Chapter Seventeen: Conclusion -- So Long as the Fire Burns, the Family Endures

Wind issues from fire.

In the world of the ancient ancestors, this image was perhaps just this simple: a fire is burning, smoke curling gently upward -- wherever there is fire, family members sit gathered around it for warmth, sharing food.

In the pens of the pre-Qin thinkers, this image was endowed with extraordinarily rich philosophical content: inner luminous virtue, outer wind of instruction; first rectify oneself, then transform the family; rectify the family and all under Heaven is settled -- all of this begins with that single fire.

So long as the fire burns, the family endures.

As long as the "fire" within the family is not extinguished -- that fire symbolizing illumination, warmth, sincerity, and love -- the family will endure forever. This fire is not the material fire of firewood but the spiritual fire of virtue:

Initial Nine's "setting boundaries" -- is the screen that shields the flame.
Six in the Second's "attending to the provisions within" -- is the fuel that feeds the fire.
Nine in the Third's "stern rebuking" -- is the poker that stirs the flame to vigor.
Six in the Fourth's "enriching the family" -- is the ample supply of fuel.
Nine in the Fifth's "the king arrives at the family" -- is the head of household who guards the fire with loving care.
Top Nine's "when there is sincerity, dignity follows" -- is the pledge to maintain the flame in perpetual sincerity.

Six lines as one, wind issues from fire. The family Way flourishes; all under Heaven is settled.

The Master said (Lunyu, "Wei Ling Gong"):

"It is the person who can broaden the Way, not the Way that broadens the person."

The Xici shang states:

"The sages established the hexagrams to observe the images, appended statements to make clear the auspicious and inauspicious, and through the pushing and pulling of the firm and yielding generated change and transformation."

"Therefore the exemplary person, when at rest, observes its images and contemplates its statements; when in action, observes its changes and contemplates its prognostications. Thus he receives the aid of Heaven itself, auspicious with nothing unfavorable."

The images, statements, changes, and prognostications of the Jiaren hexagram are here before us. Whether they can be transformed into living family practice depends entirely on the personal effort of each exemplary person who "at rest observes the images and in action contemplates the prognostications."

Finally, let us close with the last stanza of the Shijing, "Xiaoya," "Chang Di":

"Wife and children in harmony, like the playing of lute and zither. Brothers are together, joyful and content. May your household be in good order; may your wife and children be happy. Consider this carefully -- is it not truly so$17"

"Consider this carefully -- is it not truly so$18" -- this final question is at once a solemn affirmation of the principles of the family Way and a gentle reminder to each family member: the rectitude of the family Way requires that you "consider" (investigate deeply), "plan" (deliberate carefully), and "act" (put into practice).

The wisdom of the Jiaren hexagram has come from the distant past and will endure toward eternity.

Wind issues from fire; may the family Way forever flourish.

Referenced Classics:

Zhouyi (Book of Changes, including the Ten Wings)
Shangshu (Book of Documents)
Shijing (Book of Odes)
Liji (Record of Rites)
Yili (Etiquette and Rites)
Zhouli (Rites of Zhou)
Zuozhuan (Zuo Commentary)
Lunyu (Analects)
Mengzi (Mencius)
Xunzi
Laozi (Daodejing)
Zhuangzi
Mozi
Guanzi
Hanfeizi
Guoyu (Discourses of the States)
Daxue (Great Learning)
Zhongyong (Doctrine of the Mean)
Xiaojing (Classic of Filial Piety)
Lushi Chunqiu (Spring and Autumn Annals of Lu Buwei)

Xuanji Editorial Board