The Tiger

The tiger is danger personified: the wild, intractable power a person must live beside without being devoured. Where the dragon belongs to heaven, the tiger belongs to earth, as Confucius says in 01 Ch'ien - The Creative: "Clouds (the breath of heaven) follow the dragon, wind (the breath of earth) follows the tiger." The oracle's classic tiger scene is the Judgment of 10 Lü - Treading (conduct):

TREADING. Treading upon the tail of the tiger.
It does not bite the man. Success.

The commentary explains that "one is handling wild, intractable people. In such a case one's purpose will be achieved if one behaves with decorum. Pleasant manners succeed even with irritable people." The hexagram's lines then test both sides of this proposition. The reckless man who overrates his powers finds that "He treads on the tail of the tiger. The tiger bites the man. Misfortune," while one place higher the same act ends differently: "He treads on the tail of the tiger. Caution and circumspection Lead ultimately to good fortune." The tiger is not to be avoided; it is to be handled rightly, by tact rather than force, much as Chuang Tzu's tiger keeper feeds his beasts in accord with their nature.

In 27 I - Corners of the Mouth (Providing Nourishment) the tiger's hunger becomes an image of legitimate zeal: "Spying about with sharp eyes Like a tiger with insatiable craving. No blame," the ruler hunting helpers not for himself but for the good of all. And in 49 Ko - Revolution (Molting) the pelt itself carries the meaning:

The great man changes like a tiger.
Even before he questions the oracle
He is believed.

"A tigerskin, with its highly visible black stripes on a yellow ground, shows its distinct pattern from afar." The great man's renewals are as legible as stripes; the superior man, in the following line, "changes like a panther." Danger, vigilance, and visible pattern: the tiger carries all three wherever it appears.