Reading
Judgment
Waiting.
If you are truthful, you have light and success.
Perseverance brings good fortune.
It is favorable to cross the great water.
Waiting is not empty hoping. It has the inner certainty of reaching its goal. Only this inner certainty gives the light that alone leads to success. This leads to perseverance, which brings good fortune and lends the strength to cross the great water.
A danger lies before one that must be overcome. Weakness and impatience can accomplish nothing. Only the strong one copes with their fate, for through inner security they can hold out. This strength shows itself in unrelenting truthfulness. Only when one is able to look things in the face as they are, without any self-deception or illusion, does a light develop out of events that allows the way to success to be seen. This insight must be followed by decisive, persevering action; for only by going decisively toward one's fate does one cope with it. Then one can cross the great water, that is, make the decision and stand the danger.
Image
Clouds rise up to the sky: the image of Waiting.
Thus the noble one eats and drinks and is cheerful and of good cheer.
When the clouds rise up to the sky, it is a sign that it will rain. Then nothing remains but to wait until the rain falls. It is the same in life when a destiny is preparing itself. So long as the time is not yet fulfilled, one should not worry or try to shape the future by one's own making and intervening; one should calmly gather strength through eating and drinking for the body, and through cheerfulness and good cheer for the spirit. Destiny comes of itself, and then one is ready.
Commentary
All beings need nourishment from above. But the giving of food has its time, which one must await. The hexagram shows the clouds in the sky, which give rain, which rejoices all that grows and supplies human beings with food and drink. This rain will come in its time. One cannot compel it but must wait for it. The thought of waiting is further suggested by the attributes of the two primary hexagrams: strength within, danger before it. Strength in the face of danger does not rush; it can wait. Weakness in the face of danger grows agitated and lacks the patience to wait.
Changing Lines
Line 1
A nine at the beginning means:
Waiting in the meadow.
It is favorable to abide in what lasts.
No blame.
Commentary
The danger is still far off. One is still waiting on the open plain. Conditions are still simple. There is only something in the air that will come. Here it is important to maintain the regularities of life as long as possible. Only thus does one guard against premature waste of strength and remain free of blame and error, which would mean a weakening for later.
Line 2
A nine in the second place means:
Waiting on the sand.
There is a little gossip.
The end brings good fortune.
Commentary
The danger gradually approaches. The sand is near the bank of the stream, which represents the danger. Troubles begin to appear. At such times a general uneasiness easily arises. People blame each other. Whoever remains calm will succeed in seeing that everything ultimately goes well. All malicious talk must finally fall silent if one does not give it the satisfaction of offended retort.
Line 3
A nine in the third place means:
Waiting in the mud
brings on the coming of the enemy.
Commentary
The mud, already lapped by the water of the stream, is no favorable place for waiting. Instead of gathering one's strength to cross the water in a single push, one has made a premature advance whose force reaches only as far as the mud. Such an unfavorable situation draws enemies from without, who naturally take advantage of the situation. Only through seriousness and caution is it possible to guard against harm.
Line 4
A six in the fourth place means:
Waiting in blood.
Out of the pit.
Commentary
The situation is extremely dangerous. It has become fully serious and a matter of life and death. Bloodshed is immediately to be expected. One cannot go forward or back. One is cut off as if in a pit. Here one must simply hold out and let destiny take its course. This calm, which does not make the harm worse by one's own action, is the only way out of the dangerous pit.
Line 5
A nine in the fifth place means:
Waiting at wine and food.
Perseverance brings good fortune.
Commentary
Even in the midst of danger there are rest periods in which things go relatively well. If one possesses the right inner strength, one will use these rest periods to strengthen oneself for renewed struggle. One can enjoy the moment without letting oneself be diverted from one's goal; for perseverance is necessary to remain the victor.
It is also so in public life. Not everything can be achieved at once. The highest wisdom is to grant people such rest periods, which enliven the joy of work toward the completion of the undertaking. Here lies hidden the secret of the whole hexagram. It differs from the hexagram of Obstruction in that, in waiting, one is sure of one's cause and therefore does not let the calm of inner cheerfulness be taken from one.
Line 6
A six at the top means:
One falls into the pit.
Three uninvited guests arrive.
Honor them, and in the end good fortune comes.
Commentary
Waiting is over: the danger can no longer be averted. One falls into the pit and must resign oneself to the inevitable. Everything now seems to have been in vain. But precisely in this distress, an unforeseen turn occurs. From outside, without one's own doing, an intervention comes, about which one may at first be in doubt as to its meaning, whether rescue or destruction is near. Here it is important to remain inwardly flexible. Not a defiantly rejecting closure of oneself, but a reverent welcoming of the new turn, is the right thing. Thus one finally comes out of the danger, and all goes well. Fortunate turns too often come in a form that at first seems strange to us.