What is mastery?

This is a subject that has preoccupied me for many decades, and it's a question often put to me. I've never formally asked this question of the I Ching, thinking that it was virtually a rhetorical question: of course the point of using the I Ching is mastery, so why ask? Yet I was surprised and delighted at this answer because it is one I never would have considered. The answer is in keeping perfectly with what I've studied of the I Ching, and still it takes the meaning deeper. Mastering something means joining. It means joining the ranks of other masters (I'm reminded of the guild systems and how one earns one's way from journeyman to master), but it also means joining the overall tradition of the art one is struggling with. "Those who are not sure" can never be masters—so I take that as a reassurance to keep going. The third line means one can master many things—even bad, and one can master the wrong things. Power and intelligence are neutral: it's the soul of the person directing the actions that matters. In that sense, the second hexagram, Humility, is crucial. Once mastery is attained, only the humble will bring things to completion. Or, viewed another way, only the humble can finally become masters. The I Ching even says how to do this: by founding nations—that is, staking out an area of mastery, and by keeping close ties with others—that is, learning from others and exchanging experiences with them. The fifth line means not to force things: the imperious use beaters, the ordinary citizen does not need such coercion. Mastery isn't just skill, it's also being creative. "Citizens need no such coercion" means not to force things. Every person will find different "birds" on their hunt and we should accept what falls into our nets.
by dengmingdao