شش خطی 25
بی‌گمانی، بی‌خطایی، ناپاک نشدن (Wu Wang)

Fidelity means wholehearted sincerity without duplicity. As for the qualities of the hexagram, above is heaven , strong and below is thunder , active. Being active, firm and strong, wherever one’s determination lies, one carries it out; therefore it is called fidelity.

This hexagram represents vigorous advancement of yang; it follows on the previous hexagram stripping away. Stripping away means that when one submits to one’s desires, yin strips away yang. The stripping away of yang is all because of not knowing how to advance yang, and having it stripped away by yin. If you know how to advance yang, and with total attention purely on reality, twenty-four hours a day, without interruption, consider essence and life the one matter of importance, then external things cannot thwart you, and you can gradually reach true fidelity, the state of integration with celestial principle; this is fidelity with the path of creation and development.

In the hexagram, the action is in the inside; this is setting the will on the Tao. Once the heart is set on the Tao and the living potential is activated, the original creative energy returns. In the hexagram the strength is on the outside; this is earnestness in practice. When earnest in practice, celestial qualities can be cultivated and the original creative energy can grow. It is through this restoration and growth that fidelity is creative and developmental.

However, though one be capable of creativity and development, it is of course inevitable that it is only beneficial if the action is correct and the strength is correct. When action is correct, the original creative energy is not damaged; when strength is correct, the original creative energy increases. By correct fidelity, the mind of Tao is always present, the human mentality becomes extinct, and one sees again the original self as it really is, at peace, unmoved by myriad things.

If fidelity is not right, then when one acts it is not at the right time, and exertion of strength is inappropriate; though one originally wanted fidelity, without error, on the contrary one produces falsehood and error—this is called disaster, in which case it is not beneficial to go anywhere. The advancement of yang is aimed at fidelity to truth, because there is vanity and falsehood; fidelity that is not right does things on the basis of the human mind, acting in pursuit of personal desires. Then the medicinal substances are not genuine, the firing process is amiss—how can one complete the great Path? Therefore the path of fidelity, in which creation and development are inherent, is most beneficial when correctly oriented; only then is it genuine fidelity, without error.

No error means no wandering mind and no arbitrary action. Above is heaven , below is thunder ; thunder moves under heaven. When thunder is active in accord with the times of nature, myriad things stir with it; as long as the thunder is without error, myriad things also are without error. This is the image of no error.

What the ancient kings saw in this was that just as nature gives birth caused the Tao of perfect sincerity without error to flourish, fulfilling themselves and fulfilling others, responding to the times of nature, nurturing myriad beings, causing all to live according to their true natures, and to eventually be free from error.

By promoting flourishing appropriate to the time, so that the growth and the season are in harmony, thus nurturing beings so that all have their places, the activity of nurturing according to the time shares the function of heaven and the movement and stillness of thunder—how could there be error?

When practitioners of the Tao make no error in process or proportion, and advance and withdraw, hurry and relax, in the proper manner, this also promotes flourishing appropriate to the time. Unifying the elements of being into a single integral energy, so that myriad principles ultimately coalesce, is also nurturing myriad beings.

Developing beings according to the time, all beings are imbued with reality, and all ultimately are free from error. Thus it is that heaven and thunder have no error, thus it is that the ancient kings had no error, and thus it is too that practice of the Tao is without error. The way to be free from error is to act in a manner that is appropriate to the time.