Yin-Yang-Yin-Rén
The yang breath draws close to heaven.
The ten thousand things swell full, packed close with no gap in them.
1
You can look at it and find no seam.
It is the gate of the great dark.
There is no side from which it opens.
2
Not close to anyone, not near anyone.
The heart goes off to a rented room.
He left his own village to get there.
3
He is close with his own.
From that he learns how to make people.
The good of it goes out further than the house.
4
He gets close to what stinks.
In three days he cannot smell it.
Small badness has found a way through.
5
Close and close, and no crack anywhere.
It is married to heaven.
The work is heaven’s and it is his.
6
He keeps close to a great wrong.
Something keeps adding to the worry.
He has matched himself to a different kind.
7
The closeness has a mouth in it, and small gills.
The great lord is there.
Whatever comes through, comes through him.
8
He chips at the teeth and leans on the gum.
Three years and there is no lord.
He pulled out the thing that was holding him.
9
Close together inside the disaster.
He puts himself under them first.
Afterwards they will die for him.
THE IMAGE
A tranquil bamboo-shaded scholar’s studio nestled beside a mossy stone waterfall in a secluded mountain valley, where two lifelong friends converse over steaming jade tea vessels.
THE COMMENTARY
Something is drawing very near. Bonds may be strengthening, boundaries narrowing, or circumstances becoming so tightly interconnected that there is little room left between one part and another.
Closeness can create trust, solidarity, intimacy, and powerful cooperation. But nearness also amplifies whatever is present within it: good influence spreads easily, and so does corruption. What you keep close will gradually enter your habits, perceptions, and character.
This oracle therefore asks you to choose proximity carefully. Do not measure closeness only by affection or familiarity; ask what the relationship makes possible and what it makes you become. The strongest bonds allow connection to deepen without destroying the integrity of the people joined by them.
This figure is one of 81 in Taixuanjing for Today, a book by Joe Perez that renders Yang Xiong’s Canon of Supreme Mystery in original verse, with expanded commentary, essays, and full instructions for casting the oracle yourself.