Yin-Yin-Rén-Yin
The yin sprinkles and wets it;
the yang holds it and brings it to harmony.
1
Nothing in the stove.
He goes begging from the neighbours.
The name is there and the food is not.
2
The yellow cauldron stands by itself.
Hollow inside, and it neither eats nor drinks.
Trusted, and nothing gets in to harm it.
3
No firewood in the stove.
The gold sits there in a row.
Everything is present except the thing that burns.
4
A small pot with something actually in it.
What it buys is the strength of the ones who work.
When there is food, the good come and serve.
5
The cauldron is big enough to boil in.
Nobody fasts, nobody puts on the grave face.
There is a feast and no meaning in it.
6
Five flavours brought into agreement, seasoned and fine.
This is the great man’s banquet.
Someone in the kitchen did the reconciling.
7
Prime beef fat, and the axe not washed before the cooking.
Then the retching comes.
The meat was clean and the intention was not.
8
He eats what was set aside for him.
He shouts, and nothing is broken.
He is living on somebody else’s virtue.
9
The stove has let its fire go out.
This is the household’s reckoning.
It is also treason against the state.
THE COMMENTARY
The question concerns nourishment, transformation, and the place where raw things become usable. A household, project, relationship, or community may possess ingredients, resources, and people, but they still need the right heat and arrangement to become sustaining.
The Stove asks what is actually feeding the situation. Appearance is not enough: a beautiful vessel without fire produces nothing, while a modest pot containing real food may draw capable people toward it.
Pay attention to preparation, proportion, and intention. What is brought together can nourish many when the elements are reconciled properly, but abundance without meaning or impurity in the process can turn a feast into sickness.
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.