Using the Bagua Trigrams: Gen

Using the Bagua Trigrams: Gen

 

The last trigram in the houtian sequence is Gen.  Gen is the fulfillment of promises.  In the broadest sense, it is the divine promise made manifest after death that you really are an eternal soul.  More specifically it is the assurance that denial of the supernatural is the quickest way to suffer great and unnecessary misfortune.

 

The traditional translation for Gen has been mountain.  This interpretation of the trigram is best understood in relation to it’s opposite trigram, Dui, traditionally translated as lake.  Gen as mountain is relatively unsupportive of life; it does not readily accept things as does it’s twin Kun, earth.  Compared to Kun’s accommodating malleability, Gen is unchanging and already finished with any changes it was ever going to undergo.  Gen is crystallized earth, beyond the reach of life.  If Gen is mountain, however, the effect of Qian, heaven, and Kan, water, is such that even Gen can be weathered away into smaller pieces.  Such weathering streams down the side of the mountain and finds its rest in the crooks and hallows of the earth; the deep ravines, crevasses, and yes, the lakes and swamps (Dui).  Carried by water, these lakes and swamps therefore represent a kind of polar opposite of Gen, not only in height, but in accessibility to life.  It was in these primordial pools of raw materials that life sprang into being in the first place.  Both Gen and Dui, thus compared, represent a kind of finality, extreme and patient waiting.  The difference is that Dui is waiting for life to spring forth, while Gen is waiting for oblivion.

 

Interpreting Gen as mountain, we are given a picture of cultivating such a state of belief and faith in the eternal that we gradually divest ourselves from all earthly affairs.  We prepare our spirit and our consciousness for the transition or translation that is death, and then we wait patiently without fear, anxiety or anticipation.  Gen is an infinitely open state of expectation–a mountain smiling up at the sky.  Gen as mountain is powerful enough, and massive enough to represent a sense of fulfillment and lack of need that allows for thoughts of spirit and the eternal.  The mountain also elicits visions of loneliness and individuality; thus advising spiritual aspirants to find places and conditions under which they’ll be able to distinguish dynamics attributable to the self from those that spring forth from others; in other words to seek out isolation for meditation.

 

The lost meaning of Gen, however, is a kind of ominous, universal statement about the divine power, that it will fulfill its promises, whether they are threats to doubters or rewards to believers.  The ancient religious context of the trigrams put Gen in the position of saying “you will know Him in the end.”  This lost meaning ads power back into the interpretation of this trigram that I believe it lacks when translated merely as mountain.  Mountains don’t actually appear to ever receive what it is claimed they are waiting for.  They never go back to the stars.  Rather, over the eons, they get worn down and weathered away back to Dui where they become the food for life all over again.  Under the lost meaning, Gen is the assurance that there is a time of reckoning, and though we may not be entirely sure of a godhead while on earth, we will be face to face with it at some point, and then, look out.  Thus, with the lost meaning, we are not merely encouraged to let go of childish things and consider the eternal, we are specifically assured that if we go astray, there will be consequences, and if we remain faithful, there will be rewards.

 

Whereas Kan suggested that you just grit your teeth and learn to bear whatever struggles you may be undergoing, Gen points out that forbearance is only appropriate when it can’t be avoided or serves some higher purpose.  If enduring amidst hardship will serve no purpose or can be avoided, at the very least by having a talk with god, then your toil is useless and may even be traumatic.  (Trauma, as used here, might be defined as a state of clinging to a horrible event mentally, physically, emotionally or psychically, and forcing yourself to re-experience it after the trigger event has passed.)

 

The lesson of Gen doesn’t have to be restricted to a relationship with the highest authority.  There is a way to cultivate spirit in your daily life that’s underappreciated.  When you’re feeling down, unmotivated and know that your life is lacking in your own spirit, here’s a trick you can try to put things back on track.   Ready?   Make a promise, and then keep it.

 

The irony of this simple solution is that the promise doesn’t have to be a difficult one, which is the lesson of Gen.  You could promise that you’re going to eat dinner, or go to sleep tonight, or take out the garbage.  Promise yourself that you’ll do something that you were about to do anyway.  The power is contained in the inclusion of a commitment and the activity of following through on it.  A strange alchemical spell is cast by this procedure.  Even while your mind may be downplaying the achievement, making it very obvious that what you’ve done is nothing, whatever, to be proud of, the spirit awakens and can be felt in the form of humor, perspective and enthusiasm.  Your inner self begins to say, “well, I can do this; what’s the big deal?” 

 

The next thing you know, you’re promising yourself and others lots of things and then fulfilling those promises, as well.  In the end, you know yourself to be someone who fulfills his promises, and meets his obligations.  As this self-knowledge dawns on you, your spine straightens, your mind clears and you remember the eternal soul that infests you and guides you.  You feel pride of purpose, and surety that you won’t fail or lose your way.  You’re back on track, and it didn’t require a dark night of the soul or some herculean feat.  It required the Gen trigram, a promise and follow-through that essentially made you into a god, the one that fulfills his promises.

 

Gen is inevitable; it is all things that are inevitable.  Gen suggests that life without belief in a divine influence, and without also acting appropriately toward that divine influence, has consequence built-in.  Fear, loneliness, despair, shock, sickness, violence and pain are all natural outcomes to living without harmony.  They can only be expected.  When you avoid interacting with god, you relinquish yourself to the negative side of the relationship with her, whether or not you believe that god is cruel to those who don’t worship her.  Even estrangement from a benevolent god is punishment because you aren’t in a position to receive her love and support.  Certainly defiance of a vengeful god is bad news. 

 

It’s just as inevitable that adherence to higher principles will lead to a better, more peaceful and happy life.  No matter how bad it may seem at the moment or at times along the way, it is the steadfast devotion to those higher principles and the consistent application of advice from god in daily life that bears fruit.  Even though difficulties in life will happen, you have the potential to side-step many or most of these in a dance lead by the supernatural forces that can predict them.  Furthermore, if you’re specifically directed to take part in difficult times, you can rest assured that you’re fulfilling a higher purpose, and find peace in service.  Unlike the peace that is promised by the mountain interpretation, an almost unobtainable complacency resulting from being so full of what you need that you forget how to be in need, Gen as the fulfillment of promises is peace bought with the currency of consistency, discipline and faith.

 

Deep peace to you,

 

Lihai Sherman, CMQ

Qigong Instructor

I Qi You

 

(c) I Qi You, June, 2008. All rights reserved.