NAME AND STRUCTURE
Wilhelm translates Zhun as Difficulty at the Beginning. Blofeld translates it as
Difficulty. In this book it is called Beginning. The character for the name of the gua has two meanings and is pronounced in two different ways. In most cases it is pronounced tun, carrying the meaning of gathering, assembling, and filling up with abundance. In ancient China, a warehouse was called tun. In the I Ching, and only in the I Ching, this character bears the meaning of beginning. In this case, it is pronounced zhun.
The ancient Chinese pictograph of this character is a picture of Zhun, which might be the word’s original meaning. The pictograph of Zhun looks like a tiny blade of newly sprouted grass with a root that deeply penetrates the ground. The horizontal line lying across the upper third of the pictograph represents the surface of the ground. Above the ground a tiny sprout is just coming up, and underneath a root penetrates the soil. This picture symbolizes new life. The structure of the gua presents another picture. The lower gua is Thunder. Two yielding lines mount a firm line. The yang element is stuck under the two yin elements. The upper gua is Water. A firm line lies between two yielding lines. The yang element is bogged down between two yin elements. This picture suggests a rough situation for a newly born being. Nevertheless, the newly born being possesses a strong and healthy root, gathering an abundance of life force for its growth.
Most people think of sprouts growing only in spring, but the ancient Chinese realized that there was a life force latent in seed form the whole winter. In addition, the ancients perceived the difficulties of a plant emerging from the ground. The little plant must overcome the pressure of the soil. There must be a wholehearted willingness to grow. Thus, this gua is bestowed with the four outstanding qualities of yuan, heng, li, and zhen, as are Qian and Kun, the first and second gua. Only six gua in The I Ching possess these four qualities. [Huang The Complete I Ching]
A review of a previous Cast made in June 2020 whose Changing Line warned that without sufficient support Trump would face humiliation. That seems to have proven a pretty good call. The attached Document includes a brief Article about the original Cast written in July 2020 and also a re-reading of that same Cast in the light of subsequent events and also using the Horden Mathematical method which learned this summer and which adds a Past Influence and Future Influence Hexagram to the usual Primary (main Hexagram Cast), Derived (the resultant Hexagram once Changing Lines are included) and Nuclear (the Hexagram within the Primary formed by making a new Hexagram from its Lines 2,3,4 and 3,4,5, basically ignoring the first and last lines, revealing the essential underlying dynamic). Although the original reading was quite prescient in warning Trump not to continue without sufficient support, and a later Cast this year repeated that warning (“Arrogant Dragon will have cause to repent”), I gave a positive Judgement to the Cast simply based on the progression of Difficult Beginnings leading to Completion #63 via Treading the Tail of the Tiger #10. It IS possible for Trump to prevail, but only if great things happen and he remains impeccable in navigating through highly charged situations. Odds are that the changing lines will prove prescient once again.
I noticed on this blog that as soon as I mentioned Trump my readership numbers collapsed instantly. Clearly he is part of an extremely controlled and/or divisive dynamic in the US Body Politic. I personally have no attachment or revulsion to the man any more than all major politicians in the West, none of whom has interested me much in decades. Trump seems different somehow. Whether this is true or manufactured by largely controlled media I have no way of knowing. But personally I don’t have strong feelings about him pro or con even though I have been made to accept, rightly or wrongly, that this is not the case for so many others. I find him interesting as a political phenomenon mainly because of the extreme nature of the dynamics around him, what is said and done. The man himself seems like most public figures to me: someone who says things on computer and television screens, none of which I find all that interesting. But apparently this is not how millions of others perceive him. I can accept this, but I remain a little suspicious about the whole phenomenon. Hmm…. maybe will do a Cast about this dynamic……
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