Sprouting (3)
5
1
The Judgement
DIFFICULTY AT THE BEGINNING works supreme success,Furthering through perseverance.
Nothing should be undertaken.
It furthers one to appoint helpers.
The Image
Clouds and thunder:The image of DIFFICULTY AT THE BEGINNING.
Thus the superior man
Brings order out of confusion.
Line Poems
- 6 - Horse and wagon part. Bloody tears flow.
- 5 - Difficulties in blessing. A little perseverance brings good fortune. Great perseverance brings misfortune.
- 4 - Horse and wagon part. Strive for union. To go brings good fortune. Everything acts to further.
- 3 - Whoever hunts deer without the forester Only loses his way in the forest. The superior man understands the signs of the time And prefers to desist. To go on brings humiliation.
- 2 - Difficulties pile up. Horse and wagon part. He is not a robber; He wants to woo when the time comes. The maiden is chaste, She does not pledge herself. Ten years—then she pledges herself.
- 1 - Hesitation and hindrance. It furthers one to remain persevering. It furthers one to appoint helpers.
Commentary
The name of the hexagram, Chun, really connotes a blade of grass pushing against an obstacle as it sprouts out of the earth—hence the meaning, “difficulty at the beginning.”The hexagram indicates the way in which heaven and earth bring forth individual beings.
It is their first meeting, which is beset with difficulties.
The lower trigram Chên is the Arousing; its motion is upward and its image is thunder.
The upper trigram K’an stands for the Abysmal, the dangerous.
Its motion is downward and its image is rain.
The situation points to teeming, chaotic profusion; thunder and rain fill the air.
But the chaos clears up.
While the Abysmal sinks, the upward movement eventually passes beyond the danger.
A thunderstorm brings release from tension, and all things breathe freely again.
