LIU I-MING, THE TAOIST I CHING

Lui I-ming, The Taoist I Ching, translated from the Chinese by Thomas Cleary (Boston & London: Shambhala, 1986, 2005) ("This volume presents an explanation of the classic I Ching based on the teachings if the Complete Reality school of Taoism, in particular that stream of the Complete Reality school known as the Clear Serene branch." Id. at 1. "A proud dragon has regrets." "Promoting strength excessively, being only strong and not flexible, knowing how to go forward but not how to withdraw, is being like a dragon of drought: When the dragon gets to be proud, it cannot give life; when strength goes to excess, one will fail in one's tasks. When yang culminates, it must shift to yin. The celestial jewel gained is again lost. It is a logical matter of course, This is why the text says a proud dragon, one who goes too high, has regrets." Id. at 43. "Accord with the wrong people." "When one is oneself ignorant and foolish and also associates with ignorant and foolish people, this is accord with the wrong people. Accord  with the wrong people has no benefit and is harmful. What is the value of accord then? This represents incorrectness of outer accord." Id. at 64-65. "Accord with one outside is right and bodes well." "Flexibility according with the firm, seeing the wise and wanting to be like then, even the ignorant will become illumined, even the weak will become strong. This is external accord being correct." Id. at 65. "Tranquility". "Tranquility means going through in harmony. [] Yang is strong inside, yin is submissive outside. Strength and submission unified, yin and yang correspond; it therefore is called tranquility." "Only when yin and yang are harmoniously combined is it possible to accomplish things. Therefore the way of tranquility is that the small goes and the great comes; it is auspicious and developmental. The small is yin and the great is yang: 'The small goes' means yin submits, 'the great cmes' means yang is strong. With yang strong on the inside and yin submissive on the outside, the primordial gradually returns and acquired conditioning gradually melts away; thereby it is possible to reach the realm of pure yang with no yin. It is a matter of course then to be fortunate in action, and for activity to develop. "However, in the path of bringing about tranquility, there is a firing process, there is a course of work. If advancing and withdrawing are done with the proper timing, and one is strong yet act docilely, using docility to nurture strength, one can bring about tranquility and preserve it, understanding essence through understanding life, attaining nonstriving through striving, completing the great Way. On this one can be sure." Id. at 71-72. "If you want to act on something, you should first understand it; first understanding, then acting, all actions will be as you will. This is why biting through, using action within understanding, is developmental. Action with clarity is always based on understanding; its development and frustration may be symbolized by the administration of justice. Nothing in the world is harder to administer than justice; if the true conditions of justice are not clear, right is considered wrong and wrong is considered right--arbitrarily applying penalties, the calamity extends to the innocent, mistakenly injuring essence and life." "Practice of the Tao is like administering justice: Discerning true and false, right and wrong, is like the judge deciding good and bad; getting rid of falsehood and keeping truth, so as to preserve essence and life, is like the justice administration rewarding the good and punishing the bad, so as to alleviate the burden of injustice. When you investigate and find out true principle, it is clear in the mind and evident in practice; fully realizing essence and perfecting life, it is unfailingly developmental and beneficial." Id. at 100. "Constancy". "But the path of pervasive illumination is not possible without a constant mind. Constancy means singlemindedly applying the will, the longer the stronger, not becoming lazy and slacking off. Thereby one can comprehend essence and life; so there is a path of development in constancy , and it is also possible to be impeccable thereby." "However, though constancy can lead to development and impeccability, it is only beneficial if constancy is correct. If it is not correct, abandoning the real and entering into the false, then it is not developmental, and is faulty. The blind practitioners in the world who go into deviant paths, taking what is wrong to be right, aggrandizing themselves, boasting of their practices and cultivating vain reputations, striving all their lives without ever awakening, most assuredly are capable of constancy, but they are constant in aberrated paths, not constant in the right path. If you want to seek eternal life in this way, you will on the contrary hasten death; when your time is up, you will have no way out, and cannot escape the blame--how could you gain good fortune? Therefore constancy in the developmental, impeccable way is only brought to fruition by correctness." Id. at 132-133. From the backcover: "The I Ching, or 'Book of Change,' is considered the oldest of the Chinese classics and has throughout history commanded unsurpassed prestige and popularity. Containing several layers of text and given numerous levels of interpretation, it has captured continuous attention for well over two thousand years. It has been considered a book of fundamental principles by philosophers, politicians, mystics, alchemists, yogins, diviners, sorcerers, and more recently scientists and mathematicians." "The first part of the present volume is the text of the I-Ching proper--the sixty-four hexagrams plus sayings on the hexagrams and their lines--with the commentary composed by Liu I-ming, a Taoist adept, in 1796. The second part is Liu I-ming's commentary on two sections added to the I-Ching by earlier commentators, believed to be members of the original Confucian schools; these two sections are known as the Overall Images and the Mixed Hexagrams. In total, the book illuminates the Taoist inner teachings as practiced in the School of the Complete Reality." "Well versed in Buddhism and Confucianism as well as Taoism, Liu I-ming intended his work to be read as a guide to comprehensive self-realization while living an ordinary life in the world. In his attempt to lift the veil of mystery from the esoteric language of the I Ching, he employs the terminology of psychology, sociology, history, myth, and religion. This commentary of the I Ching stands as a major contribution to the elucidation of Chinese spiritual genius.").