Yang-Yin-Yang-Yang
The yang breath assists what is hidden,
pushing and wrapping, overfull and bright, its course not yet straight.
1
Too much at the very beginning.
After it, the road that bends.
Straightening comes late or not at all.
2
The excess is caught while still small.
It can be brought back.
It did not go far enough to be lost.
3
Overflow onto the winding road.
Nothing here can go straight.
The road bends because the walking bends.
4
They weigh the crooked against the straight.
The good man comes off badly.
Goodness has gone against the rule.
5
The high road lies flat and open.
The footpath is barely a scratch.
Why is the big cart worried?
6
The great emptiness has gone crooked.
Some straighten it, some fledge it.
An arrow needs a hand and a feather.
7
He bends the reason, he winds the road.
The danger is broken to the halter.
The crooked way was a made thing.
8
Feet more than enough for it.
They cross the drainage ditch.
Facing forward, they miss what was coming.
9
The axle breaks, the yoke-bar buckles.
Four horses hauled up short in the traces.
There is blood in the driver’s mouth and nothing to take back.
THE IMAGE
An overflowing mountain torrent rushing over carved stone embankments and watergates, with four spirited horses straining against curved bronze harness traces and balanced scales.
THE COMMENTARY
Something has gone beyond its proper measure. There may be too much effort, too much ambition, too much complication, or simply more movement than the situation can carry without bending out of shape.
Excess does not always mean that what is abundant must be rejected. Sometimes the task is to catch the imbalance early and bring it back toward proportion before it becomes difficult to correct. At other times, what seems like the larger or more impressive course is unnecessary because the open road is already available.
The danger lies in allowing distortion to become self-reinforcing. Once the path is crooked, each new step can make the next one harder to straighten. This oracle asks where enough became too much, and whether the situation can still be brought back before strain becomes breakage.
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.