Steven Karcher & Michael Servetus
Relinquishing the Obstruction. Wise Words! For the Great Person the Way opens. It disappears! It disappears! Attach it to the bushy Mulberry Tree.
Withdraw to a peaceful place where you can focus on what is truly important. Those you identify with will disappear. Though you may feel hurt, you can rescue this situation with a burst of invigorating strength. The cause for sorrow will soon disappear. These goings and comings release the energy now bound up in the past. Have no cares. Gather energy for the decisive new move.
Richard Wilhelm
Standstill is giving way.
Good fortune for the great man.
"What if it should fail, what if it should fail?"
In this way he ties it to a cluster of mulberry shoots.
##### Comments
The time undergoes a change. The right man, able to restore order, has arrived. Hence "good fortune." But such periods of transition are the very times in which we must fear and tremble. Success is assured only through greatest caution, which asks always, "What if it should fail?" When a mulberry bush is cut down, a number of unusually strong shoots sprout from the roots. Hence the image of tying something to a cluster of mulberry shoots is used to symbolize the way of making success certain. Confucius says about this line:
Danger arises when a man feels secure in his position. Destruction threatens when a man seeks to preserve his worldly estate. Confusion develops when a man has put everything in order. Therefore the superior man does not forget danger in his security, not ruin when he is well established, nor confusion when his affairs are in order. In this way he gains personal safety and is able to protect the empire.
