Constancy

In a relationship you hope will last a lifetime, what should never change, and what must keep changing?

Original

恆：亨，无咎，利貞，利有攸往。彖曰：……天地之道，恆久而不已也。利有攸往，終則有始也。象曰：雷風，恆；君子以立不易方。九三：不恆其德，或承之羞，貞吝。

In plain words

Constancy: success, no blame; favourable to hold true, favourable to go somewhere. The Tuan says: … the way of heaven and earth endures and does not stop. “Favourable to go somewhere”: when one thing ends, another begins. The Image says: thunder and wind: Constancy. The noble person, seeing this, stands firm and does not change direction. Line 3: not keeping one's virtue constant, one may meet disgrace; to persist this way is hard going.

Key words

恆héngHexagram 32, Constancy: thunder above, wind below. Lasting.
方fāngDirection, the right road: what stays fixed is the heading, not every step.
不已bù yǐNot stopping: constancy's other side, continuous movement.

Reading it step by step

Mutual Response, on the last page, was about the quick way people move each other. But what arrives quickly can leave quickly. The second half of the Changes opens with two hexagrams side by side: first the heart is moved; then the question is how to make it last.

First: there are two kinds of constancy, unchanging and unceasing. Heng (Constancy) has Thunder above and Wind below. Thunder and wind both move, yet they are chosen to speak of lasting. The judgment says both “favourable to hold true” and “favourable to go somewhere.” The Tuan makes it plain: the way of heaven and earth “endures and does not stop,” and “when one thing ends, another begins.”

So constancy has two layers: not changing, which keeps the direction, and not stopping, which keeps the feet moving. The Image says the noble person “does not change direction.” What stays fixed is the direction, the road you have chosen, not the way you walk it each day. A couple married forty years keep the same heart while they keep adjusting how they live together. A craftsperson keeps one aim for life while the tools and methods keep changing.

unchanging

keep the direction

“favourable to hold true”

unceasing

ending, then beginning

“favourable to go somewhere”

Constancy = a fixed direction + moving feet

Second: a hexagram about lasting has almost no easy lines. This is the surprise. Line 1: “digging deep for constancy: holding to it brings misfortune.” It wants forever settled on day one. Line 6: “shaking constancy: misfortune.” At the very end it still can't stop stirring. Beginnings need care; endings need more. Demanding a lifetime promise on a first date, or clinging to authority after you've retired: those are these two lines. Only line 2 hears “regret vanishes,” because it keeps to the middle. Lasting comes from avoiding extremes.

line 1 · digging deepdemanding forever on day one

misfortune

line 2 · regret vanisheskeeps to the middle

lasts

line 6 · still shakingcan't settle at the end

misfortune

Third: without constancy, you don't need a reading to know the outcome. Line 3, “not keeping one's virtue constant, one may meet disgrace,” is the one line of the Changes that Confucius quotes directly in the Analects. He first cites a southern saying: a person without constancy cannot be helped even by a shaman-healer. One reading: if you stop the medicine after three days, no one can cure you. Then Confucius adds: “It's simply a matter of not needing to cast.” Common sense already knows. That is exactly the rule of these pages: don't cast what common sense can settle.

The Great Commentary has another line: constancy is “varied, and so never tiresome.” Lasting doesn't come from monotony. A school timetable mixes language, maths and English so pupils don't tire. Exercise works the same way: a run today, a swim tomorrow, a walk the day after. What you keep is moving every day.

So choose one thing you mean to do for life. Write down its direction, and leave the method free to change.

Keep the direction; keep walking.

One line to carry

Keep the direction; keep walking.

Today's question

Write down one thing you want to do for life. What is its direction? Which of your methods are you willing to keep changing?

Quick check

On this page's reading, what is the “direction” that should not change?

Next pageThe Crane Calls in the ShadePage 28

IV · Walking with Others — Modesty, fellowship, response, constancy, trust, and a mind at peace

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