above Kun, the Receptive, earth · below Dui, the Joyous, lake
This sign heralds a good time, in which people and things draw closer together. It is like the coming of spring: joy and yielding bring high and low closer, and it succeeds. In return he asks for resolute, persevering work, so that you make full use of the favour of the time. Take on now what matters to you, and meet people openly. Just do not grow careless: spring does not last for ever, and if you do not reckon in good time with the reversal the Judgement warns of, it turns out badly.
What do you want to take on while the time is favourable?
The Chinese word Lin has a range of meanings that no single word can exhaust. The old commentaries on the Book of Changes give ‘becoming great’ as its first meaning. What becomes great are the two strong lines growing into the sign from below; with them the light force expands. From there the thought moves on to the idea of approach, and specifically the approach of what is strong and higher to what is low. Finally it also comes to mean the stooping of a superior towards the people, and further, the taking in hand of affairs. The sign is assigned to the twelfth month (January to February), because after the solstice the light force is already rising again.
Some old words keep coming back in Wilhelm’s sayings:
Approach has supreme success.Perseverance is favourable.When the eighth month comes, there will be misfortune.
The sign as a whole points to a time of hopeful, joyous progress. Spring is approaching. Joy and yielding bring high and low closer together. Success is certain. But resolute, persevering work is needed to make full use of the favour of the time. And one thing more: springtime does not last for ever. In the eighth month the aspects are reversed. Then only two strong, light lines remain, and these are not advancing but in retreat (compare the next sign). This reversal must be borne in mind in good time. If one meets evil in this way before it has become manifest, indeed before it has even begun to stir, one will master it.
Above the lake is the earth: the image of approach.So the noble one is inexhaustible in his resolve to teachand without limit in bearing with and sheltering the people.
The earth borders on the lake from above; this is the image of approach and of the higher stooping to those who stand lower. His conduct towards these people follows from the two parts of the image. As the lake shows inexhaustible depth, so the sage is inexhaustible in his readiness to teach people; and as the earth is boundlessly wide and carries and cherishes all creatures, so the sage carries and cherishes people, without shutting out any part of humankind by limits of any kind.
Wilhelm placed the signs ○ and □ after certain lines (p. 334 f.). They mark the rulers of the hexagram. □ stands by the constituting ruler: the line that gives the hexagram its meaning, however high it stands and whatever its character. ○ stands by the governing ruler. It is always of good character and becomes ruler through the meaning of the time and its position, usually in the fifth place. Where a line is both, it carries ○.
Joint approach. Perseverance brings good fortune.
The good is beginning to prevail and finds a welcome among influential people; from there comes the invitation to join in. You can safely go along with this upward movement. Just do not lose yourself in the current of the times, and hold steadily to what is right; then it turns out well.
The good is beginning to prevail and meets with a response in influential quarters. From there the impulse goes out to capable people to come forward. One may then join in the upward movement. Only one must take care not to lose oneself in the current of the time, but to remain persevering in what is right: this brings good fortune.
Joint approach. Good fortune! Everything is favourable.
An invitation comes from above to someone with enough inner strength and consistency to need no warning. Everything is favourable, and the future need not worry you either. That every rise is sooner or later followed by a decline should not unsettle you; go your way swiftly, uprightly and boldly, and it turns out well.
Since one finds oneself encouraged from above to come forward, and since one has within oneself the strength and consistency that need no warning, one has good fortune. Nor need the future cause one any concern. One knows well that all earthly things pass away and that every rise is followed by a decline; but one does not let this common fate unsettle one. Everything is favourable. So one will travel the paths of life swiftly, uprightly and boldly.
Comfortable approach. Nothing that would be favourable.If one comes to grieve over it, one becomes free of blame.
This is a rise that makes you comfortable: feeling secure in your position, you let an easy, careless mood show in how you treat others. That does harm in every case. If you notice this in yourself, take it to heart and feel the responsibility that comes with influence; then no mistake remains.
Things are going cheerfully forward. One comes to power and influence. But this carries the danger that, trusting in one’s position, one grows comfortable and lets this easy, careless mood show in one’s dealings with people. That is harmful under all circumstances. Yet the possibility of a change of mood is given. If one feels sorrow over this wrong attitude, if one feels the responsibility that an influential position entails, one frees oneself from faults.
Complete approach. No blame.
Here someone in a higher position approaches a capable person without any prejudice about background or rank. That is not a mistake; in fact it is very favourable. Take people on their merits, and draw them openly into your circle when you have the chance.
While the three lower lines denote the rise to power and influence, the three upper ones show the conduct of those in higher positions towards the lowly, to whom they give influence. Here we see a wholly unprejudiced approach by one in high position to a capable man, whom he draws into his circle with no regard for prejudices of rank. This is very favourable.
Wise approach. This is right for a great prince. Good fortune!
This line describes the wisdom of anyone who carries responsibility: gathering the right, knowledgeable people around them and then actually letting them get on with it. Choose carefully whom you entrust with things, and afterwards do not keep interfering. It is precisely this restraint that makes it turn out well, because it brings you the right people for every task.
A prince, or anyone in a leading position, should have the wisdom to draw capable people into his circle who are expert in the conduct of affairs. His wisdom lies as much in knowing how to choose the right people as in letting those he has chosen act freely, without meddling in the conduct of affairs himself. For only through such restraint will he find, for every demand, the people needed to deal with it competently.
Great-hearted approach. Good fortune. No blame.
A sage who has inwardly left the world behind turns once more to others, to teach them and stand by them. This turns out well, and for the others it is a great blessing. If you have something to pass on, do it generously; you lose no dignity by it.
A sage who has overcome the world and has inwardly finished with life may, under certain circumstances, find himself coming back once more into this world and drawing near to other people. This brings great good fortune to the others, to whom he turns with his teaching and help. And for him too this great-hearted self-abasement is no blame.
Would you like to put your own question to the I Ching? Six throws of three coins, and the answer appears straight away.
Consult the I ChingTexts by Richard Wilhelm: I Ging. Das Buch der Wandlungen (first edition Jena 1924), translated into English by NUMEN COMPASS from the Diederichs edition, Munich 1996. Wilhelm’s German text is in the public domain. The section ‘What the hexagram says today’, the question for you and the short notes under the lines are our own reading. The I Ching is no substitute for medical, legal or psychological advice.