Other titles: The Creative, The Symbol of Heaven, The Creative Principle, Force, The Key, Creativity, The Originating, Creative Power, Primal Power, Yang, The Life Force, Kundalini, God the Father
Judgment
Legge:The Dynamic represents what is great and originating, penetrating, advantageous, correct and firm.
Wilhelm/Baynes:The Creative works sublime success, furthering through perseverance.
Blofeld: The Creative Principle . Sublime Success! Persistence in a righteous course brings reward.
Liu:The Creative brings great success, benefiting all through perseverance.
Ritsema/Karcher:Force: Spring Growing Harvesting Trial. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of the primal spirit power that both creates and destroys. It emphasizes that dynamic, unwearied persisting, the action of Force, is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: persist!]
Shaughnessy:The Key: Primary reception; beneficial to determine.
Cleary(1):Heavencreates, develops, brings about fruition and consummation.
Cleary(1): The creative is successful; this is beneficial if correct.
Wu:The Originator is primordial, pervasive, prosperous and persevering.
The Image
Legge: Heaven, in its motion, gives the idea of strength. The superior man, in accordance with this, nerves himself to ceaseless activity.
Wilhelm/Baynes: The movement of heaven is full of power. Thus the superior man makes himself strong and untiring.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes the power of the celestial forces in motion, wherewith the Superior Man labors unceasingly to strengthen his own character.
Liu: Heaven moves powerfully; the superior man strengthens himself unceasingly.
Ritsema/Karcher: Heaven moves persistingly. A Chun tzu uses originating strength not to pause.
Cleary(1): The activity of heaven is powerful; superior people thereby strengthen themselves ceaselessly.
Wu: Heaven moves in full strength. Thus the jun zi strives ceaselessly to be self-reliant.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: All things owe their inception to the vast and originating power of The Dynamic. It contains all the meaning of the word: Heaven. Clouds move, rain falls, and the myriad things appear in their created forms. The sages comprehend the link between the end and the beginning. They understand how the changes of the six lines of the hexagram are accomplished, each in its season, and with this knowledge they ascend toward Heaven as though mounted on six dragons. The intent of The Dynamic is to transform everything so that it reflects its correct nature as originally conceived by the mind of Heaven. Thereafter, this great harmony is preserved in union and firm correctness. The sage appears aloft, high above all things, and the myriad states are harmoniously united.
Legge: For the Chinese, the dragon has been from the earliest times a symbol of dignity, wisdom, sovereignty and sagehood. It is the symbol of the superior man, and especially the "great man," exhibiting all the virtues and attributes of Heaven. Although the dragon's home is in the water, it can disport itself on land, and also fly through the air.
The sage rules in the world of men as Heaven rules nature. He sees the connection between the end and the beginning as the law of cause and effect in the operations of nature and human affairs. The various steps in that course are symbolized by the lines of the hexagram, and the ideal sage, conducting his ideal government, is represented as driving through the sky in a carriage drawn by six dragons.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment:The Dynamic is the life force itself.
The Superior Man tirelessly furthers the Great Work of Transformation.
The image of a dragon appears in every line of this hexagram, except the third. Like most symbols, the dragon has both a positive and a negative aspect. In Western myth, it is usually an adversary which the hero must conquer before he can obtain a treasure or often, a captive maiden. The Chinese, on the other hand, regard the dragon positively. Blofeld comments:
In China, the dragon has always been regarded as a highly admirable creature of celestial origin. Dragons provide rain; make rivers run and rule the ocean. The European dragon is clearly of another species.
This seeming anomaly may say more about how east and west perceive the forces of nature, rather than refer to any true differences in the forces perceived.
Wilhelm compares the dragon to the electrical energy within a thunderstorm -- as lightning it can destroy us, but in the form of electricity it can be harnessed to do useful work. A dragon is nothing if not a huge serpent, and this suggests the idea of the "serpent power," or Kundalini energy which when aroused in the human body has been likened to a sudden jolt of electricity running up from the base of the spine to the top of the head. The Kundalini force is equated in turn with sexual energy -- dynamic power which ensures the continuance of all but the most primitive of living organisms. Without the powerful energy of sexuality, life as we know it could not exist.
When the dragon remains unconquered in the cave-like depths of the unconscious, the life force autonomously rules our lives and we become passive vehicles for random desires and appetites. This "electricity" will flow wherever it finds a circuit of least resistance, and under these conditions an individual's life is largely "created" by chance and circumstance. When one begins the Work, the task of Individuation, one assumes the role of the hero or warrior, who does battle with the dragon in order to bring it under his will. This is a great struggle, and success is not guaranteed, but if one is able to control the primordial power of the life force, the treasure (or the maiden, which in the male psyche amounts to the same thing), is obtained. This is tantamount to attaining a higher level of consciousness -- in its highest form it constitutes "enlightenment."
The symbolism of all of the hexagrams works on many different levels, and this is especially true of the first two, which must be studied together for a full comprehension of each. (Kabbalists, for example, will recognize in these two figures the same forces found in Chokmah and Binah on the Tree of Life.) For the purposes of this comparison it must be noted that the first hexagram symbolizes Heaven, and the second symbolizes Earth: Force and Form. (As consciousness is to the body it inhabits, so Force is to Form and Heaven to Earth.) Form is magnetic, or "negative" in polarity, and Force is dynamic, or "positive."
In esoteric symbolism "Heaven" does not mean the universe above us -- it means the consciousness within us. This polarity is also reflected in the relationship between the ego and the Self -- in a properly regulated psyche, the ego is always magnetic to the dynamic Self.
There is an invisible universe within the visible one, a world of causes within the world of effects. There is force within matter, and the two are one, and are dependent for their existence on a third, which is the mysterious cause of their existence. There is a world of soul within a world of matter, and the two are one, and caused by the world of spirit.
F. Hartmann -- Paracelsus: Life and Prophecies
SUGGESTIONS FOR MEDITATION
To get a fuller grasp of the numinously beautiful structure of the I Ching and the transcendent reality which it reflects, one should meditate on each of the hexagrams as often as possible -- one can never exhaust their meaning. The first two hexagrams (because they are the "cosmic parents" of all the others), are especially rich in their associations. Here are a few suggestions for meditation:
1. Compare and contrast the general ideas in the first three hexagrams, noting how the third is a logical progression of the first two.
2. The Confucian commentary on The Dynamic is particularly rich in meaning. Read it over and over again -- it contains the principles of the Work as outlined in more detail in the other hexagrams. Compare the sixth sentence with the ideas in hexagram number twenty, Contemplation.
3. Compare the first two hexagrams with hexagram number eleven, Harmony, and number twelve, Divorcement, noting the implications of the symbolism in terms of the proper management of the Work.
Legge: The fifth dynamic line shows its subject as the dragon on the wing in the sky. It will be advantageous to meet with the great man.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Flying dragon in the heavens. It furthers one to see the great man.
Blofeld: The dragon wings across the sky; it is advantageous to visit a great man.
Liu: The dragon flies in the heavens. There is benefit in meeting a great man.
Ritsema/Karcher: Flying dragon located-in heaven. Harvesting: visualizing Great People.
Shaughnessy: Flying dragon in the heavens; beneficial to see the great man.
Cleary(1): The flying dragon is in the sky: it is beneficial to see a great person.
Cleary(2): … Beneficial to see great people.
Wu: The flying dragon is in the sky. It will be advantageous to see the great man.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: The great man rouses himself to his work. Wilhelm/ Baynes: This shows the great man at work. Blofeld: This passage presages the emergence of a being who is truly great. Ritsema/Karcher: Great People creating indeed. Wu: This signifies success of the great man.
The Master said:"Notes of the same key vibrate in harmony, birds of a feather flock together. Water descends and fire ascends. Clouds follow the dragon, and the winds follow the tiger. When the sage appears, all men look up to him. Heavenly things ascend, earthly things descend -- so does everything follow its kind."
Miscellaneous notes: The subject of the line commands from above. This shows that his position is based upon heavenly virtue. The attributes of the great man are in harmony with Heaven and Earth: his intelligence is like the sun and moon; his procedures are like the four seasons, and his equilibrium
resonates with the powers of the inner worlds. If he precedes Heaven, Heaven will not oppose him; if he follows Heaven, he will follow its laws. If Heaven does not oppose, how much less will men or spiritual forces!
Legge: The fifth is almost always the place of honor and authority in the hexagram, and here the great man is seen as the sage on the throne. The argument is that as things of the same kind respond to and seek one another, so is it with the sage and ordinary men. They are of the same kind, though far apart; and when a sage appears, all other men look to him with admiration and hope. Ch'eng-tzu says here that "Heaven and Earth are another name for Tao, and that because the sage is in harmony with the Tao or practical reason of the universe, how could men or spirits be contrary to him?"
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: In due time, the man makes his appearance and sets about his work, like the dragon on wing in the heavens. His beneficent influence spreads over the world.
Wing: Whatever you choose to do is in accord with the cosmos. Your thinking is clearheaded. Because of this your influence is great and your milieu will look to you for inspiration.
Editor: Whatever the specific meaning of this line may be in regard to the situation at hand, it is a very powerful omen. If this is the only changing line, the new hexagram created is number fourteen, Wealth. The alchemists regarded the winged dragon as the "volatile element," which is exactly what is pictured here. Wings enable entities to travel in the element of air: the mental realm of thought. The image suggests the life force breaking free into a higher plane -- this could refer to anything from the invention of a better mousetrap to the attainment of an enlightened state of awareness. One is cautioned however, not to get carried away with this sudden release of power -- it is always advantageous to meet with the "great man" -- that is, stay connected to the best that is in you lest you ascend to the condition imaged in line six. That the great man "rouses himself to his work" suggests that an open and decorous handling of one's power is in accordance with the intent of the Self from which it emanates.
The hero's main feat is to overcome the monster of darkness: it is the long hoped-for and expected triumph of consciousness over the unconscious. The coming of consciousness was probably the most tremendous experience of primeval times, for with it a world came into being whose existence no one expected before. "And God said, Let there be light'" is the projection of that immemorial experience of the separation of consciousness from the unconscious.
Jung -- The Archetypes and the Collective UnconsciousA. Incredible energy is being released within the psyche. Maintain your connection with your best intuition.
B. You are in harmony with your Tao.
C. You have all the power you need to achieve your goal.
Legge: The sixth dynamic line shows its subject as a dragon exceeding the proper limits. There will be occasion for repentance.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Arrogant dragon will have cause to repent.
Blofeld: A willful dragon has cause for regret.
Liu: The dragon is arrogant and will have cause to repent.
Ritsema/Karcher: Overbearing dragon possesses repenting.
Shaughnessy: Resisting dragon; there is regret.
Cleary(1): A proud dragon has regrets.
Cleary(2): At the peak, the dragon has regret.
Wu: The arrogant dragon will have regret.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: A state of fullness cannot be made to last forever. Wilhelm/Baynes: What is full cannot last. Blofeld: This signifies that not for long will his cup be full. Ritsema/Karcher: Overfilling, not permitting lasting indeed. Wu: A state of fullness may not be had for long.
The master said: "Although noble, he is not in his proper place; although exalted, there are none to acknowledge him. There are men of virtue and ability below, but he does nothing to assist them. Hence whatever he does will lead to regret."
Miscellaneous notes: When the mean is exceeded, calamity ensues. It is too late now -- the time of opportunity has passed. He only knows how to advance, but not how to retreat; he knows life, but not death; how to gain, but not how to lose. He can dish it out, but he can't take it --only the sage understands such things, but he is not a sage.
Legge: The dragon appears in the sixth line as going beyond the proper limits. The ruling-sage has gone through all the spheres in which he is called on to display his attributes, and now it is time for him to relax. The line should not always be pulled tight, the bow should not always be kept drawn. The continuous use of force will give occasion for repentance. In short, the exalted shall be abased.
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Siu: There is always danger in circumstances of abundance. The inferior man pushes forward through excessive ambition, thereby losing touch with men of talent and virtue in positions below him. The ruling sage knows when to display his qualities and to relax, to maintain and to let go, to win and not to lose.
Wing: Your ambitions far exceed the possibilities of your Creative Power. If you pursue this dream you will lose touch with reality and lose contact with your community. You will no longer know how to behave appropriately and will ultimately regret your actions.
Editor: The high-flying dragon of the fifth line has gone too far and the energy which began in the unconscious depths of line number one has now become unbalanced power which is doomed to exhaustion and failure. We are reminded of the saying: "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." If this is the only changing line, the hexagram becomes number forty-three, Breakthrough -- in this instance suggesting break-down into a condition of chaos. The corresponding line of that hexagram says: "Shows its subject without any helpers on whom to call. Her end will be evil." The injunction to maintain connected with the Self has been ignored, and one is left to suffer the consequences. Note however that there is an implicit qualifier in this line: it states what happens when one is arrogant: it doesn’t necessarily state that the querent is arrogant. Often the line seems to be more of a reminder about cause and effect than a fait accompli. Wilhelm/Baynes show this best: “[An] Arrogant dragon will have cause to repent.”
Just as a negative inflation brings life to a standstill, so a positive inflation, causing the ego to feel itself powerful, dominant, and "always right," is likewise against life. For a person whose ego suffers from such an invasion of nonpersonal powers does not contact life directly either. Instead of facing life and its tasks realistically on the level of his actual attainments, he approaches them with the assumption that he is master.
M.E. Harding -- Psychic Energy
A. Arrogant illusions of power will destroy you.
B. Without guidance from the Self, the ego creates chaos.
SPECIAL NOTE:
Editor: If all of the lines of The Dynamic are changing, an extremely momentous situation is indicated. This and hexagram number two, The Magnetic,are the only figures in which such a configuration is commented upon; hence, these are arguably the two strongest images the oracle has to offer.
Legge: If the host of dragons thus appearing were to divest themselves of their heads, there would be good fortune.
Wilhelm/Baynes: There appears a flight of dragons without heads. Good fortune.
Blofeld: A brood of headless dragons appears; good fortune.
Ritsema/Karcher: Visualizing flocking dragons without a head.
Significant.
Shaughnessy: See the flock of dragons without heads; auspicious.
Cleary(1): Having dragons appear without heads is good.
Cleary(2): Using yang, you see a group of headless dragons; this is auspicious.
Wu: There appears a group of dragons without a leader. Auspicious. [If the transformation of all the six yang (dragons) takes place together as a group without any one yang trying to lead the others, hence “without a leader,” the transformed hexagram will be The Magnetic, the pure yin hexagram. And this will be great … In terms of human affairs, the message here simply is: Do your work the best you can, but don’t think you are very much better than everyone else. When you are ready to lead, your purpose should be serving your fellow men, but not self-serving.]
Further Commentaries (from Wilhelm)
"When The Creative, the great, undergoes change in all the [lines], the world is set in order."
"When The Creative, the great, undergoes change in all the [lines], one perceives the law of heaven."
Editor: Wu’s interpretation of “head” as “leader” makes more sense than any of the other translations.
Personal Note: The very first time I ever consulted theI ChingI received The Dynamic with all changing lines. At the time I didn't understand it, and it meant nothing to me; in retrospect I see that it was a portent which has changed my entire life.
Other titles: The Power of the Great, The Symbol of Great Vigor, Persons of Great Authority, Great Strength, Great Invigorating, Great Maturity, Accumulated Force, The Strength of the Mighty, Righteous Power, Excessive Force
Judgment
Legge:Great Power necessitates firm correctness.
Wilhelm/Baynes:The Power of the Great. Perseverance furthers.
Blofeld: The Power of the Great. Persistence in a righteous course brings reward. [This hexagram with a solid group of firm lines topped by a small number of yielding lines obviously signifies strength -- in this case the power to succeed in spite of difficulties. Much of what follows concerns goats -- a symbol presumably suggested by the form of the hexagram, namely a solid body distinguished by a pair of horns -- the yielding lines at the top.]
Liu: Great Power. It is of benefit to continue.
Ritsema/Karcher: Great Invigorating , Harvesting Trial. [This hexagram describes your situation in terms of the invigorating power of a central creative idea. It emphasizes that animating everything around you through this guiding motivation is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to invigorate through the great!]
Shaughnessy: Great Maturity: Beneficial to determine.
Cleary(1):Great power is beneficial when correct.
Wu: Great Strength indicates that it is advantageous to be persevering.
The Image
Legge: The image of thunder over heaven forms the hexagram of Great Power. The superior man, in accordance with this, does not take one step that is not in accordance with propriety.
Wilhelm/Baynes: Thunder in heaven above: The image of The Power of the Great. Thus the superior man does not tread upon paths that do not accord with established order.
Blofeld: This hexagram symbolizes thunder in the sky. The Superior Man never takes a step involving impropriety. [Note: The combination of trigrams meaning thunder and sky suggests something of the awe-inspiring quality of the truly great.]
Liu: Thunder in the sky above symbolizes Great Power. The superior man's conduct does not oppose the rules.
Ritsema/Karcher: Thunder located above heaven. Great Invigorating. A chun tzu uses no codes whatever, nowhere treading.
Cleary (1): Thunder is up in the sky, with great power. Thus do superior people refrain from what is improper.
Cleary (2): … Developed people do not do what is improper.
Wu: There is thunder above heaven; this is Great Strength. Thus the jun zi does not practice what is not proper.
COMMENTARY
Confucius/Legge: In Great Powerwe see that which is great becoming strong. The trigram of Strength directs the trigram of Movement, and hence the whole is expressive of vigor. But that which is great necessitates firm correctness. The attributes of heaven and earth are displayed when firmness and correctness attain their ideal state.
Legge: Because the dynamic lines predominate in Great Power,the figure suggests a state in which there is an abundance of strength and vigor. Is strength alone enough for the conduct of affairs? Of course not! Strength must always be subordinated to the idea of right, and exerted only in harmony with it.
The lower trigram symbolizes Strength, the upper symbolizes Movement. In the Confucian commentary, "that which is great” denotes the group of four dynamic lines which strikes us on looking at the figure, and also the superior men in positions of power, of whom these are the representatives. That the attributes of heaven and earth are displayed means that the power of men should be a reflection of the great power which we see impartially working in nature.
Ch'eng-tzu says on the Image: "Thunder rolling in the sky and making all things shake is the symbol of Great Power." In relating its application to man, he quotes a beautiful saying of antiquity: "The strong man is he who overcomes himself."
NOTES AND PARAPHRASES
Judgment: Control yourself.
The Superior Man does nothing that is not in accordance with the principles of the Work.
Wilhelm and Blofeld translate this hexagram as The Power of the Great., but I prefer Liu's rendition of Great Power, because it has a more neutral connotation. The Power of the Great suggests the might of kings and emperors, and implies "superior" power wielded at one's own discretion. It is too easy to misinterpret this hexagram as a clear injunction to take unilateral action. Such is seldom the case -- the hexagram depicts a charge of latent energy which must be properly managed.
The figure is usually compared with the image of a ram or goat -- the four lower dynamic lines being the body, and the two upper magnetic lines representing the horns. Since this hexagram is the preceding figure of Retreat turned upside down, one can imagine the two together as a person retreating across a pasture pursued by a charging beast. The ram/goat is mentioned in four of the six lines of the hexagram. This is certainlyGreat Power, but in such a crude form it cannot be truthfully called The Power of the Great.
Truly Great Power, as the Judgment tells us, is derived from our will to restrain our emotions, instincts and appetites. Note that lines two and four are the most positively forceful lines in the hexagram and that both imply restraint of power as the proper way to attain one's goals. Without changing lines, the hexagram sometimes refers to provocations in which one is "legitimately” tempted to a self-righteous display of "power.” Remember that other people's ego-trips are none of your concern: the superior man does not respond to them with other than dignified reserve. Regard it as a test and be joyful if you pass it!
Everything found in later literature seems to indicate that these meditative schools required a strong discipline and faithful adherence to a strict regimen. The schools were extremely demanding, and were open only to those willing to devote themselves totally. Before even being admitted to one of these ancient meditative schools, a person had to be not only spiritually advanced but in complete control of all his emotions and feelings. Beyond that, the disciplines of the Torah and commandments were central to these schools, and these disciplines required a degree of self-mastery to which not everyone could aspire.
Aryeh Kaplan -- Jewish Meditation