Hexagram 05

Xū

Waiting for a break in the weather

Waiting having truth: 
Shining expansion, determination auspicious
Harvest: to cross the great stream

The great image says:
Clouds rise up to heaven: Waiting for the rain to stop
The noble one drinks and eats and reposes relaxed


Water
Heaven

day 3 of a yang moon
    Creativity is not obedient. One cannot call for it and expect it to be there. But waiting in an open and quiet way makes the clouds clear up, and the sun of growth appear again.
    Many things come by waiting, rather than by acting. As if one opens a cosmic door for them to enter. One’s own attitude is the door, if one waits in the right feeling, one acts at the right time. But there is also something inexplicable, which makes things happen without any action on them.
( It seems hex.5 is not about waiting for rain, but waiting for the rain to stop (see Marshall, The Mandate of Heaven).

Xu1. The above part, YU3, is 'rain', the lower part, ER2, a beard. But in Wang-HongYuan I found two apparently older characters. One seems a man and drops or something like that, the other one a man standing below rain. I think they both are a picture of the rain falling. Maybe the man with drops is a person getting wet. 
XU1: Need, require, demand; expenses, provisions, necessaries; hesitation, delay, tarry, wait, waiting with confidence, waiting for rain to begin, waiting for something one needs; essential, necessary; early glutinous rice with small grains.
Pronounced NO4: weak, hesitating, supple (leather).
YUAN3: supple, flexible, incomplete.
NUAN4: weak, timid.
Interchangeable with another character [Mathew’s 2847] with the same meanings, but also 'a beard', Ritsema +Karcher: hairgrowing.

 
9 at 3: Waiting in the mud. It will attract bandits.
Feelings have a tendency to fall asleep when they have to wait. Sometimes an impulsive, maybe foolish, act is better than becoming dull. Dullness can cause much greater disaster than an occasional foolishness.
(Changes to hex.60)

Above 6: Entering the cave. There are unexpected visitors. Three people come. Respect them. The end is auspicious.
The spirit can find what he waits for by shutting itself off from external influences, and by expecting the magical, the unconceivable. Then the miracle can enter, and bring a solution. So if you are at a loss, then just wait. Your mind has many realms you do not even know about.
 (Changes to hex.9)

 

9 at 2: Waiting on the sandbank. There is some talk. The completion is auspicious.
 Don't blindly follow the ideas or comments of other people, but stick to your own judgment. If you don't know, then wait until you do. Make your own decisions, whatever anyone advises you. It is your life, if you enter the river because someone else tells you it is safe, it is you who eventually drowns.
(Changes to hex.63)

 

 9 at 5: Waiting with liquor and food. Determination auspicious.
 Every situation asks for its own appropriate attitude. When you eat, then enjoy eating, when you work, enjoy it, when you wait, enjoy it. Give every aspect of life an honorful place in your mind. Positive living summons positive forces, negative living drains life of all its energy and worth.
 (Changes to hex.11)
Initial 9 : Waiting at the field altar. Harvest: benefit of steadiness. No fault.
People need a place with culture, but without any demands, for mutual contact. It becomes the center of their country, their people. They will know where they belong and feel at home, and who they are.
(Changes to hex.48)

6 at 4: Waiting in the blood. Get out of the cave.
Don’t wait and stay in a place not fit for you. A bad place, a wrong mind-set, low company. It is often difficult to take the plunge, but if you don’t, you spoil your time, your mind, maybe even your life.
If everything is wrong, then how can a good thing come about?
(Changes to hex.43)

 
The Sabian Symbols for the hexagram-lines
9 at 3 corresponds to b  3: A woman having her hair bobbed
 Off is off, so be happy with it- and it is not even final		 Above 6 corresponds to h  3: A deserter from the navy
9 at 2 corresponds to `  3: The garden of the Tuileries (Paris)
 Every city has a place where everyone parades, hangs around and discusses politics, cars and clothes.		 9 at 5 corresponds to f  3: Two men playing chess
Initial 9 corresponds to ^ 3: The cameo profile of a man in the outline of his country

6 at 4 corresponds to d  3: The dawn of a new day, everything changed
 You won’t see the new day in a dark cave

 
For the meaning of  Eminent - expansion. Harvest - determination click HERE     
 Line 1. The 'field altar' can also be the outskirts. 'Steadiness': name of hex.32
Line 2. The Tuileries in Paris was the scene where 'tout-Paris' came to parade, sit on the benches and discuss politics.   

  "Everything comes to the one who waits". It is a Chinese proverb and it does not mean to stay sitting and expect. Make your mind open for it to happen and go on living. When the moment comes that it might happen, it finds in you a fertile field to receive it - and it will happen.
   It is a frame of mind which makes everything happen, not just one specific thing. It means living every moment as it is, without a program but open for life.
   In the MaWangDui I Ching the name of this hexagram means a silk garment for the winter sacrifice. Like celebrating Christmas: opening your mind for the good things of winter, for a time of darkness and cold, but also of reflection and togetherness if you are open for it.