K^ en / Keeping Still, Mountain
above:K^ en Keeping Still, Mountain
below:K^ en Keeping Still, Mountain
When one's resting is like that of the back, and he loses all
consciousness of self; when he walks in his courtyard and does
not see any (of the persons) in it, there will be no error.
Overall Meaning
Checking, keeping still, the symbol of stability
The trigram Kan represents a mountain. Mountains rise up grandly from
the surface of the earth, and their masses rest on it in quiet and solemn
majesty; and they serve also to arrest the onward progress of the traveller.
Hence the attribute ascribed to Kan is twofold; it is both active and passive
- resting and arresting. The character is used in this hexagram with both of
those significations. As the name of the figure, it denotes the mental
characteristic of resting in what is right; especially resting, as it is
expressed by Chinese critics, 'in principle', - that which is right, on the
widest scale, and in the absolute conception of the mind; and that which is
right in every different position in which a man can be placed. We find this
treated of in the Great Learning (Commentary, chapter 3), and in the Doctrine
of the Mean, chapter 14, and other places. This is the theme of the
hexagram; and the symbolism of it is all taken from different parts of the
human body, as in hexagram 31, and the way in which they are dealt with.
Several of the paragraphs are certainly not easy to translate and interpret.
The other parts of the body, such as the mouth, eyes and ears, have their
appetencies, which lead them to what is without themselves. The back alone
has nothing to do with anything beyond itself - hardly with itself even; all
that it has to do is stand straight and strong. So should it be with us,
resting in principle, free from the intrusion of selfish thoughts and
external objects. Amidst society, he who realizes the idea of the hexagram
is still alone, and does not allow himself to be distracted from the
contemplation and following of principle. He is not a recluse, however, who
keeps aloof from social life; but his distinction is that he maintains a
supreme regard to principle, when alone, and when mingling with others.