On the importance of I Ching hexagram 50: Ting "The Caldron"

Hexagram number 50 of the I Ching, or Book of Changes: Ting, the Caldron


The Judgement for hexagram 50 in book one, the text of the I Ching reads:

"The Caldron. Supreme good fortune. Success."

The exposition of the Judgement of the Caldron reads:

"While the Well (hexagram 48) relates to the social foundation of our life, and this foundation is likened to the water that serves to nourish growing wood, the present hexagram refers to the cultural superstructure of society. Here it is the wood that serves as nourishment for the flame, the spirit. All that is visible must grow beyond itself, extend into the realm of the invisible. Thereby it recieves its true consecration and clarity and takes the firm root in the cosmic order.

"Here we see civilization as it reaches its culmination in religion. The ting serves in offering sacrifice to the divine. But the truly divine does not manifest itself apart from man. The supreme revelation of God appears in prophets and holy men. To venerate them is true veneration of God. The will of God, as revealed through them, should be accepted in humility; this brings inner enlightenment and true understanding to the world, and this leads to great good fortune and success."

We are all sparks of the divine flame, all knots in Indra's infinite and all inclusive Net. We are all manifestations of the Source, all cameras set up at different angles to maximize the possible perspective. In this time the batteries, the spiritual life, in our cameras are either loosing power, or in very bad cases leaking battery acid. Most of the hegemonic religions have lost touch with the spiritual reality in both the East and the West.

Look at the day and age we live in; there is the internet which connects all people and thoughts with access to it like neurons. Electricity powers cities, we take photographs of and send probes into the deepest reaches of space in hopes of witnessing the instant when Sophia first Concieved. We have even put humans on the Moon, the most mundane of the celestial objects. This is the first baby step of humanity's future and branching out into space exploration and civilization. We should not think of the 1969 trip to the moon as Columbus's trip to the new world. It is more like the first successful long sea voyage and return a few tribal people would make and return from. We also have the power to split the atom. This power can either destroy us or perpetuate us infinitely. The spiritual and religious hegemonies of the day due to their centuries of intermingling with the state in a less than benevolent manner support another MAD (mutually assured destruction) system - this time not based on economics as during the Cold War but "religion" (Basically the Secular/Judeo-Christian-Hindu "West" flanking a rising militant Islam spanning from Northwest Africa to Pakistan and China with a large sphere in the far East as an independent third party. The Indian section of the West is an independent sphere, but really by default on the side of the West due to its geographical rivalry with China and partition with Pakistan in 1947 during the Saturn/Pluto conjunction in Leo over Hindu/Islamic differences. Is this how we are going to choose to act out the truly divine which manifests in humanity? Through the lower urgers of destruction, through the raging chaotic vortex without the insight of the Balancing Eye?

a few words on gnostic christianity

If you have read extra-biblical Christian texts like "On the Origin of the World", "The Secret Book of John", "Pistis Sophia", or "The Reality of Rulers" you will find that events before Genesis are recalled. The texts speak of the very creation of God, or the ALL. The very Source of creation, the "Big Bang" as they say, the beginning of the Rotation i like to say. The creation of the ALL took place in an immaterial in which the only Being or Reality was the ALL. The First Perfect Emanation of Light, also referred to as the "Barbello" then asexually was spawned from the ALL. Think of the Barbello as a "holographic" or pure Light based blue print of the ALL, infinitely long and fundamentally without end, and most importantly immaterial; the Light of the immaterial.

The Barbello then itself, being the Perfect Essence of all creation split into the Aeons, different texts mention different numbers of first created Aeons. Such Aeons that were first formed from the immaterial Barbello were Life, Love, Honor, Wisdom, Joy, etc. The point is that the Aeons which the Barbello created were Perfect, that is they are all things emotionally positive and the germ that the archetypes of mundane reality imitate. They are the aspects of the first perfect Light, and are therefore all benevolent.

The Aeon Wisdom or Sophia (like the Hagia Sophia), at a point then had a thought without the inclusion of the First Perfect Light, trying instead to substitute it with her own light, since curiosity is after all the nature of Wisdom. From this imperfect thought was spawned the material world and also a parody of the Barbello to rule over it, known most commonly as the Demiurge. The Demiurge then in mimicry of the Barbello made the "aeons" of the material world which are essentially the backbone and structural support beams for physical reality. Also, it must be noted that the gnostics usually consider the material world to be a corruption of the Pure reality since it was not created with the light of the Barbello but rather Wisdom's light which she borrowed from Barbello, this is why there is so much suffering in the physical world, there is a constant interplay of duality which creates "friction", rather than a pure abstract Oneness without any contradictions. Thus at least you know the point up until the creation of the physical reality and the Demiurge... now my point:

The physical reality was formed when Sophia (Wisdom) had "an impure thought", that is a thought without the consent of the First Perfection, the Barbello. From this thought came a pregnancy and thus was born the imperfect Demiurge and the strife filled material universe.

Now this is the most important piece, and one that is neglected from mention in church but is fundamental to understanding the theology behind Jesus's " spiritual mission. Mary was impregnated by the "Holy Spirit", the Holy Spirit is the Perfect Essence of God, none other than the Barbello. Thus, Jesus, the incarnation in the flesh of the perfect Essense came to redeem the entire material reality. Finally, Sophia was given the consent of the Pure Thought from the ALL that spawned the material world itself. Sophia was given consent for this thought in the physical form of Mary who became pregnant with Jesus or the Barbello for the redemption of the material universe.

A Word on the Eye in the Vortex and the Zodiacal sign of Cancer

Eye in the Vortex:

Astrological Symbol of Cancer:

The Eye in the vortex and the astrological sign of Cancer are also very closely related. The near joining commas of the sign of Cancer are centered upon an invisible center of gravity as shown in the illustration below:

This is the gravity of creation. It is interesting that when I named this filed I saw that the acronym for "center of gravity" is COG, This Holy Density that the dualities spin around is indeed the Great Cog of the Highest Wheel. It is this speck of dense gravity which a galaxy revolves around, or that causes a rose to bud. It is not the dualities but the source and at the same time the culmination of them; the New Moon and the Full Moon; the very energy of Creation. Cancer is one of the four Cardinal signs; it is a powerful creator of energy. For good reason is Cancer considered the Maternal sign. It is the sign of Mother Nature.

The sign of Cancer is also different from the Eye in the Vortex. The symbol is missing the eye, and only the dualities are portrayed, the Cog is invisble but implied by the apparent rotation of the commas. It is because of the absense of this Center of Gravity that makes Cancer a lunar and receptive symbol - the Moon produces no light of Her own, but is like a chalice to be filled with or drained of Light thus the waxing and waning of the Moon is apparent, and in this way the dualities are in constant flux, now the Light Principle Dominant (Full Moon), then the Dark (New Moon). The Eye in the Vortex is representative of the combination of the powers of the luminaries, that is the power of the luminaries the two most obvious celestial representatives of the duality in motion - the symbol of the Eye in the Vortex is the symbol of the Invisible center of Gravity the commas in the Cancer symbol revolve around. It can be thought to be the same as both the Full Moon and the New Moon, but really it is the Sun and Moon and both their conjunction and opposition at the same time.

The Questions of Toad

1. Toad Once asked Mario: "Mario, is Birdo the Godhead?" Mario replied: "No, but I can understand why you would believe this: He spits the Universal Egg from his mouth and merges the dualities of male and female like the androgynous first Perfect Emanation".

2. Toad Again asked Mario: "How does he spit the Egg from his mouth?" Mario said: "Even though Birdo follows the wrong path of Wart the Eggs are generated from his mouth by virtue of his following the Dharma of the merging of male and female, which is the correct thing for him to do".

3. "Mario", Toad asked "I have noticed that in the sub-space anyone of us can occupy the same space as a life mushroom that resides there, why is this?" Mario replied: "Toad, you should not think so much about this, the Programmers simply made the Game this way".

4. Toad then asked "Mario, what would you liken enlightened consciousness to?" Mario answered "Attaining enlightenment can be likened to my battle with Bowser at the end of my third Super journey. Even though Bowser may jump directly on me, only when I am small am I unharmed. All one has to do is direct Bowser, that Uorobourus lizard symbolic of Karmic attachment into the abyss it creates on its own accord while being careful not to fall in yourself".

The Apocalypse of the Mega Man

1. Rock is indeed the Megaman; the first Adam - the Perfect Man in that he can acquire all the Robot Skills. The Robot skills can be likened to the countless "Me's" in Sumerian "mythology" (skills ranging from farming, weaving, to statecraft, to artistry, and even prostitution) which Inanna took from Enki's temple, the House of Many Waters: the E-Anna.

2. Before Rock the Doctor Light created the Protoman, who like the creation built by the 365 Nephilim in the Apocryphon of John was an imperfect being; hence he is the Proto Man.

3. As he is like the Archetypes of the Perfect Man before him: Ninurta-Nabu, Osiris and the Christ the Mega Man was built with the same purpose in mind: to stop the Desires of Doctor Wiley, That old Satan. The evil of Wiley was overwhelming, thus, like the Demiurge of this World that created the 8 spheres of the 2 luminaries, 5 planets and fixed stars, Doctor Wiley created Eight of his own robots to counter the creation of Light.

4. Mega Man, because of your strong sense of Justice you volunteered to die countless times in the 62 Robot Stages which can be likened to our own reality; that world without end. Programmed with immeasurable goodness you were by the Doctor of the Light. Aum.

5. Rock, mineral of my fathers, the world was saved in 200X when you volunteered to become a Fighting-Robot, like the Adam, Moses, Ninurta, Osiris and Christ before you, you have slain the dragon and persist in conquoring death infinite times.

6. The Mega Man's mission is not only to physically defeat Wiley, but also to defeat the evil desires of the Wiley as the Buddha combats the evil desires of the Mind.

7. Here is Wisdom: Each of the Eight Robots controls his own world assigned to him by the Wiley Doctor, each of them is a kin to the 7+1 planets.

8. If Christ used his mouth to assault the Legions of demons with the Logos then Megaman uses his arm canon to distribute the plasma-pleroma returning all malfunctioning robots to normal functionings.

9. Yea, and then I beheld the Apocalypse of the Mega Man. Verily, all who have thumbs for playing, play now, for the year is late, and the year of our tale is 1 score hundred and X.

10. "Megaman, our victory in Megaman 2 was more transitory than we imagined, Dr. Wiley's ability to resurrect the ghosts of 2 in Megaman 3 shows this", said Dr. Light.

11. "Megaman, our win in your third war against Wiley was more damaging to him than the 2nd, this is evident because when he reappeared the fourth time he could not even play as himself but needed to find the surrogate of Cossask, just as the Devil, banished from the perception of the three dimensions works behind the scenes in the 4th". Aum.

12. "Doctor Wiley is indeed greatly weakened in the Megaman's fourth journey, but because of this he is on what Sun Tzu terms "Deadly Ground", meaning he is fighting for his very existence. He will war you even more ferociously the weaker he becomes, Megaman. You have come so far as you are entering the 5th Game. Do not let your guard down. Remember you are the Rock of Light.

13. In 20xx the ultimate outrage came when the Protoman on behalf of Wiley kidnapped Dr. Light; it was as if the devil and his angels had seized the throne of Heaven. Sophia-Roll could not subside her tears for much more than 1 8th of an hour.

14. Dying countless times many Games are never completed: Megaman the journey of your apocalypse is long, and the Robot Worlds are 62. Rush is your faithful Dog Star Sirius, always waiting to welcome you home or assist you on your way. With an ally like this how can the Rock of Light fail?

15. The wraith of God can be likened to the Earth Shaking Stomp of the Guts Man, so also it is with transits of Saturn.

16. Yea, though the apocalypse is always won Wiley always seems to hide away some robots when he is imprisoned. This is why we must always keep warning ourselves of Wily's immanent escape - just as the Enlightened Buddha consistantly guards himself against the encrouches of the small mind using Mind and Body.

The Reconcilliation of the 64 Megaman Robots with the 7 Planets and the Galactic Center or the Sphere of the Fixed Stars

Each robot to appear in Megaman 1 through 8 is congruent to one of the original 7 planets or the sphere of the fixed stars which are actually not fixed but revolve around a black hole in the center of the galaxy located on the zodiac at approximately 26"50' Sagittarius. There are actually 1 + 64 robots, but seeing as though Protoman's "Robot Number" (shown in the credits of Megaman 1) is 0, he is absent from the list of 8 x 8.

According to the official Megaman storyline Protoman was the first robot created in an effort between Dr. Light and his then assistant Dr. Wily. Protoman's official robot number as assigned by Capcom is 0. Thus he sits apart and above the 'bots built after him, at sometimes attacking Rock (Megaman)as an inferior obsolete rival, and now aiding him as an older wiser brother who has gone first. Protoman can be likened to the 9th sphere, the sphere beyond the fixed stars, symbolic of the All and First Thought Emanation in Gnostic spiritualism.

Also note, that Megaman's original name is "Rock" and he had a sister named "Roll". Rock and Roll. Their robot numbers are 1 and 2 respectively. I will also be posting a version of this list with a annotated commentary dealing with why the robots were assigned these planets and one or two alternative line-ups for a couple of the games.

00. The Proto man

Megaman 1:

01. The Mega man (Rock): Sun
02. Roll: Venus
03. Cut man: Mercury
04. Guts man: Saturn
05. Ice man: Moon
06. Bomb man: Mars
07. Fire man: Jupiter
08. Elec man: Fixed Stars

Megaman 2:

09. Metal man: Mars
10. Air man: Jupiter
11. Bubble man: Moon
12. Quick man: Mercury
13. Crash man: Saturn
14. Flash man: Fixed Stars
15. Heat man: Sun
16. Wood man: Venus

Megaman 3:

17. Needle man: Mars
18. Magnet man: Moon
19. Gemini man: Mercury
20. Hard man: Saturn
21. Top man: Fixed Stars
22. Snake man: Venus
23. Spark man: Sun
24. Shadow man: Jupiter

Megaman 4:

25. Bright man: Sun
26. Pharaoh man: Venus
27. Drill man: Mars
28. Ring man: Saturn
29. Toad man: Moon
30. Dust man: Fixed Stars
31. Dive man: Jupiter
32. Skull man: Mercury

Megaman 5:

33. Gravity man: Fixed Stars
34. Wave man: Moon
35. Stone man: Jupiter
36. Gyro man: Mercury
37. Star man: Sun
38. Charge man: Saturn
39. Napalm man: Mars
40. Crystal man: Venus

Megaman 6:

41. Blizzard man: Moon
42. Centaur man: Jupiter
43. Flame man: Sun
44. Knight man: Mars
45. Plant man: Venus
46. Tomahawk man: Saturn
47. Wind man: Mercury
48. Yamato man: Fixed Stars

Megaman 7:

49. Freeze man: Moon
50. Junk man: Fixed Stars
51. Burst man: Saturn
52. Cloud man: Jupiter
53. Spring man: Venus
54. Slash man: Sun
55. Shade man: Mars
56: Turbo man: Mercury

Megaman 8:

57. Tengu man: Sun
58. Astro man: Fixed Stars
59. Sword man: Venus
60. Clown man: Jupiter
61. Search man: Mercury
62. Frost man: Saturn
63. Grenade man: Mars
64. Aqua man: Moon

copyright: 2007, JCF.

Super Mario Bros. Sutra 1

1. The Kingdom of God can be likened to Mario, Luiji, Toad, or the Princess stepping into the Sub-con. It is here but not here, real but unreal.

2. Yea, the material world can be likened to a turtleshell caught bouncing between two pipes at either extreme for eternity.

3. The Raccoon ears are for hearing.

4. Better still, enlightenment can be likened to a turtleshell caught at the bottom of a small waterhole, bouncing now left, now right in an infinite loop. Above it all sits the fire-flower, undisturbed like the Buddha.

5. Look around you, the Tao is watching.

6. Yea, glory to the ineffable, who makes two not two, uniter of dualities, merger of left and right, above and below, male and female.

7. Mario, look around you, the player is watching.

8. The world is an airship controlled by a Koopa-Kid, can you avoid its bullets?

9. If the Sun becomes angry and attacks you, just hit it with a turtleshell like you would any other adversary.

10. Mario, your life is but a dream as you found in Mario 2.

11. Mario, you should know the Japanese do not even consider your second adventure as truly a Mario game. O the endless Dharma worlds!

12. The Japanese Mario 2 looks very much like the first Super Mario Bros.

13. Humanity is a Shyguy. What is behind your mask Shyguy?

14. Buddha consciousness can be likened to Mario's first arrival in World 4 - Bigland. The same old objects are seen from a new view that is actually old.

15. Finding the White Toadhouse is a power of your mind, as one needs to collect a fixed number of gold coins for its appearance.

16. Toad said to Mario: "Mario, what is a plumber?" Mario replied to Toad "One who fears not entering a pipe-zone knowing the Mushroom Kingdom is close at hand".

17. Once when Mario was travelling through World 7, Pipe-maze, he said "Oh, Daisy, to be stuck inside of the Mushroomland with the Brooklyn blues again".

18. The conspicuous absense of question mark blocks in Mario 2 should be plain enough evidence for anyone that it is actually not a real Mario game.

19. The fact that Mario 2 was originally not actually a Mario game makes it one of the more interesting Mario games. O glory to the hundred thousand Dharma worlds.

20. Toad, what burning hot coal is yours that even you feel the need to smite Wart with that brazenly steamed Turnip?

21. The Princess asked Mario: "Have you ever left the Sub-con with a dream coin stuck to your head Mario? I have".

22. Like Inanna-Ishtar's ascent from the Netherworld in which she recovers a garment robbed of her at each of the 7 celestial abodes in every world Mario recovers a magic wand that was stolen from the Princess's vassels and recieves an enchanted imperial letter bejeweled with a useful item.

23. Like Gilgamesh Mario descends to the bottom of the sea in part one of level 3 to retrieve the seed of power; yea the fire flower. Verily, now he can shoot fire even under water.

24. Star, Star, Star, 3-2, the way is easy to follow. Avoid boss bass, you he will never swallow.

25. Christ-consciousness is like utilizing the goomba-pipe on 1-2. Even 99 lives in one level is possible here.

26. Entrance into the outer-realm can be likened to Raccoon Mario reaching the greatest heights only to find a ceiling of bricks. In some spots they are breakable. In some spots they are unbreakable. Find the rooms above the breakable bricks for therein are hidden 1-ups, Tanookis, and Hammer-brother suits.

27. Mario's recovery of the Princess is a parable for the redemption of the soul. Mario passes through 7 Worlds controlled by 7 Koopa-Kids, and finally penetrates the 8th realm, the sphere of Bowser, the Mind at the end of Mario 3, and the Tyrant tyrannizing the Mushroomland. Recovering the Princess Mario restores Indra's net changing the Mushroomland back into the Mushroom Kingdom.

28. The Princess laughed and said to Mario lovingly: "Mario, no matter how many times you collect the 28 P-wings you are still just a plumber in Mushroom Land".

copyright 2007, JCF