Name: The Fool
Number: 0
Article: yes
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Ground: K'an, Chên, K'un
Meaning:
Wu Wang / Innocence (The Unexpected)
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The Hexagram
Wu Wang / Innocence (The Unexpected)
Above CH'IEN THE CREATIVE, HEAVEN
Below CHÊN THE AROUSING, THUNDER
Ch'ien,
heaven is above; Chên, movement, is below. The lower trigram
Chên is under the influence of the strong line it has received
from above, from heaven. When, in accord with this, movement follows
the law of heaven, man is innocent and without guile. His mind is
natural and true, unshadowed by reflection or ulterior designs. For
wherever conscious purpose is to be seen, there the truth and innocence
of nature have been lost. Nature that is not directed by the spirit is
not true but degenerate nature. Starting out with the idea of the
natural, the train of thought in part goes somewhat further and thus
the hexagram includes also the idea of the unintentional or unexpected.
The Judgment
INNOCENCE. Supreme success.
Perseverance furthers.
If someone is not as he should be,
He has misfortune,
And it does not further him
To undertake anything.
Man
has received from heaven a nature innately good, to guide him in all
his movements. By devotion to this divine spirit within himself, he
attains an unsullied innocence that leads him to do right with
instinctive sureness and without any ulterior thought of reward and
personal advantage. This instinctive certainty brings about supreme
success and "furthers through perseverance". However, not everything
instinctive is nature in this higher sense of the word, but only that
which is right and in accord with the will of heaven. Without this
quality of rightness, an unreflecting, instinctive way of acting brings
only misfortune. Confucius says about this: "He who departs from
innocence, what does he come to? Heaven's will and blessing do not go
with his deeds. "
The Image
Under heaven thunder rolls:
All things attain the natural state of innocence.
Thus the kings of old,
Rich in virtue, and in harmony with the time,
Fostered and nourished all beings.
In
springtime when thunder, life energy, begins to move again under the
heavens, everything sprouts and grows, and all beings receive from the
creative activity of nature the childlike innocence of their original
state. So it is with the good rulers of mankind: drawing on the
spiritual wealth at their command, they take care of all forms of life
and all forms of culture and do everything to further them, and at the
proper time.