Rén-Yang-Yang-Rén
The yin guards the inner door, the yang guards the gate.
Nothing gets at anything else.
1
He closes the window his companions came in by.
He keeps what he had to begin with.
Holding on is a thing that can be done well.
2
Lost, and guarding himself anyway.
It is not the same as having the one thing.
There is nothing inside him to guard with.
3
Nothing lost and nothing gained.
Things come and go past him without a sound.
He is keeping what he already was.
4
A dog made out of straw, set to guard.
It watches nothing and drives off nothing.
There is nothing behind the shape of it.
5
He guards the middle and keeps it in tune.
The lords are bound by it.
This is the thing they were all facing toward.
6
The chock is under the wheel.
The jade tablets are going grey with dust.
Nothing has crossed the border in either direction.
7
The bright ones stop standing watch.
What is left is one man being straight.
He is guarding the keeping of faith itself.
8
A mortar with no pestle, the treadle standing up.
Cloud, and no rain out of it; day, and no warmth in it.
He is guarding an empty house.
9
He keeps watch with the white-haired ones.
He sends the smooth young talkers away.
The old road holds better than the new one.
THE IMAGE
A high stone watchtower on a mountain pass under crisp autumn skies, where alert sentinels with bronze halberds and signal braziers stand guard beside a peaceful valley settlement below.
THE COMMENTARY
Something valuable needs protection. The question concerns boundaries, vigilance, loyalty, and the ability to preserve what matters while other things come and go.
Guarding does not mean freezing everything in place. A good guard knows what is being protected and why; otherwise watchfulness becomes mere obstruction, isolation, or devotion to an empty form.
Hold the center rather than trying to control every movement at the edges. The strongest defense may be fidelity to one essential principle, especially when other people become tired, distracted, or tempted to abandon the watch.
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.