above CH’IEN THE CREATIVE, HEAVEN below SUN THE GENTLE, WIND This hexagram indicates a situation in which the principle of darkness, after having been eliminated, furtively and unexpectedly obtrudes again from within and below. Of its own accord the dark...

above TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE below K’UN THE RECEPTIVE, EARTH This hexagram is related in form and meaning to Pi, HOLDING TOGETHER (8). In the latter, water is over the earth; here a lake is over the earth. But since the lake is a place where water collects, the...

above K’UN THE RECEPTIVE, EARTH below SUN THE GENTLE, WIND, WOOD The lower trigram, Sun, represents wood, and the upper, K’un, means the earth. Linked with this is the idea that wood in the earth grows upward. In contrast to the meaning of Chin, PROGRESS...

above TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE below K’AN THE ABYSMAL, WATER The lake is above, water below; the lake is empty, dried up. Exhaustion is expressed in yet another way: at the top, a dark line is holding down two light line; below, a light line is hemmed in between two...

above K’AN THE ABYSMAL, WATER below SUN THE GENTLE, WIND, WOOD Wood is below, water above. The wood goes down into the earth to bring up water. The image derives from the pole-and-bucket well of ancient China. The wood represents not the buckets, which in...

above TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE below LI THE CLINGING, FIRE The Chinese character for this hexagram means in its original sense an animal’s pelt, which is changed in the course of the year by molting. From this word is carried over to apply to the...

above LI THE CLINGING, FIRE below SUN THE GENTLE, WIND, WOOD The six lines construct the image of Ting, THE CALDRON; at the bottom are the legs, over them the belly, then come the ears (handles), and at the top the carrying rings. At the same time, the image suggests...

above CHêN THE AROUSING, THUNDER below CHêN THE AROUSING, THUNDER The hexagram Chên represents the eldest son, who seizes rule with energy and power. A yang line develops below two yin lines and presses upward forcibly. this movement is so violent that it arouses...

above CHêN THE AROUSING, THUNDER below KêN KEEPING STILL, MOUNTAIN While in the hexagram Ta Kuo, PREPONDERANCE OF THE GREAT (28), the strong lines preponderate and are within, inclosed between weak lines at the top and bottom, the present hexagram has weak lines...

above K’AN THE ABYSMAL, WATER below LI THE CLINGING, FIRE this hexagram is the evolution of T’ai PEACE (11). The transition from confusion to order is completed, and everything is in its proper place even in particulars. The strong lines are in the strong...