شش خطی 7
جمعیتی هدفمند، استاد، ارتش (شی Shī)

The army is a group. This has the meaning of one person leading a group. The qualities of the hexagram are earth above, submissive, and water below, dangerous: Following obediently in danger, it is therefore called the army. This hexagram represents using yang to drive back yin; it follows on the previous hexagram waiting. Waiting is advancing yang in accord with the time, and advancing yang is the way to drive yin back.

The method of repelling yin is to get rid of wrong by means of right, to destroy falsehood by truth, like righteousness in the leader of an army. The “leader of the army” is the way of punishment and execution; it requires both firmness and flexibility, both humanity and justice, command of authority and ability to change, in order to be effective. Otherwise, if one can be firm but not flexible, or if one is only humane and does not know how to apply justice, or if one is only dutiful and does not know how to act humanely, none of this is right, and without correctness good fortune cannot be attained—instead one will provoke censure.

Only mature and developed people understand good and bad, distinguish wrong from right, know what bodes well and what bodes ill, perceive when to hurry and when to relax, are not confined to either firmness or flexibility, apply both humanity and justice together, are able to obey in danger and by obedience neutralize danger, use the temporal to restore the primordial, use the primordial to transmute the temporal, not only do not let yin trap yang, but even get all yin to follow yang—this is the path of good fortune without error.

If people are immature, their perception of truth is not clear. They do not distinguish wrong from right, and so enter aberrated detours. They set out impulsively and not only are unable to make yin retreat, they even accentuate yin. They are sure to bring on error; how can they effect good results and achieve the Tao?

When people have not yet lost the primordial, this is pure natural reality. It is like when the nation is at peace—even if there are intelligent knights and good generals, there is no need for them. Then when people get mixed up in acquired conditioning, their senses trouble them and their emotions run wild. It is like when there is trouble in the land, with rebels causing disturbance; if there is no way of rooting them out by punishment and execution, it is impossible to restore peace in perilous times.

Therefore the method of striving in spiritual alchemy is to burn away all the pollution of acquired conditioning, and not let the slightest flaw remain in the heart, so that one may eventually reexperience original completeness. This is why the path of direction is valued.

The army is one leading a multitude. Above is earth , below is water ; this is the presence of water in the earth. The earth is broad, water is wet; in the earth there is water—one earth embraces myriad waters, myriad waters moisten one earth. This is the image of the army.

What superior people see in this is that the human body is like a country, and the mind is like the ruler; the vitality, spirit, nature, feeling, and energy in the body are like the people; the benevolence, justice, courtesy, knowledge, and truthfulness in the nature are like the masses. These people, these masses, are the basis of human life, and must be protected and cared for. Therefore the root is stabilized by embracing the people, external afflictions are prevented by nurturing the masses.

But it is first necessary to embrace the people, in the sense of first mastering oneself inwardly; after that one nurtures the masses, in the sense of managing externally. Inward mastery protects one from externals; managing externally affords one inner peace. When the inner and the outer balance each other, then everything follows the mind, whether in adversity or comfort. Such is the path of the leader of the army, and such is the path of the superior person embracing and nurturing.