K'un / The Receptive
above: K'un The Receptive, Earth
below: K'un The Receptive, Earth
This hexagram is made up of broken lines only. The broken lines
represents the dark, yielding, receptive primal power of yin. The
attribute of the hexagram is devotion; its image is the earth. It is
the perfect complement of THE CREATIVE--the complement, not the
opposite, for the Receptive does not combat the Creative but completes
it. It represents nature in contrast to spirit, earth in contrast to
heaven, space as against time, the female-maternal as against the
male-paternal. However, as applied to human affairs, the principle of
this complementary relationship is found not only in the relation
between man and woman, but also in that between prince and minister and
between father and son. Indeed, even in the individual this duality
appears in the coexistence of the spiritual world and the world of the
senses.
But strictly speaking there is no real dualism here, because there is a
clearly defined hierarchic relationship between the two principles. In
itself of course the Receptive is just as important as the Creative,
but the attribute of devotion defines the place occupied by this primal
power in relation to the Creative. For the Receptive must be activated
and led by the Creative; then it is productive of good. Only when it
abandons this position and tries to stand as an equal side by side with
the Creative, does it become evil. The result then is opposition to and
struggle against the Creative, which is productive of evil to both.
The Judgement
THE RECEPTIVE brings about sublime success,
Furthering through the perseverance of a mare.
If the superior man undertakes something and tries to lead,
He goes astray;
But if he follows, he finds guidance.
It is favorable to find friends in the west and south,
To forego friends in the east and north.
Quiet perseverance brings good fortune.
The four fundamental aspects of the Creative--"sublime success,
furthering through perseverance"--are also attributed to the Receptive.
Here, however, the perseverance is more closely defined: it is that of
a mare. The Receptive connotes spatial reality in contrast to the
spiritual potentiality of the Creative. The potential becomes real and
the spiritual becomes spatial through a specifically qualifying
definition. Thus the qualification, "of a mare," is here added to the
idea of perseverance. The horse belongs to earth just as the dragon
belongs to heaven. Its tireless roaming over the plains is taken as a
symbol of the vast expanse of the earth. This is the symbol chosen
because the mare combines the strength and swiftness of the horse with
the gentleness and devotion of the cow.
Only because nature in its myriad forms corresponds with the myriad
impulses of the Creative can it make these impulses real. Nature's
richness lies in its power to nourish all living things; its greatness
lies in its power to give then beauty and splendor. Thus it prospers
all that lives. It is the Creative that begets things, but they are
brought to birth by the Receptive. Applied to human affairs, therefore,
what the hexagram indicated is action in conformity with the situation.
The person in questions not in an independent position, but is acting
as an assistant. This means that he must achieve something. It is not
his task to try to lead--that would only make him lose the way--but to
let himself be led. If he knows how to meet fate with an attitude of
acceptance, he is sure to find the right guidance. The superior man
lets himself be guided; he does not go ahead blindly, but learns from
the situation what is demanded of him and then follows this intimation
from fate.
Since there is something to be accomplished, we need friends and
helpers in the hour of toil and effort, once the ideas to be realized
are firmly set. The time of toil and effort is indicated by the west
and south, for west and south symbolize the place where the Receptive
works for the Creative, as nature does in summer and autumn. If in that
situation one does not mobilize all one's powers, the work to be
accomplished will not be done. Hence to find friends there means to
find guidance. But in addition to the time of toil and effort, there is
also a time of planning, and for this we need this solitude. The east
symbolized the place where a man receives orders from his master, and
the north the place where he reports on what he has done. At that time
he must be alone and objective. In this sacred hour he must do without
companions. So that the purity of the moment may not be spoiled by
fictional hates and favoritism.
The Image
The earth's condition is receptive devotion.
Thus the superior man who has breadth of character
Carries the outer world.
Just as there is only one heaven, so too there is only one earth. In
the hexagram of heaven the doubling of the trigram implies duration in
time, but in the hexagram of earth the doubling connotes the solidity
and extension in space by virtue of which the earth is able to carry
and preserve all things that live and move upon it. The earth in its
devotion carries all things, good and evil,, without exception. In the
same way the superior man gives to his character breadth, purity, and
sustaining power, so that he is able both to support and to bear with
people and things.