Webcress

The Bachnut Journal

Autumnal Equinox 2019

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59. Dispersing



Sequence of the Gua

After happiness and joyfulness, there comes dispersing.
Thus, after Joyful, Dispersing follows.

Decision:

Dispersing.
Prospersous and smooth.
The king arrives at the temple.
Favorable to cross great rivers.
Favorble to be steadfast and upright.

Commentary on the Decision

Dispersing.
Prosperity and smoothness.

The firm comes comes without hindrance.
The yielding is at the proper place.
It goes out to meet its similarity above.

The king arrives at the temple.
His is in the central place
Favorable to cross great rivers.
The merit comes from mounting on the wood.

Commentary on the Symbol

The wind mover over the water.
An image of dispersing.
In correspondence with this,
The ancient king offers sacrifice to the Lord of Heaven
And establishes temples.

Second Nine

Dispersing.
Hurrying to an opportune moment.
Regret vanishes.

Significance

The gua takes the image of the wind moving over the water to demonstrate the act of dispersing people’s resentment. During the time of dispersing, having a leader with wisdom and foresight is crucial. The king approaching his temple gives us an image of his connection with the spiritual world. Crossing great rivers signifies the hardship and difficulty of the work. Steadfastness and uprightness should be the virtue of a great leader. He has self-confidence, so his is able to live and work in peace. The host of the gua is the solid line at the fifth place. This line represents the king who approaches his temple to connect himself with the Lord of Heaven. During the time of dispersing he is the only one who, in the honored place, is able to establish order throughout his nation. The fourth line represents the king’s minister, while the second line is his officer. They faithfully assist the king to unite the people in the time of dispersing.

During King Wen’s sitting in stillness he meditated upon joyfulness and dispersion. After people had been joyful, their energy dispersed, and their focus was scattered. At such a time, a leader with wisdom and foresight was needed. Heed arrived at his temple and communicated with the deity. His sincerity and trustworthiness encouraged people to work in full cooperation and with unity of purpose. The Duke of Zhou narrates that to be of help at such a time, one should have the speed of a strong horse. Dispersing self-serving gbroups led to a union as solid as a mound.

Summer Solstice 2019

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60. Restricting



Sequence of the Gua

Things cannot disperse forever. Thus, after Dispersing, restricting follows.

Decision:

Restricting.
Prosperous and smooth.
Not appropriate to be steadfast.
In bitter restriction.

Commentary on the Decision

Restricting.
Prosperity and smoothness.
The firm and the yielding are equally divided,
And the firms obtain the central places.
Not appropriate to be steadfast in bitter restriction.
Its way leads to the end.

Passing the danger with joy,
Carry out restriction in the proper position.
From the central and correct place,
His advance is without limitation.

When Heaven and Earth regulate their restriction,
Then the four seasons complete their functions.
When restriction is put into regulation,
Then resources will not be exhausted
And people will not be hurt.

Commentary on the Symbol

Water over Lake.
An image of Restricting.
In correspondence with this,
The superior person creates numbers and measures fore restriction
And discusses a moral code for social conduct.

Fifth Nine

Sweet restriction.
Good fortune.
Going forward: esteem

Significance

The gua takes the image of water in a lake to illustrate that there is a need to regulate the excessiveness and insufficiency of water and applies the principle to adjusting right and wrong in human society. the nature of water is moving, When water is moving, it is fresh and clean, and when it stops, it becomes stagnant and stale. If the water moves without direction, it will be either wasted or exhausted. If it is dammed up without a plan, it will cause flood and calamity. The ancient Chinese accumilated experience in dealing with the Yellow River, which flooded once a year for thousands of years. Their experience was to dredge the riverbed and to guide the water, based upon the principle of adjusting its excessiveness and insufficiency, to control the rate of its flow. From this experience, they applied the principle of regulating rivers and watercourses to social affairs.

The lower gua is Lake. Water in the lake is rising. Beyond the third line, it will overflow. The upper gua is Water. The nature of water is to flow. When the water reaches the topmost line, it shoud stop. Otherwise flood and calamity will ensue. The message of the gua is that if there is there is too little water, one should be concerned about possible drought. In our daily lives, we should strike a balance between excess and insufficiency and walk in the central path.

The host of the gua is the solid line at the fifth place. Only a person supreme wisdom and one in an honorable place is able to adjust right and wrong and practice the Tao of restriction.

During King Wen’s sitting in stillness he realized that after overcoming dispersion, people came together to work in full cooperation and with unity of purpose. It was time to promote restriction—to set limits to one’s expenses and bounds on one’s behavior. Promoting restraint would bring people and the government sucess, but painful restriction should not become common practice. The Duke of Zhou narrates different consequences of restriction. If either government or the people do not observe restraint, it would create unhappiness. Peaceful restriction bring success and invites good fortune. Painful restriction results in misfortune.

Spring Equinox 2019

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48. Replenishing

Decision:

Replenishing.
The site of a village may be moved,
Not the well.
Neither loses nor gains.
Coming and going, drawing, drawing.
Nearly out of the well,
Break one’s bucket—misfortune.

Commentary on the Decision

Penetrating into the water and bringing the water up.
It indicates a well. The well supplies replenishment.
But is never exhausted.

The site of a village may be moved,
Not the well,
Because the solids are in the central positions

Nearly out of the well,
The achievement has not yet been fulfilled.
Break one’s bucket;
There is misfortune.
Commentary on the Symbol

Water over Wood.
An image of Replenishing.
In correspondence with this,
The superior person encourages the people at their work
And urges them to help one another.

Significance

The gua shows the wisdom of replenishing the people. In order to replenish people, the head of a household or the leader of a community must first have a source that is inexhaustible. According to the wisdom of the ancient sages, the only way to assure that the supply is inexhaustible is to make the best possible use of the people and resources, and let the commodities flow abundantly into the market. This gua also explores the wisdom of employing virtuous people. Water in a stream is a gift of nature. Water in a well results from the accomplishment of human beings. All the underground streams are there, but without digging the water is wasted. So it is with able and virtuous people. In ancient times, selecting the virtuous and the able was always an important task of a great king.

The host of the gua is unusual—it is the yin element at the topmost place. The yang element at the fifth place is the king—firm and strong, central and correct. Confucius’s Commentary on the Decision says, “The site of a village may be moved, not the well, because solids are in the central positions.” The firm is the king at the fifth place. He is the well, the source of replenishment. Things may change, but his desire to replenish the people never changes. This line has the correct attributes to be the host, but it is not the host.

There is another yang element that is firm and strong, central and correct—the yang element at the second place. This yang element could also act as the host, but it doesn’t. Since this gua is about drawing water from the well, or selecting the virtuous and the able from the multitude, which can only be accomplished by the person at the top. The topmost yin element symbolizes a well without a cover, indicating that the resource of the well is fully used. This line represents the ideal society—a society of great harmony in which the leader and the people work in full cooperation and with unity of purpose.

After the success of King Wen’s southern expedition, the Zhou population increased and the territory expanded. In order to replenish the people’s latent productive capacity, King Wen abolished the old slavery system, setting the slaves free. Likewise, the old personnel system was accordingly changed, and new talent and able officials were recruited. King Wen stated that the system could be changed, but not the principle. The old system could not function well, like an old bucket already broken. If the old system were to remain in place, there would be misfortune. The Duke of Zhou records the problems of the old system. The new social system and the new personnel system functioned better, as if the well have been tiled. The water pure and cold and could be used again. Supreme good fortune ensued.

Initial Six

The bottom line is a yin element at a yang place. it is at the bottom of the well where there is mud and no water. Nobady drinks, not even a bird. The lower gua is Xun, Wood, which represents a cock. Thus the Yao Text takes a bird as the symbol. The well is too old and not well maintained. The situation is bad. If one in this place is not able to live in accord with the time and make adjustments, one will be deserted.

Winter Solstice 2018

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19. Approaching

Decision:

Approaching.
Sublimely prosperous and smooth.
Favorable to be steadfast and upright.
Ends in the eighth month;
Misfortunes follows.

Commentary on the Decision

Approaching,
The firm is advancing and growing.

Joyous and obedient.
The firm is central and properly responded to.
Great success along with his correctness.
This is the Tao of Heaven.

At the end of the eighth month,
There will be misfortune.
Recession is not too long incoming.
Commentary on the Symbol

Earth above Lake.
An image of Approaching.
In correspondence with this,
The superior person is willing to teach inexhaustibly
And, in his tolerance, protect the people without limit.

Significance

This gua is very special. The four most auspicious virtues of yuan, hung, li, and then have been bestowed upon it. It expounds the principle of leadership. A leader should influence people with his noble character and conduct. The ancient Chinese believed that the king was the Son of Heaven. When the king arrived (Approaching) on Earth, he represented Heaven to protect and nurture his people. If the king acted in accordance with the will of Heaven, people from eight directions would come and follow him. The two solid lines at the bottom of the gua are qualified to be the host. they represent the advance of the firm. However, the firm element at the second position is central and properly responds to the yielding element at the fifth place; it is more suitable to be the host. Thus Confucius says, “Great success along with his correctness. This is the Tao of heaven.”

King Wen’s Decision says, “Ends in the eighth month; misfortune comes.” There several possible interpretations. The basic idea rests upon the growth and advance of the yang energy. In a yearly cycle, yang energy emerges in the eleventh month of the lunar calendar. It is represented by the twenty-fourth gua, Turning Back.

The Family Boundary

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In terms of family we rarely look beyond the boundaries of those we encounter in our own lives. As children, we are aware of three core generations during our life. That core shifts from our parents to us as we have children ourselves. Experience of the great-grandparents or great-grandchildren is uncommon. 

I was fortunate to have met my mother’s grandparents. Every summer our family would drive from California to my parent’s childhood homes in Idaho. I especially loved the 160 acre Vinyard Farm 10 miles east of Twin Falls across the old Hansen Bridge on the Snake River. I loved everything about the farm. Nothing during the rest of the year could compare to be on the farm exploring the wonder of animals and things I couldn’t find in the city.

Three Generations of Vinyards, c. 1935
In back: Charles Centennial & Maude Melissa Berry, Charles Everett & Alice Eliza Davis.
In front: Bryson Davis & Alice Vivian

One of my most vivid earliest memories is the day my great-grandfather died in July of 1952 when I was five years old. I remember his distress call to the family, “I can’t see!,” as he emerged from his bedroom outside the kitchen where the rest of the family was gathered. Later that morning, I remember looking out the window from across the driveway at the back of the main house. I was being hugged by my aunt Lois. She was in tears and I was bewildered by the huge ambulance parked outside the back door to the kitchen. He had died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

My mother would talk often of my great-grandfather, Charles Centennial Vinyard. He was the most important man in her life and she idolized him. My grandfather was a great storyteller, and between the two I have plenty of stories of life on the farm. And then I had the museum of rusting horse drawn farm implements to play on behind the barn.

After my mother died in 2014 I realized that I had lost my last connection to my family ancestral narrative. And because I had not taken full advantage of this, I knew I had a responsibility to not let what I knew be lost to my grandchildren. So empowered with the family knowledge I did possess, I began the search for whatever ancestral bits I could find to add to the family saga. My goal in the beginning was to develop each parent’s lineage back to the immigrants to this country. Going beyond that seemed improbable. I was wrong.

Cress & Vinyard Ancestry

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I have been intensely researching my ancestry for the last eight months. At first I was simply interested in discovering the origins of the paternal Cress and Vinyard lineages. It wasn’t long before I realized that the real key to ancestral understanding is in the maternal lineages. Rather than linear ribbons of ancestors one after another, I discovered a fabric of intersecting lineages in Scotland, Wales, England, Scandinavia, and France stretching back to the Early Middle Ages.
I was amazed how many times I would develop separate Cress and Vinyard maternal lineages and find myself intersecting Clan Bruce in 13th-century Scotland.

Convergence of four separate lineages at Robert de Brus, 6th Lord of Annadale, and father
of Robert the Bruce, who is my 20th great-grandfather on both sides of my family.

It’s important to note that those of us who can trace our American immigrant roots back to the 17th-century migration of families from Britain will most likely find similar ancestry. At this point I have collected more than 14,000 individuals related to my ancestral past. I am simply amazed at what I have discovered.

The revelations of my research has compelled me to begin an ancestral narrative to pass along to my grandchildren. It is important to embrace your pantheon of ancestors for your own life of discovery.