Hexagram 9 · Xiao Chu Small Taming 风天小畜

“Xiao Chu: success. Dense clouds but no rain, coming from our western outskirts.”

This says that although the clouds gather densely, they cannot become rain; it is like people who have gathered together but cannot be in harmony.

“Xiao Chu: the yielding attains its position, and those above and below respond to it; this is called Small Taming.”

In the hexagram Xiao Chu (Small Taming), the fourth line is yin and sits in the position close to the ruler. With the soft, compliant nature of Xun (wind), it lets the firm yang lines above and below communicate with one another; but it can only hold them together, not make them strong and secure. Hence it is called Small Taming.

“Strong and gentle; the firm is central and its will is carried out: thus there is success.”

In terms of the trigram images, it is firm and strong within and able to be soft and compliant without; so although the taming is small, there can be success.

“Dense clouds but no rain: they are still moving on. Coming from our western outskirts: the bounty is not yet bestowed.”

This says that dense clouds cannot become rain, just as small taming cannot become great. The reason is that the yang below goes upward and the yang above goes downward, and the two energies are not in harmony.

“The wind moves across the sky: Small Taming. The noble person accordingly refines the beauty of his cultured virtue.”

Even against the firm strength of Qian (The Creative), the wind can still move above it; so the firm and strong can be tamed and restrained only by the soft and yielding. For the noble person, the small form of this is learning and artistic accomplishment; the great form is the sagely talent of morality and statecraft. These two ways are what is meant by the talent that is stored up.

“Return by one’s own path. What blame could there be? Good fortune.”

The first line is the place of first entry. With its firm, strong nature, and having in the position above a line of the same nature, its advance will surely go upward; how could there be disaster? So the first line’s yang firmness is free from disaster because it shares the nature of the yang firmness above.

“Return by one’s own path: its meaning is good fortune.”

The first and fourth lines are corresponding positions. So in the time of taming, with yin in the fourth and yang in the first, yin and yang respond to each other, and there is good fortune.

“Drawn back together. Good fortune.”

The second nine is in the position of a general. Because it corresponds to the yang fifth line, and both are firm and strong, then although the fourth line lies between them, they share yang firmness. As the old saying goes, “those with the same troubles feel for each other” [the source adds in brackets “those with the same desires hate each other”]. This is the way of good fortune, the time for the general.

“Drawn back together, it stays in the centre and does not lose itself.”

The first line is yang and firm, and the second is also yang and firm, so their force is strong. But because at this time it occupies the central position, the general’s position, even when strong it does not become excessively hard; to be excessively hard is to fail, and this is the way of heaven. So we should understand the beauty of being central yet firm: because its principle is correct, it can be strong and firm. When the noble person holds to principle, even firmness is not excessive.

“The carriage loses its wheel spokes. Husband and wife turn against each other.” (说 here means 脱, to come off.)

The third nine is the top line of the lower trigram and is closest to the yin fourth position, so it relates to it with the feelings between yin and yang, like husband and wife. Yin is by nature controlled by yang; now it sits in the fourth place, above the yang, and instead controls the yang, like husband and wife turning against each other. So it is like a carriage whose wheels have come off: it cannot move. When the wife leads the husband astray and controls him instead, it is because the husband has strayed from the right way. Never has a wife been able to control a husband who has not lost his way.

“Husband and wife turn against each other: he cannot set his household right.”

Because the husband, in a firm yang position, is excessively hard and loses the way of conducting himself, he cannot look after his household, and so husband and wife turn against each other. Therefore the way of a husband is to set his household right; this is the correct way.

“With sincerity, blood departs and fear recedes. No blame.”

The fourth six is in the position close to the ruler. It is able to tame the ruler, so that the majesty of the ruler in the fifth position can, through it, restrain his desires. This is all because the fourth six has sincerity (孚 means sincerity and trust within), and the ruler is moved by it.

“With sincerity, fear recedes: its will is in accord with the one above.”

Because the fourth position is sincere and soft outwardly, the ruler in the fifth trusts it, and they share the same purpose. Because the person in the fourth position can join with the fifth, all the yang lines follow; so fear recedes and blood departs, and there is no calamity of war.

“Bound together in sincerity, sharing wealth with one’s neighbors.”

The time of Small Taming is a time when all the yang lines are tamed by the single yin among them. It is like a ruler whose ministers are all, like him, hard and unyielding toward one another (dense clouds but no rain); but the person at the ruler’s side happens to be soft and compliant, and this person becomes the channel of communication between above and below. This is the time of Small Taming.

The fifth nine is the ruler’s position. If it occupies the most honoured position with centrality and correctness, and has sincerity within, then everyone attaches to it and responds, just as a rich man shares his wealth with his neighbours. From this line we know that when the noble person is beset by petty people, and upright people are pressed by the treacherous, then without mutual help between the upright yang lines above and below, one person alone can hardly cope with the time; there must be mutual help to drive out petty people.

“Bound together in sincerity: not wealthy alone.”

Therefore when the noble person is in hardship and danger, only through utmost sincerity can he gain the help of many, and then he will be safe. (“Bound together,” 挛如, means drawing others along so that they follow.)

“Rain has fallen and rest has come. Esteem virtue accumulated; a woman’s steadfastness is dangerous. The moon is nearly full; for the noble person to set out brings misfortune.”

The top nine is the end of this hexagram, at the end of taming. To be harmonious and yet able to stop is the way of taming. The ability of the soft to tame the firm is built up by accumulation and is not gained in a morning or an evening; the warning applies in ordinary times. If one relies solely on using the soft to control the firm and does not know when to stop, then, like a woman holding firmly to this way, there will be misfortune. In the world, has there ever been stability where a wife controls her husband or a minister controls his ruler?

When the moon is full, it is the time of the full moon, and it stands opposite the sun as a rival. If the noble person waits until the wife is about to become a rival, any action will surely bring misfortune, and warning will no longer help; so the warning must come before the moon is full.

“Rain has fallen and rest has come: virtue has accumulated to fullness. For the noble person to set out brings misfortune: there is cause for doubt.”

This is the way of Small Taming accumulated to fullness and complete; its image is of yin about to flourish, and if the noble person moves there is misfortune. When petty people resist the noble person, they are bound to harm him. The way to deal with yin at its height is for the noble person to be doubtful and know to be on guard, not to act rashly, and to seek out the reason why he is being controlled; then he will not come to misfortune.