Reading
Judgment
Peace. The small departs, the great arrives.
Good fortune! Success!
In nature the hexagram points to a time when, so to speak, heaven is upon earth. Heaven has placed itself beneath the earth. Thus their forces unite in inner harmony. From this arise peace and blessing for all beings.
In the human world it is a time of social concord. Those of high station bend down to those of low station, and the low and humble are kindly disposed toward the high, so that all feuding comes to an end.
Within, at the center, at the decisive place, is the light; the dark is outside. So the light has vigorous effect, and the dark is yielding. In this way both sides come into their own. When good people in society are in central positions and hold power, the bad too come under their influence and improve. When in a human being the spirit that comes from heaven rules, sensuality too comes under its influence and thus finds the place that is due it.
The individual lines enter the hexagram from below and leave it again at the top. It is therefore the small, weak, bad that are on their way out, and the great, strong, good that are on the rise. This brings good fortune and success.
Image
Heaven and earth unite: the image of Peace.
Thus the ruler apportions and completes
the course of heaven and earth,
administers and orders the gifts of heaven and earth,
and so aids the people.
Heaven and earth stand in intercourse and unite their effects. This gives a general time of flourishing and thriving. This current of force must be regulated by the ruler of people. This happens through division. Thus the undifferentiated time, according to the sequence of its phenomena, is divided by human beings into seasons, and the all-encompassing space is distinguished into compass directions by human determinations. In this way nature, with its overwhelming abundance of phenomena, is limited and tamed. On the other hand, nature must be furthered in its yield. This happens when one adapts the products to the right time and the right place. Thereby the natural yield is increased. This taming and furthering activity toward nature is the work upon nature that benefits human beings.
Commentary
The Receptive, whose motion sinks downward, stands above; the Creative, whose motion rises upward, stands below. Their influences therefore meet each other and are in harmony, so that all beings flourish and thrive. The hexagram is assigned to the first month (February-March), in which the forces of nature prepare the new spring.
Changing Lines
Line 1
A nine at the beginning means:
When one pulls out ribbon grass, the sod comes with it.
Each after its kind. Undertakings bring good fortune.
Commentary
In times of flourishing, every capable person who is called to a post at once draws others of like mind after them, just as in pulling out ribbon grass one always pulls out several stalks connected at the roots. In such times, when great action is possible, the aim of the capable person is to draw out into life and to accomplish something.
Line 2
A nine in the second place means:
To bear with the uncultivated in gentleness,
to cross the river resolutely,
not to neglect what is far,
not to favor one's companions:
thus one may succeed in walking in the middle.
Commentary
In times of flourishing it is above all important that one possess the inner greatness to bear with the imperfect as well. For a great master knows no unfruitful material. They can still make something of everything. But this broadheartedness is by no means negligence or weakness. Precisely in times of flourishing one must always be ready to dare even perilous undertakings, such as crossing a river, when they are necessary. Likewise one must not neglect the distant, but attend to everything with punctuality. One must particularly guard against partisanship and cliquishness. For even though the like-minded come forth together, they must not form a party through mutual clinging; each must do their duty. It is by these four things that one can overcome the hidden danger of gradual slackening, which lurks in every time of peace, and in this way one finds the right middle of action.
Line 3
A nine in the third place means:
No plain that is not followed by a slope,
no going that is not followed by return.
Whoever remains persevering in danger is without blame.
Do not complain about this truth,
enjoy the happiness you still have.
Commentary
All earthly things are subject to change. After flourishing follows decline. This is the eternal law on earth. Evil can indeed be pushed back, but not permanently removed. It returns. This conviction could make one melancholy. But it should not. It should only have the effect that one does not become blinded in happiness. If one remains mindful of the danger, one remains persevering and makes no mistake. As long as the inner being remains stronger and fuller than the outer happiness, as long as we remain inwardly superior to fate, so long does happiness remain true to us.
Line 4
A six in the fourth place means:
He flutters down, not relying on wealth,
together with his neighbor, unsuspecting and truthful.
Commentary
In times of mutual trust, the high come down quite simply, and without relying on their wealth, together with the low. This is not the compulsion of circumstances but corresponds to the innermost disposition. Then the approach takes place quite freely, because it rests on inner conviction.
Line 5
A six in the fifth place means:
The sovereign I gives his daughter in marriage.
This brings blessing and sublime good fortune.
Commentary
The sovereign I is T'ang the Completer. He decreed that the imperial princesses, although they stood higher in rank than the husbands to whom they were married, should nevertheless obey their husbands as did other wives. Here too reference is made to a truly modest union of high and low, which brings happiness and blessing.
Line 6
A six at the top means:
The wall falls back into the moat.
Now use no armies.
In your own city, announce your orders.
Perseverance brings humiliation.
Commentary
The change already indicated in the middle of the hexagram has arrived. The city wall sinks back into the moat out of which it had come. Calamity breaks in. In this case one must submit to fate and not try by violent resistance to hold fate back. The only thing that remains is to preserve oneself within the narrowest circle. Were one to persist on the usual path in resisting the evil, the collapse would only become worse, and humiliation would be the consequence.