking Nourishment)

28.- Great Preponderance (Great Surpassing)

29.- The Abysmal Water (Darkness, Gorge)

30.- The Clinging (Clinging, Attachment)

31.- Influence (Attraction)

32.- Duration (Perseverance)

33.- Retreat (Withdrawing)

34.- Great Power (Great Boldness)

35.- Progress (Expansion, Promotion)

36.- Darkening of the Light (Brilliance Injured)

37.- The family

38.- Opposition (Division, Divergence)

39.- Obstruction (Halting, Hardship)

40.- Deliverance (Liberation, Solution)

41.- Decrease

42.- Increase

43.- Breakthrough (Separation)

44.- Coming to Meet (Encountering)

45.- Gathering together (Association, Companionship)

46.- Pushing upward (Growing Upward)

47.- Oppression (Exhaustion)

48.- The Well (Replenishing, Renewal)

49.- Revolution (Abolishing the Old)

50.- The Cauldron (Establishing the New)

51.- Arousing (Mobilizing)

52.- The Keeping Still (Immobility)

53.- Development (Auspicious Outlook, Infiltration)

54.- The Marrying Maiden (Marrying)

55.- Abundance (Goal Reached, Ambition Achieved)

56.- The wanderer (Travel)

57.- The gentle (Subtle Influence)

58.- The joyous (Overt Influence)

59.- Dispersion (Dispersal)

60.- Limitation (Discipline)

61.- Inner truth (Staying Focused, Avoid Misrepresentation)

62.- Small Preponderance (Small Surpassing)

63.- After completion (Completion)

64.- Before completion (Incompletion)

An example of interpretation of a gua, number 47, K’un:                                               __  __

                                                                                                                                                    _____

                                                                                                                                                    _____

                                                                                                                                                    __  __

                                                                                                                                                    _____

                                                                                                                                                    __  __

K'un has two lines of interpretation:

1    1) The lake over the river. Water goes away through the bottom of the lake, and the lake becomes empty (a rather clear interpretation, based on the trigrams)

    2) The bright lines (yang) are blocked by the dark lines (yin) and the light cannot go out (normally it is considered that light goes from the bottom up, although in this case it cannot go out through the bottom either).

They are different interpretations but they converge: both indicate a situation of difficulty that implies anxiety or fatigue (there is no water, there is no light).

This is reflected in the opinion and the image:

‑ Opinion: "Anxiety... Efficiency. Perseverance.

               The wise man (or the noble man, as one prefers) behaves properly. No default.

               If he says something, no one listens to him".

‑ Image: "There is no water in the lake: image of the exhaustion.

                   The wise man (noble) follows its destiny disregarding the difficulties".

Which name to associate with this hexagram? I prefer anxiety, but it could also be exhaustion or fatigue, or difficulty, or oppression, or repression... (in Spanish some people use "la desazón"; in French, "la détresse" ‑that the Petit Robert defines very beautifully as "feeling abandoned and powerless in a difficult and distressing moment"‑; in German, "die Erschöpfung" ‑that underlines the aspect of fatigue, exhaustion‑; English seems to choose “oppression”...).

Interpretation: in difficult moments, when the wise man cannot exert any influence on its environment (nobody listens to him) one should remain in silence, reinforcing interiorly and using few words. Destiny has to be accepted and one has to remain loyal, faithful, towards himself. Serenity, patience and constancy are needed, that will be the grounds of future successes.