T'ai / Peace
above: K'un The Receptive, Earth
below: Ch'ien The Creative, Heaven
Nine in the second place means:
Bearing with the uncultured in gentleness,
Fording the river with resolution,
Not neglecting what is distant,
Not regarding one's companions:
Thus one may manage to walk in the middle.
In times of prosperity it is important and above all to possess enough
greatness of soul to bear with imperfect people. For in the hands of a
great master no material is unproductive; he can find use for
everything. But this generosity is by no means laxity or weakness. It
is during times of prosperity especially that we must always be ready
to risk even dangerous undertakings, such as the crossing of a river,
if they are necessary. So too we must not neglect what is distant but
must attend scrupulously to everything. Factionalism and the dominance
of cliques are especially to be avoided. Even if people of like mind
come forward together, they ought not to form a faction by holding
together for mutual advantage; instead, each man should do is duty.
These are four ways in which one can overcome the hidden danger of a
gradual slackening that always lurks in any time of peace. And that is
how one finds the middle way for action.