Reading
Judgment
Work on What Has Been Spoiled has sublime success.
It is favorable to cross the great water.
Three days before the starting point,
three days after the starting point.
What has been spoiled by human fault can be made good again by human work. It is not an unalterable fate, as in the time of Standstill, but a consequence of misuse of human freedom that has brought about the state of decay. Therefore the work of improvement is full of promise, because it stands in accord with the possibilities of the time. Only one must not shrink back before work and danger, symbolized by crossing the great water, but must set to work energetically.
Success, however, has as precondition the right reflection. This is expressed in the addition: "Three days before the starting point, three days after the starting point." First one must know the reasons that have led to the decay, before one can remove them: hence attention during the time before the starting point. And then one must see to it that the new track is firmly laid down, so that a relapse is avoided: hence attention to the time after the starting point. In place of the indifference and sloth that have led to decay, resolution and energy must step, so that a new beginning may follow the end.
Image
At the foot of the mountain the wind blows: the image of Decay.
Thus the noble one stirs up the people and strengthens their spirit.
When the wind blows at the foot of the mountain, it is thrown back and spoils the plants. This contains the call to improve. So it is also with low moods and fashions: they bring decay into human society. To remove this, the noble one must renew society. The methods for doing so are likewise taken from the two primary hexagrams, except that their effects unfold in order one after the other. They must remove stagnation by stirring up public opinion (as the wind has a stirring effect) and then strengthen and calm the character of the people (as the mountain gives rest and nourishment to all growth in its surroundings).
Commentary
The Chinese character Ku depicts a bowl in whose contents worms are growing. This means decay. It has come about because the gentle indifference of the lower primary hexagram has come together with the rigid inertia of the upper primary hexagram, so that relations fell into stagnation. Since, then, a culpable decay is present, these conditions contain the call for their removal. Therefore the meaning of the hexagram is not simply "decay" but "decay as task," the "work on what has been spoiled."
Changing Lines
Line 1
A six at the beginning means:
Setting right what has been spoiled by the father.
If there is a son,
no blame remains on the departed father.
Danger. In the end good fortune.
Commentary
Rigid clinging to the inherited has had decay as its consequence. But the decay is not yet deeply rooted; it can therefore still be easily improved. It is as if a son were to make good the decay that has crept in under his father. Then no blame remains on the father. But one must not overlook the danger and take the matter too lightly. Only when one is aware of the danger bound up with every reform does all go well in the end.
Line 2
A nine in the second place means:
Setting right what has been spoiled by the mother.
One may not be too persevering.
Commentary
Here it is a question of mistakes that have occasioned decay out of weakness. Hence the symbol of what has been spoiled by the mother. In setting it right, a certain tender consideration is necessary. One must not proceed too abruptly, so that one does not injure through abruptness.
Line 3
A nine in the third place means:
Setting right what has been spoiled by the father.
There will be a little remorse. No great blame.
Commentary
Here is depicted someone who in setting right the mistakes of the past proceeds somewhat too energetically. Thereby smaller inconveniences and ill-feelings will certainly arise from time to time. But better too much than too little energy. Therefore even if one has something to regret now and then, one remains free of any serious blame.
Line 4
A six in the fourth place means:
Tolerating what has been spoiled by the father.
In going on, one sees humiliation.
Commentary
Here the situation is shown that someone, out of weakness, does not confront the decay that stems from the past and is now beginning to show itself, but lets it run its course. If this continues, humiliation will be the consequence.
Line 5
A six in the fifth place means:
Setting right what has been spoiled by the father.
One finds praise.
Commentary
One finds oneself facing a decay that has arisen from the neglect of earlier times. One does not possess the strength to steer it alone. But one finds capable helpers, with whose support one brings about, not indeed a creative new beginning, but at least a thorough reform, which is also worthy of praise.
Line 6
A nine at the top means:
He does not serve kings and princes.
He sets himself higher goals.
Commentary
Not every person is obligated to meddle in the affairs of the world. There are also those who are already so far developed inwardly that they have the right to let the world run its course, without reforming intervention in political life. But this does not mean that they may remain inactive or merely critical. Only work on the higher goals of humanity in one's own person gives the right to such withdrawal. For even when the sage holds themself aloof from the business of the day, they nevertheless create incomparable human values for the future. (In Europe, Goethe's position after the Napoleonic wars is an example of this kind of conduct.)