I Ching, Yijing or Zhou Yi
"Oracle of the moon": © 2000 LiSe
Yi Jing, Oracle of the Moon
Zhūn, hexagram 03
Beginning
A seed sleeps, but when the moisture of the earth awakens it, it has a power to grow which can even split rocks. The power of life.
Creatures, but also things, will live and grow when the energy of Thunder and the shaping power of Water come together. Everything starts small, from a seed. Give your creations energy and soul, then their own vitality will sprout and they will grow into their fullest potential.
When the Yi was written down and became a book, Zhun (or Tun) had a different meaning: stationing of army troops, garrison, village. A small community where stuff was gathered, the first step when troops were sent out. Everything starts with creating and collecting, in order to survive and grow.
The noble one "jīnglún": he unravels the warp to a well-arranged silk ribbon. Yīng is used often in the odes for laying out the pattern of a new city, there in combination with yíng. Hex.3 is about the first beginnings of an enterprise, about the preparations. Laying out the ground plan, gathering necessities, sowing seeds.
Hex.3 is the opposite of hex.50, the Ding, where everything is settled, and culture has gotten a face. But an opposite works like the shadow in a mind: don't neglect that side, or it will haunt all your new beginnings with the oppression of the world you live in. Rules and authority, customs, the neighbors... Treat them with respect so they will not frustrate your efforts.
Hex.3 and 4 are the pair of beginnings and youth. More about hex.3 and 4
Zhun1 is a picture of a sprouting seedling. 1: Two other forms of the same character.
ZHUN1 : to sprout, difficult, obstruct, hard and stingy. TUN2:
pair of shoulder blades, one of a pair. Greatly, humble, perfect,
generous, well-to-do.
TUN2: accumulate, to bring together soldiers, to station (an
army), to stockpile, village; visible, to be there.
Interchangeable with chun1: spring, vitality, year.
The trigrams: Thunder below Water.
Clouds and thunder: sprouting.
A noble one lays out the basic pattern.
Thunder, the eldest son, is the messenger of Heaven, he awakens the seeds, fertilizes the Earth, creates all beginnings. Water, the second son, is the one who moves according to Heaven's laws, within the space which Earth provides. He creates the patterns and rythms.
Hex.3 is the opposite of hex.50, where the state has been founded, and directions for handling it are needed. This hex 3 is about the first beginning of things, about making a start. There is nothing yet, or hardly, just an idea, or a hunch, or a possibility. Making something grow from out that tiny beginning is always a struggle. Preparing the field, nurturing the seedling, finding helpers. Like Thunder wakes up the seeds, you have to wake up your idea, using Water to shape it.