{"id":232,"date":"2012-10-11T14:19:43","date_gmt":"2012-10-11T18:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yitoons.com\/yiblog\/?p=232"},"modified":"2018-11-03T19:57:16","modified_gmt":"2018-11-03T23:57:16","slug":"taming-tigers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yitoons.com\/yiblog\/2012\/10\/11\/taming-tigers\/","title":{"rendered":"Taming tigers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The other day I closed a circle, so to speak, when I watched an interview of Damien Echols on CBS Sunday Morning<\/a>. The man was convicted–still is, actually–along with two other men, for the brutal murder of three boys in 1993. They are known as The West Memphis Three<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\"\"

West Memphis Three
Source: Wiki Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

After some new DNA evidence was produced, they entered an Alford Plea<\/a>, which “concedes that prosecutors have sufficient evidence to secure a conviction but reserves the right to assert innocence”<\/em>\u00a0(Wikipedia article) and the judge released them with time served, after eighteen years in jail.<\/p>\n

The subject of this note, Damien Echols, has been minced and diced for almost twenty years already and I will not repeat here what has been said, either by others or in\u00a0his own words<\/a>. I will, though, tackle what I’ve noticed on his arm as body art:<\/p>\n

\"Hexagrams<\/a>

Damien Echols use of Yijing
hexagrams as body art.<\/p><\/div>\n

I’ve said I closed a circle because I was wondering where the inspiration for one of Johnny Depp’s tattoos came from. I am not drawn to tattoos per se, but I am drawn to instances of Yijing hexagrams:<\/p>\n

\"Johnny<\/a>

John Depp at David Letterman, Oct\/27\/2011<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Johnny<\/a>

Johnny Depp’s version of Hexagram 9.<\/p><\/div>\n

The thing is that I confirmed the existence of the tattoo, which I thought was nice and all,\u00a0but I didn’t research the story behind it<\/a>,\u00a0until now.<\/p>\n

Now that everyone is aware of those two matching tattoos, let’s talk about them in the context of Damien Echols, of whom I know next to nothing but I bought his latest book, which I have yet to read. I think that kind of ignorance is good in this case as it allows me to focus on the hexagrams and what they might be saying about Echols. What Echols says about it is this, quoting from an interview in Inked Magazine<\/a>:<\/p>\n

DAMIEN ECHOLS: We have three that we\u2019ve done together now. That very first one was a hexagram from I Ching, the Book of Changes. When I was in prison, I used to keep a journal every day, and one of the things I wrote about was this hexagram. And Johnny read it onstage when he did the Voices for Justice concert. What it\u2019s about is that whenever you\u2019re facing huge obstacles in your life, don\u2019t focus on the huge obstacles or else you\u2019ll lose heart and be defeated. Instead, just focus on putting one foot in front of the other. It\u2019s by doing that that you eventually defeat the huge obstacles. It\u2019s nicknamed The Taming Power of the Small.<\/strong> So we got it because it was not only what I was doing and it was the journal entry he read, but also Lorri, my wife, her nickname is \u201cThe Small.\u201d So it was something that sort of tied all three of us together.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/object><\/center><\/p>\n

There are, however, significant differences between the hexagrams in Depp and Echols. In the case of Johnny Depp, the location of the tattoo might be nothing but an issue of skin availability. He’s got a number of tattoos all over his body and several on his right arm. The back of his upper right arm might have been the one place he had available and willing to use for that purpose, at that moment. That location is important because it means he can’t see the tattoo<\/strong> very<\/strong> well<\/strong><\/em> unless he uses a mirror. It also allows the educated speculation that he went along with the idea of inking that on his arm as a friendship matching ritual with Echols. Echols, on the other hand, had more skin real estate available and placed a much bigger version of the hexagram on his left forearm.<\/p>\n

I wish I knew what Echols relationship with the Yijing was. He wrote about it in his journal while in jail but I don’t know, for example, if he met the Yijing there or if it was something he found before being sentenced. I searched his book and I could find only one mention of it on page 341, a quote from his journal, and is what Johnny Depp read at Voices for Justice. If there are other mentions, I’ve missed them and I will perhaps find them after I actually finish his book. Why no more mentions of it in such an important book for him and the Yijing being important enough to occupy a whole forearm with black ink? Is it possible he encountered the Yijing after prison? Of course, that would mean some of his journal entries are post-fact and part of the flow of the prose of his memoir. All speculation on my part, of course, as I don’t honestly know. The same goes for what I’ll muse about regarding his selection and use of the hexagram he inked.<\/p>\n

Most hexagrams are paired with their mirror images and hexagrams 9 and 10 are one such example (visualize the horizontal line in the picture below as a mirror).\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>The first thing that comes to mind in connection with the place where the hexagram is located, in his own plain view, is that, while he shows the world hexagram 9, unless he folds his arm close to his chest, he stares at hexagram 10.<\/p>\n

There are two lines that need to change to go from hexagram 9 to 10: lines 3 and 4. Furthermore, these lines are in a section of the hexagram which is attributed to Man (generic for mankind) in the trinity of Earth\/Man\/Heaven. The first and second lines are attributed to Earth and the fifth and sixth lines belong to Heaven. Lines 3 and 4 also represent a local lord and a prime minister, respectively, for example. Such positions are usually the most precarious situations of the whole hexagram. There are number of structural reasons why this is so but the one that I think most apply here is that there’s friction in the transition between the inner\/lower trigram, and the outer\/upper trigram and such friction shows stronger where they meet. One of the best descriptions I’ve read about these two line positions comes from Stephen Karcher who says: “Line Positions 3 and 4 are the Thresholds, representing an individual\u2019s passage through the chaos that exists between states or stages of being. This is a dangerous liminal position or initiation site.”<\/em>\u00a0 (The Heart of Change\u00a0The Rang Rituals of Giving (a)Way)<\/p>\n

At some point those lines switch places. In the case of Echols’ tattoo, it happens every time he flexes his left arm up or down. An interesting, sort of on\/off switch, where one hexagram becomes the other.<\/p>\n

\"\"What does hexagram 9 mean for him? In general terms, that’s a documented answer, in his journal and elsewhere. For him it means not to waste energy and effort on things that out of his control but rather work on those small things that can, down the path, gradually effect the changes he seeks. Indeed, the hexagram is a perfect metaphor for how things developed for him. It is also a reminder of a proper attitude for the future.<\/p>\n

There’s more to that hexagram though, and a whole other story when it comes to hexagram 10 \u5c65, Treading. For example, the Wilhelm\/Baynes rendition of the name of 9 is, in my opinion, misguiding. \u5c0f\u755c refers to the domestication of small animals. When Wilhelm, first in German and then Baynes compounding her own translation into English, interpreted those two characters meaning “The Taming Power of the Small,” he took a big poetic and interpretive license. However, the metaphor is indeed built into the meaning of the hexagram in general.<\/p>\n

Another interesting fact is that the character dao, \u9053, appears precisely four times in the text of the Zhouyi (the core text of the Yijing). Two of those instances are once each in 9 \u5c0f\u755c (first line) \u00a0and 10 \u5c65 (second line). The fact that \u9053 was extensively conceptualized a few hundred years later by Laozi–and many of my colleagues would perhaps argue that what I’ll say is anachronistic–isn’t stopping anyone from seeing that the later metaphor attached to the character is patently, and contextually, there.<\/p>\n

The \u9053 of \u00a09 \u5c0f\u755c calls for “returning to one’s own path”<\/em><\/span> (Hatcher<\/a>), while in\u00a010 \u5c65 it calls for “treading the path which is level and easy”<\/em><\/span>\u00a0(Hatcher<\/a>). Those two lines are speaking to Echols as a worthy advise to heed.<\/p>\n

I’m not alone in believing that symbols carry and focus energy, especially when they are purposely used. It is for this reason that at this point\u00a0I must add a few caveats and advise for Echols (or anyone who’s compelled to ink such allegories in places where they have dual messages depending on the point of view). Let’s think of those situations as “switching on” or “activating” certain lines. In the present case, the activated lines of \u00a09 \u5c0f\u755c advise:<\/p>\n

Nine in the third place means: The spokes burst out of the wagon wheels. Man and wife roll their eyes.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Six in the fourth place means: If you are sincere, blood vanishes and fear gives way. No blame.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

The first part speaks of a situation where important things are not taken care of (spokes burst out…) but rather time is spent in useless bickering (man and wife roll their eyes). It is, really, a call to pay attention to what deserves priority and concentrate on that. There’s a time to play and a time to work and fix things that require focused attention. When that line changes the hexagram becomes 61 \u4e2d\u5b5a, Inner Truth, with the basic admonition of “do go ahead, persevere and ford that big stream and you’ll be compensated” while the text of the Image will almost certainly bring a shiver to most people familiar with Echols’ case and especially himself:<\/p>\n

Wind over lake: the image of INNER TRUTH.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Thus the superior man discusses criminal cases <\/strong><\/em>in order to delay executions.
\n<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The corresponding 3rd line in 61 reads:<\/p>\n

Six in the third place means:\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>He finds a comrade. Now he beats the drum, now he stops. Now he sobs, now he sings.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The seemingly bipolar behavior of the subject of the line actually appears to be a good depiction of how things went down with Echols and the friends and people that helped him overcome his situation.<\/p>\n

The second part, 9.4, is perhaps more interesting. The character for blood, \u8840 xue, appears only six times in the Zhouyi, four times in the sixth line (2.6, 3.6, 54.6 & 59.6) and twice in a fourth line (5.4 & 9.4). It should be noted that four of those instances occur within the first ten hexagrams. The first “decade” of the Yijing (Scott Davis<\/a>) is associated with childhood and discovery. “It is an intensely self-contained time when the child seeks to imagine\u00a0a world in which to discover an identity.”<\/em> (Karcher,\u00a0Myth and Theatre Conferences)<\/p>\n

What can be learned from “blood” symbolism in ancient China, which is the historical context of the text, you might ask yourself. Briefly:<\/p>\n

Red blood is the seat of the soul, and any object smeared with this blood acquires magical powers thereby.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If a demon can be successfully smeared with blood, it is forced to assume its true form. When pictures of gods or goddesses are being consecrated, the eyes are painted over with blood, and in this way the picture or statue is animated or given a soul. Several stories tell of a painter who paints a picture of a dragon which is then <\/b>criticized<\/b><\/span>\u00a0by a customer or recipient because the eyes have not been painted over: when the painter makes the omission good, the picture turns into a real dragon and flies away. <\/b><\/p>\n

(Eberhard, A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols)<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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