Reading
Judgment
Break-through.
Resolutely one must make the matter known at the king's court.
According to the truth it must be proclaimed. Danger!
One must notify one's own city.
It is not favorable to resort to arms.
It is favorable to undertake something.
If in a city even one petty one holds a ruling place, they are able to oppress the noble. If in the heart even one passion still nests, it can cloud reason. Passion and reason cannot coexist; therefore unconditional struggle is necessary if one wants to bring the good to rule. For the resolute struggle of the good to remove the evil, however, there are definite rules that must not be disregarded if one wants to have success.
Resoluteness must rest on a union of strength and friendliness.
A compromise with what is bad is not possible; it must under all circumstances be openly discredited. Likewise one's own passions and faults must not be glossed over.
The struggle must not be conducted directly through force. Where evil is branded, there it devises weapons, and if one does it the favor of fighting it blow for blow, one comes out the loser, because one is thereby entangled in hatred and passion oneself. Therefore it is a matter of beginning at one's own house: to be personally on guard against the branded faults. Thereby the weapons of evil blunt themselves of their own accord when they find no opponent. Likewise one's own faults must not be directly combated. As long as one wrestles with them, they always remain victorious.
The best way to combat evil is vigorous progress in the good.
Image
The lake has risen up to the sky:
the image of Break-through.
Thus the noble one dispenses wealth downward
and shrinks from dwelling in their own virtue.
When the water of the lake has risen up to the sky, it suggests a fear of a cloudburst. This serves the noble one as a warning, in that they guard in good time against a violent collapse. Whoever wanted to accumulate wealth for themself alone, without thinking of others, would certainly experience that a collapse happens to them. For on all gathering follows a dispersing. Therefore the noble one disperses already during the gathering. Likewise in the formation of their character they are intent on not stiffening in self-will, but keeping themself impressionable in lasting strict self-examination.
Commentary
The hexagram signifies on one hand a break-through after long-accumulated tension, like the break-through of a swollen river through its dams, like a cloudburst. Transferred to human relations, it is on the other hand the time in which gradually the petty are dwindling. Their influence is decreasing, and through a resolute action a change of conditions comes to break-through. The hexagram is assigned to the third month (April-May).
Changing Lines
Line 1
A nine at the beginning means:
Powerful in the forward-striving toes.
If one goes and is not equal to the matter,
one makes a mistake.
Commentary
In times of resolute advance it is particularly the first beginning that is difficult. One feels oneself inspired to resolute advance. But resistance is still very strong. Here it is a matter of measuring one's own strength and only engaging insofar as one is certain of success. Blind daring is evil, for precisely at the beginning an unexpected reverse can have the most ominous consequences.
Line 2
A nine in the second place means:
Alarm cry. Evening and night weapons.
Fear nothing.
Commentary
To be ready is everything. Resoluteness is inseparably bound up with caution. If one is careful and reflective, one need not become alarmed and agitated. If one is vigilant at all times while no danger is yet present, one is armed when the danger approaches and need not fear. The noble one is on guard against what is not yet to be seen and careful about what is not yet to be heard; therefore they dwell in the midst of difficulties as if they were no difficulties. If one cultivates one's character, people submit themselves of their own accord. If reason triumphs, the passions withdraw of themselves. To be reflective and not to forget one's armor, that is the right way to safety.
Line 3
A nine in the third place means:
To be powerful in the cheekbones brings misfortune.
The noble one is firmly resolved.
They walk alone and come into the rain.
They are spattered, and people murmur against them.
No blame.
Commentary
The situation in which one finds oneself is ambiguous. While all are engaged in resolute struggle against the petty, one is alone in a certain relation with a petty person. If one now wanted to show oneself outwardly strong and, before the conditions are ripe, turn against them, one would only endanger the overall situation; for the petty one would then prematurely resort to countermeasures. The task of the higher person here is extremely difficult. They must be inwardly firmly resolved and, while associating with the petty one, yet keep themself away from all participation in their baseness. In doing so, they are naturally misunderstood. People think they belong to the party of the petty. They are wholly alone because no one understands them. Their relations with the petty one sully them in the eyes of the masses, and people turn murmuring against them. But they bear the misunderstanding and make no mistake, since they remain true to themself.
Line 4
A nine in the fourth place means:
On the thighs there is no skin,
and walking comes hard.
If one let oneself be led like a sheep,
remorse would vanish.
But if one hears these words,
one will not believe them.
Commentary
One suffers from inner restlessness, so that one cannot stay in one's place. One wants at all costs to go forward and finds insurmountable obstacles. Thus one is in inner conflict with one's situation. This comes from the self-will with which one wants to carry through one's will. If one would let go of this self-will, all would go well. But this counsel, like so many good counsels, will be overheard. For self-will makes one have ears but not hear.
Line 5
A nine in the fifth place means:
In dealing with weeds, firm resoluteness is needed.
To walk in the middle remains free of blame.
Commentary
Weeds grow back again and again and are hard to root out. So the struggle against a high-placed petty person requires firm resoluteness. One stands in relation to them, and as a result it is to be feared that one will give up the fight as hopeless, but this must not happen. One must resolutely continue and not let oneself be led from the way. Only thus does one remain free of blame.
Line 6
A six at the top means:
No call! Misfortune comes in the end.
Commentary
The victory seems to be won. There is only a remainder left of the evil, whose resolute extirpation is now in season. Everything looks quite easy. But precisely in this lies the danger. If one is not on guard, the evil succeeds through concealment in escaping; and once it has escaped, new misfortune arises from the remaining seeds; for evil does not die easily. Even with the evil of one's own character one must do thorough work. If one carelessly wanted to leave something over, new evil would arise from it.