Yin-Rén-Rén-Rén
The yin is about to scatter them, the yang still holds them together.
The way of togetherness prizes sameness.
1
He makes himself one with what is filthy.
He does not know there is such a thing as clean.
There is no word for him among people.
2
White and black mixed all through it.
Three creatures, one horn between them, and one tail.
Not one of them means the others harm.
3
He is one with the white and has no room for the dark.
One tail and three horns, and no edge anywhere.
Nothing here comes near anything else.
4
The bird puts its nest in the thicket.
Men put their lives with whoever holds nothing back.
Nobody is poor at that table.
5
The hub no longer spaces its spokes evenly.
Hair by hair, the jade is ruined.
Nothing in it turns true any more.
6
Together at the well and in the market.
One way of writing, one width of wheel.
Far and near have stopped being different.
7
The canopy is tilted and something is out in the wet.
The rain comes late.
What it saves is not what was dying.
8
Together with them inside the danger.
He gets the cover over them.
He had been doing this before anyone was watching.
9
Together all the way into dying.
He throws himself away and leaves the enemy the rest.
Being the same is not the same as being right.
THE COMMENTARY
People are being drawn into common identity, purpose, or circumstance. The question is what kind of sameness is worth creating and how much difference can remain within genuine unity.
Togetherness can overcome isolation and make collective action possible. Yet unity becomes dangerous when it requires moral blindness, suppresses every distinction, or turns loyalty to the group into the highest standard of rightness.
Seek what allows people to belong without becoming indistinguishable. The strongest unity does not erase difference; it establishes enough shared ground that difference no longer threatens the whole.
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.