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So, after about a month’s absence, I’m ready to move from watchful, contemplative guan to shi he, biting through. Is it that we’re tired of watching and ready to just bite through the problem? Or is it more that, as Master Huang suggests, after facing things worth quiet contemplation, people tend to draw close together — like two jaws closing in?
He says the two characters that name this hexagram show 1.) an open mouth next to two people tossing yarrow stalks (that is, divining using the I Ching), and 2.) another mouth next to a bronze pot with a lid coming down — a mouth that is closing, in other words. Wilhelm and Huang both also say the actual lines of the hexagram represent two lips (the solid, yang lines at the top and bottom) around teeth that are biting an obstruction (the solid line in the fourth position). I’m not sure if I buy that or not, but it’s a handy way to remember the hexagram.
The image here is of eradicating something to establish justice — biting through the obstacles to peace. It’s the hexagram of criminal cases, or of any violent means to peaceful ends.
Wilhelm tells us more in the Judgement verse:
BITING THROUGH has success.
It is favorable to let justice be administered.When an obstacle to union arises, energetic biting through brings success. This is true in all situations. …Deliberate obstruction…does not vanish of its own accord. Judgment and punishment are required to deter or obviate it.
However, it is important to proceed in the right way. The hexagram combines Li, clarity, and Chên, excitement. Li is yielding, Chên is hard. Unqualified hardness and excitement would be too violent in meting out punishment; unqualified clarity and gentleness would be too weak. The two together create the just measure.
Of course, he’s talking about the two trigrams that make up this hexagram:
FIRE (forceful movement, light) |
|
over |
THUNDER (vigorous motivation, spinning) |
Together, these create an image of thunder and lightning, which is in this context also a picture of swift justice. Wilhelm talks about this in the Image verse:
Clarity prevails when mild and severe penalties are differentiated, according to the nature of the crimes. This is symbolized by the clarity of lightning. The law is strengthened by a just application of penalties. This is symbolized by the terror of thunder. This clarity and severity have the effect of instilling respect; it is not that the penalties are ends in themselves. …The only way to strengthen the law is to make it clear and make penalties certain and swift.
Personally, I kind of favor this kind of far-out commentary on shamans with teeth rather than stern, quick-thinking judges, but let’s not confuse things here.
The Lines make clear that what this hexagram is about is the comparison between punishment (as something a society has to do to keep running smoothly) and biting (as something animals have to do to stay alive and well-defended). If the dog bites you, learn from it. And if you’re facing a stubborn problem, bite through it quickly, precisely, and without hesitation.
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I’m using the Wilhelm/Baynes translation from the comprehensive Wengu collection or the user-friendly Eclectic Energies site. Feel like going deeper? Check out Hong Kong’s Taoist Culture & Information Centre’s I Ching page, and the essays & reviews on Ma Xia’s Yijing Page
