Riding the Wind

Another place where the wind trigram is prominent is in hexagram forty four. The irony here is that the hexagram as a whole does not really pertain to this, at least not on surface observance, but the image certainly has something to say of it. The hexagram as a whole on one level warns us of not recognizing a dangerous element in the beginning because it seems so small and powerless. As such we do not take the initiative and remove it from our lives. On a taoist level it has more to do with the rising of energy through the spine up into the pineal gland. Something we won't go into here.

But the similarity of the image with hexagram twenty is noted in the commentary on the image. The commentary says, "The situation here resembles that in hexagram twenty, Kuan, CONTEMPLATION (VIEW). In the latter the wind blows over the earth, here it blows under heaven,; in both cases it goes everywhere." The idea once again is that the ruler, or teacher, gives commandments to men, which are meant for his benefit, not as a means of establishing tyranny.

In hexagram twenty however, the ruler is a little closer to his people. In hexagram forty four the populace is not necessarily listening. The key to hexagram forty four is that the conditions of meeting, or "union" is based on ulterior motives. As long as there are ulterior motives, the union can not be properly formed, and the teachings of the sage cannot be properly implemented. As long as we have ulterior motives we will never truly understand the message of the sage, or in other words, the true meaning of the I Ching. Hexagram forty eight line three says, "The well is cleaned, but no one drinks from it. This is my heart's sorrow." The I Ching is expressing its own sorrow that it's wisdom is being ignored, as it always will be as long as our hearts are distracted by the "foolish things of the world," and not by the true things of the spirit. As long as there are ulterior motives one cannot set aflame the wood of hexagram fifty to keep the fire burning and transform him or herself into a new being called a "Chuang Tzu," or Sage.