Reading
Judgment
Approach has sublime success.
Perseverance furthers.
When the eighth month comes, there is misfortune.
The hexagram as a whole points to a time of hopeful progress. Spring is near. Joy and yielding bring the high and the low closer to one another. Success is certain. Only resolute and persevering work is needed to make full use of the favor of the time. And one more thing: the time of spring does not last forever. In the eighth month the aspects are reversed. Then only two strong, light lines are left, but they are not advancing; they are in retreat (compare the next hexagram). This reversal must be considered in good time. If one meets the evil before it has appeared, indeed before it has even begun to stir, one will become master of it.
Image
Above the lake is the earth: the image of Approach.
Thus the noble one is inexhaustible in their intention to teach
and without limits in bearing and protecting the people.
The earth borders the lake from above; this is the image of approach and condescension of the higher toward those lower-placed. From the two parts of the image their conduct toward these people follows. As the lake shows inexhaustible depth, so the sage is inexhaustible in their readiness to instruct people; and as the earth is boundlessly wide and bears and cherishes all creatures, so the sage bears and cherishes people, without excluding any part of humanity through limits of any kind.
Commentary
The Chinese word Lin has a range of meanings that cannot be exhausted in a single English word. The old explanations of the Book of Changes give as the first meaning "becoming great." What becomes great are the two strong lines growing upward into the hexagram from below. With them the light force expands. From there the thought goes further to the notion of approach, in particular the approach of the strong, the higher-placed, to the low. It means finally also the condescension of a superior toward the people, and further the taking up of business. The hexagram is assigned to the twelfth month (January-February), when after the solstice the light force is once again on the ascent.
Changing Lines
Line 1
A nine at the beginning means:
Joint Approach. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Commentary
The good is beginning to prevail and finds acceptance at an influential place. From there the impulse goes out to the capable person to come forth. Here one may join the pull upward. Only one must be careful not to lose oneself in the current of the time, but to remain persevering in the right: that brings good fortune.
Line 2
A nine in the second place means:
Joint Approach. Good fortune! Everything is furthering.
Commentary
Since one is in a situation of being stirred to come forth from above, and since one possesses within oneself the strength and consistency that need no warning, one has good fortune. The future too need cause one no worry. One knows well that all earthly things are transient, and that every ascent is followed by a decline; but one does not let oneself be shaken by this general fate. Everything is furthering. Therefore one will walk the ways of life quickly and bravely and boldly.
Line 3
A six in the third place means:
Comfortable Approach. Nothing that would further.
If one grieves over it, one becomes without blame.
Commentary
Things go happily forward. One comes to power and influence. But this holds the danger that, trusting in one's position, one comes to feel comfortable and lets this comfortable-careless mood come out in dealings with people. This is harmful in any case. But the possibility of a reversal of mood is there. If one feels grief over this wrong attitude, if one feels the responsibility contained in an influential position, one becomes free of faults.
Line 4
A six in the fourth place means:
Complete Approach. No blame.
Commentary
Whereas the three lower lines denote the ascent to power and influence, the three upper lines show the conduct of the higher-placed toward the lower, to whom they extend influence. Here is shown the perfectly unprejudiced approach of a higher-placed person to a capable man, whom they draw into their intercourse without regard to prejudices of rank. This is very favorable.
Line 5
A six in the fifth place means:
Wise Approach. This is right for
a great prince. Good fortune!
Commentary
A prince, or someone in a leading position, should possess the wisdom to draw into their entourage capable people who are expert in the conduct of affairs. Their wisdom consists just as much in knowing how to select the right people as in letting those they have selected act, in not meddling personally in the business. For only through this restraint will they find, for every demand, the people who are necessary to handle it properly.
Line 6
A six at the top means:
Greathearted Approach. Good fortune. No blame.
Commentary
A sage who has overcome the world and is inwardly already done with life may, under certain circumstances, come into the position of coming back once more into this world and approaching other people. This is of great good fortune for the other people, to whom they extend their teaching and help. But also for themself, this greathearted self-humbling is no blame.