Hexagram 12 · Line 5
Standstill — 五六
Pi · Wu Liu
The Line
Standstill is giving way. Good fortune for the great man! "If it should fail, if it should fail!" He ties it therefore to a cluster of mulberry shoots.
Interpretation
The time is changing. The right man has come, who can create order once more. Therefore good fortune! But precisely in such transitional times, fear and trembling are needed. Only through the greatest anxiety, which constantly thinks "If it should fail!", is success secured. When a mulberry shrub is cut down, there spring from the root a series of particularly firm shoots. Hence the securing of success is symbolized under the image of binding to mulberry shoots. Confucius says of this: "Danger arises where one feels secure in one's place. Ruin threatens where one seeks to preserve one's existence. Confusion arises where one has everything in order. Therefore the noble one, when secure, does not forget danger; when existing, does not forget ruin; and when orderly, does not forget confusion. Thereby they come into personal safety, and the kingdom is preserved."