Reverence to the ancestors
In the previous entry on Yijing and depression, I warned that virtue is an important element in the use of the Yijing but the path of the noble is uncommon. I adviced that is needed to discern which Yijing practitioners have been progressing on the path of virtue, especially when it comes to public forums. The conduct and words of the person are sufficient to distinguish the nobility of vulgarity, as Hexagram 27 explains.
One element of great value in the culture that gave rise to the Yijing to discern the noble from the inferior is the reverence with the ancestors. Thus, knowledge and respect for the classics – or its disdain- is an appropriate measure to inform our opinion with respect to persons who come before us to guide us in the use of the Yijing. That’s why it is unfortunate that in a public forum in which not only they offer exchanges and interpretations of specific consultations but charge money for teaching the Yijing, one of the ancestors has been insulted. See entries 33 and 49 of this discussion http://www.onlineclarity.co.uk/friends/showthread.php?t=8141
Zhu Xi is one of the most renowned Yijing’s scholars; who rebuilt the system which has enabled us to this day continue to consult the Yijing with sacred stalks; who systematized the Four Classics, making it possible to have a solid foundation to study the works of Confucius; his studies were a serious attempt to reflect what is truth in taoism and budism in Confucian roots.
If a person says that Zhu Xi is irrational, irrelevant to the knowledge of the Yijing, and also adds that he should be drunk when he wrote his methodology of using Yijing, this is not mere ignorance. We face a severe loss of virtue. And not because we have to agree with Zhu Xi, after all his work has been and remains under discussion. But because it reveals a profound inability to show reverence for the ancestors who have stablish, with their sincere and persevering study, a bridge of continuity between the virtue of the old wises and our life.
The responsibility of the person who has made that insulting statement against such a sincere scholar rests solely with her. But if anything social psychology has taught us is that the dynamics of a group is defined by the whole group, not just one person. If none of the forum administrators, and none of the forum’s members , reacted to such insults, it is no exaggeration to say that this group is dominated by the way of the inferior.
Perhaps this example better clarifies what we mean when we note that it is necessary to carefully discern the views and interpretations that are received in public forums devoted to the Yijing.
Cambios en medio de la tierra 