11 – Eleven T’ai / Peace
Heaven and Earth embrace, giving birth to Peace. The Superior Person serves as midwife, presenting the newborn gift to the people. The small depart; the great approach. Success. Good fortune.
SITUATION ANALYSIS:
It doesn’t get any better than this. Everything is in harmony, all obstacles are cleared from your Path, anything you could ask for is right at hand. This is the Elysian Fields, the Garden of Eden. The only thing wrong with Peace is that it, too, must change. Whether you are in this state of harmony now or it is predicted for your future, recognize it as your greatest opportunity to build your resources against less harmonious times.
Six in the fifth place means:
The sovereign I Gives his daughter in marriage. And supreme good fortune.
The emperor gives his blessing to his daughter’s marriage to a commoner. All ranks of life benefit from this.
The sovereign I is T’ang the Completer.1 By his decree the imperial princesses, although higher in rank than their husbands, had to obey them like all other wives. Here too we are shown a truly modest union of high and low that brings happiness and blessings.
1. [This refers to Ch’êng T’ang, the first of the Shang rulers, whose reign is thought to have begun in 1766 B.C. However, modern Chinese scholarship no longer accepts the identification of the Emperor I (1191 – 1155 B.C., according to tradition) with T’ang, and holds that the daughter mentioned was given to King Wên’s father, or perhaps to King Wên himself.]
60 – Sixty Chieh / Limitations
Waters difficult to keep within the Lake’s banks: The Superior Person examines the nature of virtue and makes himself a standard that can be followed. Self-discipline brings success; but restraints too binding bring self-defeat.
SITUATION ANALYSIS:
Cultivating the proper disciplines and the proper degree of discipline are the concerns of this hexagram. By limiting options, you may give more attention to priorities. One who is all over the map is no less lost than one without a map. Avoid asceticism, however. Deprivation is not wise discipline. The key here is regulation, not restriction.