I Ching 3 Hexagram Zhūn (Difficult at the Beginning)

I Ching 3 Hexagram Zhūn (Difficult at the Beginning)

I Ching 3 Hexagram Zhūn

Keywords Planning for the future, Problem Solving Skills, Organization.

Short Interpretation of Hexagram 3 – The Initial Difficulty
Still early for love matters, it still takes some time for it to blossom. In the work, small unexpected events but fortunately your body and mind begin to regenerate.

I Ching – General Description

The name of the Ciunn sign properly represents a grass that encounters an obstacle emerging from the earth. From this results the meaning of initial difficulty. The sign indicates how heaven and earth generate single beings. It is their first meeting, joint with difficulty. The lower sign Cenn is the exciting. Its motion is directed upwards; in its image it has thunder, the superior sign, Kkann, is the abyssal, the dangerous; its motion goes down;

He has rain as an image. The situation therefore indicates a dense, chaotic fullness. Thunder and rain fill the air, but chaos clears up. The motion which is directed upwards, as the abyssal subsides, finally escapes from danger. In the storm the strained forces are released, and everyone breathes with relief.

I Ching – Comment on sentence

The initial difficulty was a sublime success.
Auspicious for perseverance.
You don’t have to undertake anything.
It is auspicious to set up helpers.

The times when something is born have many difficulties. It’s like a first birth. But these difficulties come from the large copy of what is struggling to form. Everything is therefore moving; despite the presence of danger there is the prospect of great success if one has perseverance. When such initial times come as destiny, everything is still shapeless and dark. Therefore we must wait, as any premature intervention could lead to failure. Equally important is that we do not remain alone. You need to have helpers to be able to dominate chaos together with them. But this does not mean that it is permissible to remain inactive spectators of the events, rather we must get busy, be present everywhere to encourage and guide.

I Ching – Image

Clouds and thunder: The image of the initial difficulty.
Thus the noble works by untangling and ordering.

Clouds and thunder are represented by certain linear ornaments, meaning that in the chaos of the initial difficulty the order is already in place. Thus the noble must, in such early times, divide and order the chaotic abundance as one unravels single silk threads from a skein and intertwines them with strong threads. In order to find oneself in the infinite, one must distinguish and connect.

I Ching – Series

After Heaven and Earth came into existence, myriads of beings were produced. These myriads of beings fill the space between Heaven and Earth. For this follows the sign: the initial difficulty. Initial difficulty means filling.

I Ching – Single Lines

Analytical description of each individual line

I Ching – First line:

Nine at the beginning means:
Hesitancy and impediment.
It is auspicious to remain persevering.
It is auspicious to set up helpers

When obstacles are encountered at the start of a business, one must not necessarily want to achieve progress, but stop cautiously. But we must not let ourselves be disoriented, we must instead fix our gaze durably and with perseverance on our goal. It is very important to seek suitable aids. These are found only if you treat people modestly and without presumption. Only in this way are those men earned with the help of whom difficulties can be faced.

I Ching – Second line:

Six in the second place means:
Difficulties pile up.
Horse and carriage detach.
He is not a marauder, He will declare himself in due time.
The girl is chaste, she doesn’t promise herself.
Ten years, then we promise.

We find ourselves inhibited and in difficulty. Then a new fact suddenly intervenes, as if someone arrived with carriages and horses and detached them. This happens so suddenly that one suspects that whoever comes is a brigand. Little by little it turns out that he has no bad intentions, but seeks friendly relationships and offers facilities. But the offer is not accepted because it does not come from the right side; instead he waits until the time is completed – ten years is a closed period of time, a time completed. Then normal conditions return on their own, and we can join the friend who is destined for us. With the image of a bride who, in serious conflicts, remains faithful to her beloved, advice is given for a particular situation in life: if in times of difficulty, when one encounters impediments.

If you wait for the right moment, the conditions of tranquility return and you get what you had hoped for. (Another interpretation results from the following translation, which is also possible: Difficulties pile up. the robber. -The bridegroom would certainly come. – The girl is faithful. You don’t promise. – Ten years, then you promise).

I Ching – Third line:

Six in the third place means:
Whoever hunts deer without a gamekeeper Just gets lost in the woods.
The noble understands the signs of aging, and rather renounces.
Continuing to act brings shame.

If you are without a guide and you want to hunt in a foreign forest, you will get lost. We must not want to sneak out, carelessly and without a guide, from the difficulties in which we find ourselves. Destiny is not fooled. Untimely proceeding without the necessary guidance leads to failure and shame. Therefore the noble, recognizing the germs of what is about to happen, will renounce a desire rather than expose himself, wanting to force its fulfillment, to failure and shame.

I Ching – Fourth line:

Six in the fourth place means:
Horse and carriage detach.
Look for the union.
Going brings health.
Everything works in favor.

We are in a situation where we have a duty to act, but strength is not enough. However, there is an opportunity to associate. You have to grab it. One must not allow oneself to be held back by false pride and false backing. It is a sign of inner lucidity if you can win enough to take the first step, even if this is combined with a certain humiliation. Getting help in a difficult situation is not a shame. If you find the right helper, everything is fine.

I Ching – Fifth line:

Nine in the fifth place means:
Difficulty in blessing.
Little perseverance brings health, Great perseverance brings misfortune.

You find yourself in a situation where you have no chance to express your good intentions in a way that really materializes and is understood. Others interfere and distort everything we do. In this case, you need to be cautious and proceed step by step. You don’t have to want to achieve anything grandiose by force; for such a thing succeeds only when the general confidence is already enjoyed. Only in silence, working with fidelity and conscience, can we gradually act so that the situation clears up and the impediment falls.

I Ching – Sixth line:

Six above means:
Horse and carriage break away.
Blood tears gush.

There are some for whom the initial difficulties are too severe. They get entangled and no longer know how to extricate themselves. They drop their arms and give up the fight. Such a renunciation belongs to the saddest things. Therefore Kung Tse adds the observation: ″ Blood tears gush: this must not be done permanently ″.