ICHBTrigrams as Family Members

Gare de l'Est, Paris.

Class Nine: The Station of No Station. Please study this page with Audio Lecture Nine.

This class begins a discussion the I Ching in light of Sufism - particularly the teachings Ibn 'Arabi - and the bardo teachings of Chögyam Trungpa, and then goes on to discuss traditional or foundational information on the I Ching in Part II.

PART I.

Every rank attained which does not open directly into no-station is but a false door. This is why Bayzid said: "Each time I thought I had reached the end of the Way, I was told that this was the beginning of it." Only one door will open onto the divine void, the divine Ocean, and it is this door that the viator searches for. Sometimes s/he has to take the longest way round, trying all the doors and only coming across the right one last of all. Others are lucky enough to see it opening at the first attempt. ~ Eric Geoffroy, Initiation au soufisme.

“The moment” (waqt) is an expression for your state in time. The state does not attach itself to the past or future. It is an existent between two nonexistents. And if your Moment is the wellspring of your state, you are the son or daughter of your Moment, and your Moment determines what you are, because it is existent and you are nonexistent, you are illusory and it is affirmed. If your Moment is obedience, and the contemplation proper to servitude in every state, then you are one of the of the enduring. And if it is the opposite of that, then you are one of the ephemeral. In the first case, your Moment is closeness, and in the second case your Moment is distance. In any case, the Moment will inevitably give you its experience. If your Moment is closeness, your experience is from the Presence of Closeness; and if your Moment is distance, your experience is from the Presence of distance. And whoever mourns over the past and fills the present moment with the past, he is one of those made distant. For he lets slip by what the current state demands, engrossed in what will not return. This is the essence of nonexistence. And whoever occupies himself with the future is in the same state.

Some people, Ibn ‘Arabi says, have one moment in a lifetime: they encounter reality, seize it and hold on to it for the rest of their lives. Others have a moment every year; they are able to give up attachment to the old form and be open for the new every year. Some have a moment every month. Those who have a moment every month miss the weeks. Those who have a moment every day miss the hours. Those with the hours miss the minutes. The goal is to have a moment of one breath: with every breath to give up attachment to the old manifestation and be open to the new. For one with a heart can take on every form and each new moment brings both loss and joy. ~ Michael A. Sells, Stations of Desire.

Part II:

The Family metaphors of the I Ching Trigrams: The "father" trigram is the Creative/Heaven or all yang lines, the "mother" trigram the Receptive/Earth or all yin lines. The "daughters" are the three stages of the feminine principle of devotion or emotion. The "sons" are the three stages of the masculine principle of activity or motion. Remember, the "masculine" and "feminine" principles are not really at the level of gender, but are more primordial and are innate to both genders (as well as, obviously, all sexual orientations). In this way we can learn to overlook - or look through - the "patriarcal" language of the early I Ching translations.)

IChingWihelmbook4
WIND: The eldest daughter; gently penetrating.