#43 夬 Breakthrough – Focused Power with Caution

 

#43 夬 Breakthrough- Focused Power with Caution

夬    泽天夬   兑上乾下

This hexagram has the Lake trigram on top of the Heaven trigram. Lake signifies joy or breaking forth in joy. Heaven represents power. Combining them into 夬 represents a breakthrough or overflowing. It is like water overflowing the dam or water flushing out the blockage of a choked pipe or a fountain. It is like shooting an arrow when stretching the bow to the maximum and letting go in an instant. It represents resoluteness or decisiveness. Pictorially, it is the increase of the 5 yang(strong) lines to push out the top yin(soft) line. The yin line represents contemptible little men. The final evil has been overcome by the good.

Description:

1. 扬于王庭，孚号，有厉:  Proclamation of issue in front of the King’s court. The truth is sounded out. There is danger.
2. 告自邑，不利即戎，利有攸往。Announce to our city. It is not beneficial to use arms. It is beneficial to go and settle the issue.

Textual Commentary:

彖曰：夬，决也，刚决柔也。 健而说，决而和， 扬于王庭，柔乘五刚也。 孚号有厉，其危乃光也。 告自邑， 不利即戎，所尚乃穷也。  利有攸往，刚长乃终也。

夬Breakthrough is about breaking. The strong overcoming the weak(soft). Strong to joy. Breakthrough to harmony. Proclaimed in the King’s court, the soft(yin) man is riding on top of five strong (yang) men. Announce truthfully the danger. The danger is getting clearer and bigger. Inform our city, that it is not beneficial to use arms. That is only the last resort. It is beneficial to go and do other things. The strength will last and will have a good ending.

Pictorial Commentary: 象曰：泽上于天，夬；君子以施禄及下，居德则忌

Lakes going over the top of Heaven giving Breakthroughs (or Overflowing). Wise men give rewards to those under them. Standing on to one’s virtues to show off is taboo. (i.e. it is bad to be proud and ignore others).

Moral Teachings:

1. It is good that we have strengths, capabilities, or resources. We must develop our strengths and be focused on their use. But it does not mean we should just go around showing off and bullying others. Use of our force should be the last resort. Use wisdom to gain harmony and support instead of force.
2. Our strengths and resources should not be hidden either. They should be employed to benefit others, especially those under our charge.
3. Our strengths often blind us from the truth and danger of the situations. Be decisive but not proud. Be watchful and teachable. Thoughtless use of strengths brings disaster.
4. Wise use of strengths brings lasting results and a good ending.

Stage 1 Begin Nine: Strength is only at the front toes. Going forward and not winning is committing a fault or blame. 初九：壮于前趾，往不胜为吝。
The pictorial commentary explains that going forward with no confidence in winning brings trouble i.e. going forth when one is not ready. 象曰：不胜而往，咎也。

Our strengths are not fully developed yet. They are at the bottom level and definitely not capable of winning a war. Yet we fool-heartedly go forward and end up not winning. Even if we did not lose badly, it was a big mistake.  Chinese has two proverbs that describe such people – 好大喜功 wanting to be great and desire success and 好高务远 – wanting to be high and far, without the needed capabilities and resources.

Stage 2 Second Nine: The alarm sounded. Arming in the evening and at night brings no worry. 九二：惕号，莫夜有戎，勿恤。
The pictorial commentary explains the army in the night is because we have learned to practice the righteous middle way.  象曰：莫夜有戎，得中道也。

Despite our strengths, we follow righteous ways and practices. We prepared ourselves well. We are watchful. We rehearse in the evening and night to get ourselves prepared for any enemy attack. Hence, there is no worry.

Stage 3 Third Nine: Strength is shown in the face(literally cheekbone). There is danger. Wise men act decisively. He moved alone and encountered rain. He got wet and indignant. There is no fault. 九三：壮于頄，有凶。 君子夬夬，独行遇雨，若濡有愠，无咎。

The pictorial commentary explains that wise men take decisive actions and in the end, there is no fault.    象曰：君子夬夬，终无咎也。

Our strength has developed further, from toes to cheekbones. Nevertheless, we must be watchful else there is danger. Sometimes, we need to do the things that most people will want to run away from. Here, we go alone. We encountered some difficulties (rain) that upset us a little. But it is no big deal. We just got a little wet. There is no fault. We succeed.

Stage 4 Begin Nine: The butt has no skin. Movement is hard. Pulling along a goat is without regret. Refuse to believe the words of others.九四：臀无肤，其行次且。 牵羊悔亡，闻言不信。
The pictorial commentary explains that the difficulty in movement is due to wrong positioning. Not believing the warnings of others is not smart.  象曰：其行次且，位不当也。 闻言不信，聪不明也。

The pictorial commentary tells us that at this stage we have misused our strengths. The wrong positioning could be the result of our us exercising authority that we don’t have or we infringe on others. At this point, it is important for us to take care of the little things – caring for sheep and goats and taking heed of others’ warnings. Lines 4-5-6 represent external. This stage is the beginning of our next jump. We must be careful.

Stage 5 Fight Nine: Clearing weeds requires resolute actions. Walk in the middle path and there will be no fault. 九五：苋陆夬夬，中行无咎。

The Pictorial commentary explains that the middle way has no fault because it has not fully developed.  象曰：中行无咎，中未光也。

Weeds are soft and reproduce fast. To clear their needs persistent and in-depth (clearing the roots) actions. The long-term action will bring success. The pictorial commentary actually says no fault is still not good enough yet. The righteous middle way should have brought forth fortune is done rightly! Our strengths do not allow us to ignore righteous practices. Strengths deployed wrongly are exploitation and will bring disaster.

Stage 6 Top Six: No alarm sounded! It ends in disaster. 上六：无号，终有凶。
The pictorial commentary explains the disaster in lack of alarms will not take long in coming. 象曰：无号之凶，终不可长也。

Reflecting the typical teaching of I-Ching, success and strengths have within them, the seeds of disaster. The greater our strengths, the greater our care is.  Here there are no people to sound the alarm. This is likely due to the fact that we surround ourselves with a bunch of ‘yes’ men and women. Or maybe there are warnings, but we are just too proud to pay attention to them. Any large organization without checks and balances and accountability will eventually end in disaster.

Success actually brought down the careers and lives of many successful people e.g. Enron, Worldcom, etc. The book “Derailed” by Tim Irwin, highlights Five Lessons Learned From Catastrophic Failures of Leadership. It also talks about the stages of derailment. It compares well with the wisdom learned here.

Summary:

We are to use our strengths and resources to bring benefits to others and not to bully or exploit others. Use of force should be a last resort. Use wisdom to gain harmony and support. Be decisive but not proud so that we can use our strengths wisely. Proud and thoughtless use of strengths brings disaster. Wise use of strengths brings lasting results and a good ending.

Wisdom from the Stage Lines:

1. Do according to our strengths and try not to go for glory too early as that will end in failure.
2. Practice and get ready for any unforeseen situations.
3. We do things that others shy away from. With care, we overcome some difficulties and succeed.
4. Expand but take heeds from others. Don’t cross boundaries.
5. Be persistent in walking in the righteous middle way for long-term success.
6. Have check and balance accountability. Listen to warnings.

Lim Liat (c) 28/5/2010