I Ching: Sunday, September 27

One of the sixty-four hexagrams

This is an archived reading, kept as it was published.

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Keeping Still

Hexagram 52 is mountain over mountain, the trigram of stopping doubled, and one of the earliest meditation instructions in Chinese literature. The Judgment is technical: keeping the back still so that he no longer feels the body; he walks in his courtyard and does not see the people there. Stillness is located in the back, where there is no sensation and no wanting, not in a mind trying to quieten itself. The Image defines concentration as a boundary: thoughts that stay inside their situation. Today, stop, where your thoughts have run ahead of your circumstances. Bring them back to the courtyard. The stillness is physical before it is mental.

For your star sign

The same reading, taken through each sign of the zodiac.

Aries

Stillness is the one thing you have no method for. Today the method is the back: hold it still and the rest follows. Do not try to quieten the mind; it quietens when the body does.

Taurus

You are the mountain already. Today the hexagram doubles it. Stay in the courtyard and let the thoughts stay inside the situation, which is the one kind of stillness you have not practised.

Gemini

Your thoughts leave the courtyard before you have entered it. Today keep them inside the walls. The Image is a boundary on thinking, and it is the hardest instruction in the book for you.

Cancer

You keep still and feel everything. Today keep the back still, where there is no feeling. The Judgment locates the stillness there on purpose, away from the heart.

Leo

He walks in his courtyard and does not see the people there. Today that is the practice: be among people and not perform for them. Stillness with an audience is the mountain doubled.

Virgo

You will make stillness a task with steps. It has one: the back. Today hold it and let the thoughts stay inside the situation rather than inspecting it.

Libra

Your thoughts go to the other side of every question. Today they stay on this side, in the courtyard, with what is actually in front of you. Concentration is a boundary, not a balance.

Scorpio

You are still on the surface and racing underneath. Today still the back, and the racing has nowhere to run. The hexagram is physical first for exactly that reason.

Sagittarius

Your thoughts are three countries away. Today bring them back to the courtyard and keep them there. Mountain over mountain is the horizon refused.

Capricorn

You will keep still and plan. Today no planning. Thoughts beyond the situation are what the Image forbids, and the plan is the furthest they go.

Aquarius

You will keep the body still and let the mind travel. The hexagram says the reverse: still the back, and the thoughts stay home. Today try it the way the text says.

Pisces

You are still easily and empty easily. Today the stillness has a boundary: the situation. Stay inside it, present, rather than dissolving out of it.

For your Chinese animal

The same reading, taken through each animal of the Chinese zodiac.

Rat

Your mind is already in tomorrow's courtyard. Today keep it in this one. The Image is thought that stays inside its own circumstances, and yours rarely does.

Ox

You are the mountain and this is your hexagram doubled. Today the addition is the back: not endurance, stillness. There is no wanting there, and that is the point.

Tiger

Keeping still is not in you and today it is the whole instruction. Hold the back for ten minutes. The mind cannot be quietened; the body can, and the mind follows.

Rabbit

You keep still to avoid notice. Today keep still to see. He walks in his courtyard and does not see the people; the stillness is not hiding, it is presence with the boundary drawn.

Dragon

You will keep still on a throne and think about the empire. Today the courtyard. Thoughts beyond the situation are the ones the Image forbids, and the empire is beyond it.

Snake

You are still and your thoughts are not. Today still the back and the thoughts come home. The hexagram is technical because the mind cannot be told to stop directly.

Horse

Mountain over mountain is the road closed twice. Today do not look for a third. Keep the body still and the thoughts inside the courtyard, and the road is there tomorrow.

Goat

You keep still and worry. Today keep the back still, where there is no worry because there is no sensation. The Judgment is precise about the location.

Monkey

Stillness bores you within a minute. Today make it two. The Image is a boundary on thinking, and the boredom is the thoughts trying to leave the courtyard.

Rooster

You will keep still and inspect the stillness. Today do not. The back does not inspect; it holds, and the thoughts stay inside what is in front of you.

Dog

You will keep still and watch for threats. Today the courtyard has none. Let the vigilance go with the wanting, and the stillness is what the hexagram means.

Pig

You keep still easily and drift. Today the stillness has a boundary: the situation. Stay awake inside it. Mountain over mountain is present, not asleep.

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