Reading
Judgment
The Gentle. Through the small, success.
It is favorable to have somewhere to go.
It is favorable to see the great man.
Penetration generates gradual and inconspicuous effects. Effect should not be achieved through violation, but through uninterrupted influencing. These effects are less eye-catching than those won through surprise, but they are more lasting and more complete. In order to be able to work in this way, one must have a clear aim; for only by the penetrating influencing always working in the same direction is anything attained.
The small can attain something only when it subordinates itself to a significant man who possesses the ability to create order.
Image
Winds following one another:
the image of the gently penetrating.
Thus the noble one spreads their commands
and carries out their affairs.
The penetrating of the wind rests on its unceasingness. Thereby it becomes so powerful. It takes time as means of effect. So too the thought of the ruler must penetrate into the people's soul. To this also a lasting influencing through enlightenment is needed. Only when the command has passed over into the people's soul is an acting related to it possible. Unprepared action only repels and works off-putting.
Commentary
Sun is one of the eight double hexagrams. It is the eldest daughter; has as image the wind or the wood; as attribute gentleness, which, however, penetrates like the wind or the wood with its roots.
The dark, which is in itself rigid and immovable, is dissolved through the penetrating light principle, to which it subordinates itself in gentleness. In nature it is the wind that drives apart the piled-up clouds and creates cheerful sky-clearness. In human life it is the penetrating clarity of judgment that brings to naught all dark ulterior thoughts. In the life of the community it is the powerful influence of a significant personality that uncovers and drives apart all light-shunning machinations.
Changing Lines
Line 1
A six at the beginning means:
In advancing and retreating,
the perseverance of a warrior is favorable.
Commentary
The gentle nature often goes as far as indecisiveness. One does not feel the strength to proceed resolutely. A thousand misgivings arise, but one also has no desire to withdraw; rather, one drifts back and forth indecisively. In such a case a military resoluteness is the right thing, that one decisively does what order requires. Resolute discipline is far better than indecisive lack of discipline.
Line 2
A nine in the second place means:
Penetration under the bed.
One uses priests and magicians in great numbers.
Good fortune! No blame.
Commentary
Sometimes one has to do with hidden enemies, intangible influences that creep into the darkest corners and from there suggestively influence people. In such cases it is necessary to trace these things even into their most secret corners in order to determine what kind of influences they are (this the task of the priests) and to remove them (this the task of the magicians). Precisely the anonymous character of such machinations requires particularly tireless energy, which however is rewarded. For once such uncontrollable influences are first brought to light and branded, they have lost their power over people.
Line 3
A nine in the third place means:
Repeated penetration. Humiliation.
Commentary
Penetrating reflection must not be pushed too far, otherwise it hinders the capacity for resolve. When a matter has been thoroughly thought through, then it is time to decide and act. Through repeated thinking-through one comes again and again into misgivings and thereby into humiliation, because one proves oneself incapable of action.
Line 4
A six in the fourth place means:
Remorse vanishes.
On the hunt one catches three kinds of game.
Commentary
If one combines inborn modesty, as a result of the responsible place one holds and the experiences one has gathered, with energetic activity, one certainly attains a great success. The three kinds of animals served as sacrifices for the gods, for the entertainment of guests, and for daily use. If one brought down something for all three purposes, the hunting result was particularly good.
Line 5
A nine in the fifth place means:
Perseverance brings good fortune. Remorse vanishes.
Nothing that is not furthering.
No beginning, but an end.
Before the change, three days,
after the change, three days. Good fortune!
Commentary
While in the "Work on What Has Been Spoiled" (Number 18) an entirely new starting point must be created, here it is only a matter of reforms. The beginning was not good, but one has come to a point of time at which a new direction can be taken. One must change and improve. This one must do in constancy, that is, in right and firm disposition, then it will succeed, and remorse vanishes. Only it is to be noted that such improvements require careful consideration. Before one carries out the change, repeated consideration is necessary, and after the change is there, one must also for some time carefully examine how the improvements work out in reality. Such careful work is attended by good fortune.
Line 6
A nine at the top means:
Penetration under the bed.
He loses his possessions and his axe.
Perseverance brings misfortune.
Commentary
The recognition is penetrating enough. One tracks harmful influences into their most secret corners. But one no longer has the strength to combat them decisively. In this case every attempt to penetrate into the personal realms of darkness is only evil.