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Hexagram 5, line 1

需于郊.利用恆.無咎.

Jiao 郊: general reference to the area outside the city, the open country. The Shanghai Museum MSS has hao 蒿, which in several texts is used as a loan for jiao (古文字通假字典, p. 158).

Heng 恆: perseverance, constancy. In the Lun Yu heng is mentioned as a necessary quality for witch doctors or shamans when doing a divination:

子曰:「南人有言曰:『人而無恆,不可以作巫醫。』善夫!」「不恆其德,或承之羞。」子曰:「不占而已矣。」
The Master said, “The people of the south have a saying – ‘A man without constancy cannot be either a wizard or a doctor.’ Good! Inconstant in his virtue, he will be visited with disgrace.” The Master said, “This arises simply from not attending to the prognostication.”
(tr. James Legge)

A different version of this anecdote is found in the Liji:

子曰:「南人有言曰:『人而無恒,不可以為卜筮。』古之遺言與?龜筮猶不能知也,而況於人乎?《詩》云:『我龜既厭,不我告猶。』《兌命》曰:『爵無及惡德,民立而正事,純而祭祀,是為不敬;事煩則亂,事神則難。』《易》曰:『不恒其德,或承之羞。恒其德偵,婦人吉,夫子凶。』」
The Master said, ‘The people of the south have a saying that “A man without constancy cannot be a diviner either with the tortoise-shell or the stalks.” This was probably a saying handed down from antiquity. If such a man cannot know the tortoise-shell and stalks, how much less can he know other men? It is said in the Book of Poetry (II, v, ode 1, 3), “Our tortoise-shells are wearied out, And will not tell us anything about the plans.” The Charge to Yue says (Shu, IV, Viii, sect. 2, 5, 11), “Dignities should not be conferred on men of evil practices. (If they be), how can the people set themselves to correct their ways? If this be sought merely by sacrifices, it will be disrespectful (to the spirits). When affairs come to be troublesome, there ensues disorder; when the spirits are served so, difficulties ensue.” It is said in the Yi, “When one does not continuously maintain his virtue, some will impute it to him as a disgrace – (in the position indicated in the Hexagram.) When one does maintain his virtue continuously (in the other position indicated), this will be fortunate in a wife, but in a husband evil.”
(tr. James Legge)

The phrase 不恆其德,或承之羞 is mentioned in the 3rd line of hexagram 32, Heng 恆. See also this site.

Waiting outside the city.
Favourable to persevere.
There is no curse from the ancestors.


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