经 · THE CLASSIC
六十四卦
六十四卦由八卦两两相叠而成，八卦主象，六十四卦主事。上经三十卦自乾坤始、至坎离终；下经三十四卦自咸恒始、至既济未济终。
1
乾
Six unbroken lines. Pure momentum, and the only danger is your own excess. Take the lead, but choose your moment — the top line is where dragons regret flying too high.
2
坤
All six lines broken. Receptivity. Do not push — hold, carry, and let things grow. The mistake here is either forcing visibility or doing nothing at all.
3
屯
Thunder under water: the push exists, the road does not. This is the difficulty of starting. The advice is explicit — find allies instead of grinding alone.
4
蒙
A spring under a mountain, still finding its channel. You are the student here — or the teacher who must stop repeating themselves. Asking is the whole method.
5
需
Clouds in the sky; the rain has not fallen. Waiting done well is a skill — eat, rest, and do not thrash while you wait. Nervous motion is what invites the trouble.
6
讼
Heaven up, water down: two forces facing away. Stop mid-way and you profit; fight it to the end and you lose. Find an intermediary.
7
师
Water hidden in the earth: force organised into a body. Set the rules before you march. Put the right person in command, not the most available one.
8
比
Water on the earth, finding its way to everything. Affiliation is the move — but only with the right people, and early enough to matter.
9
小畜
One yielding line holds back five strong ones. Dense clouds, no rain. Do not force the breakthrough — fill in the soft gaps first.
10
履
Treading on the tiger's tail without being bitten. Position and manners are the entire safety system here. Move, but check the reaction at each step.
11
泰
Heaven and earth in contact — the good passage. Use it to repair foundations, because the last line is the city wall falling back into the moat.
12
否
Heaven rising away from earth. Communication is severed. Contract, stay quiet, and wait — the blockage breaks on its own at the extreme.
13
同人
Fire rising toward heaven — people aligned to a shared purpose. Seek them in the open, not inside your own clan; a small circle narrows the field.
14
大有
Fire in the sky: light that sees everything, and therefore can hold it. Abundance comes with an obligation to be explicit about who gets what.
15
谦
A mountain hidden inside the earth. Every line here is auspicious — the one hexagram where lowering yourself costs nothing and gains everything.
16
豫
Thunder bursting from the earth: collective excitement. It is also preparation — enthusiasm without a schedule turns into noise.
17
随
Thunder resting inside the lake. Following is the move — but every following is also a letting go of the other option.
18
蛊
Wind trapped under a mountain: things rot where air does not move. This is about repair — and repair always starts with what you have been avoiding.
19
临
Earth above the lake, looking down with care. The good window is real and dated — build the structures while you still have the vantage.
20
观
Wind passing over the earth: total visibility. This is a moment to look, not to act. Watch what people do, not what they say.
21
噬嗑
Thunder and lightning: clarity plus decisiveness. Something is lodged between the jaws — it must be bitten through before anything closes properly.
22
贲
Fire at the foot of the mountain, lighting it beautifully. Grace helps, briefly. The last line says it plainly: the finest ornament is none.
23
剥
The mountain eroding onto the plain. Do not set out now. Thicken the base, keep one seed un-eaten, and wait for the ground to come back.
24
复
Thunder inside the earth: one yang line returning. The turn is real but newborn. Close the door, rest, and let it grow quietly.
25
无妄
Thunder under heaven, everything growing by its own nature. Check the motive — but know that some misfortune arrives without fault, and should not be medicated.
26
大畜
Heaven buried inside the mountain. Great storage. Accumulate — but for a stated purpose, and know when to spend it.
27
颐
A jaw: two solid lines around four broken ones. What you feed shapes you. Stop eyeing another person's bowl while your own turtle waits unused.
28
大过
Water over the treetops: beyond the norm. The ridgepole is bending. Either replace the load-bearing piece, or cushion everything and move with extreme care.
29
坎
Water doubled. One danger after another. The method is not escape but interior steadiness — and moving like water, around and through.
30
离
Fire on fire: brightness that must cling to something to exist. Choose your fuel carefully — flame has no shape of its own.
31
咸
Mountain hollow, lake above. Attraction moves through the body before language. Let the sequence complete itself; do not act on the first tingle.
32
恒
Thunder and wind working together without end. Not intensity — duration. Keep the direction, allow the method to change.
33
遁
Heaven withdrawing from the mountain. Retreat in time is the strongest defence. Withdraw early and cleanly — the danger is being last out.
34
大壮
Thunder high in the sky: great force. The ram charges the hedge and gets its horns caught. Force is not the method — restraint at the right place is.
35
晋
The sun rising above the earth. Advancement, visibility, being received three times in a day. Show your worth — but do not become the rat that hoards the position.
36
明夷
The light sunk into the earth. Ability suppressed by circumstance. Be bright inside and dull outside — this is the whole strategy.
37
家人
Wind from fire: order radiating outward from inside. Before anything external, get the household in order. Words with substance, conduct with constancy.
38
睽
Fire up, water down: opposite directions. Agreement on the big things is not available. Work on the small overlap, and verify the intention before imagining it.
39
蹇
Water on a mountain: progress nearly impossible. Go where the ground is level, not toward the cliffs. The remedy is turning back on yourself, not pushing harder.
40
解
Thunder and rain together: everything knotted is loosened. When nothing must be reached, returning is auspicious. Do not tie back what just came untied.
41
损
The lake beneath the mountain, pressed down. Decrease — often the auspicious move. Cut the thing that has stopped working, and control anger and appetite.
42
益
Wind and thunder strengthening each other. Increase is arriving — and the way to keep it is to pass it on. Hoarding invites the blow.
43
夬
Water rising to the sky: it must fall. A decision is due, and it should be made openly. Distribute benefits first, and never announce it in anger.
44
姤
Wind under heaven: an unplanned meeting. Do not sign the sudden arrival into your house. One small shadow, left alone, grows.
45
萃
Water gathered into a lake. People and resources are pooling. A shared centre — shrine, purpose, rule — decides whether they stay.
46
升
A tree growing out of the earth, one ring at a time. Rising is right, but only at its own pace. Go see the people you need to see.
47
困
A lake with no water. Exhaustion, and words that will not be believed. Say nothing, cut consumption, and keep the one thing that cannot be given up: your intent.
48
井
A well: the town may move, the well does not. What matters is whether your rope reaches the water. Keep the source, and keep it public.
49
革
Fire inside the lake: incompatible, and therefore must change. But only when the day is ripe and people believe in it. Half a revolution is worse than none.
50
鼎
Wood feeding fire beneath a cauldron. Transformation: raw material into nourishment. Take the right position, fix the mandate — and mind the legs of the vessel.
51
震
Thunder on thunder. A jolt that wakes you. Terrified at first, laughing later — as long as the fright actually produces reflection.
52
艮
Mountain upon mountain. Stop. Not gritting your teeth, but coming to rest so naturally that you forget you are resting.
53
渐
A tree on a mountain, growing at its own speed. The wild goose advances stage by stage — every landing place is part of the route.
54
归妹
Thunder over the lake. A union with the wrong standing. The text is blunt: advancing brings misfortune. Do not accept a lesser position just to get in.
55
丰
Thunder and lightning together at their peak. But noon is when the sun begins to decline, and at noon you can see stars — the blind spot of the summit.
56
旅
Fire on a mountain: it burns, then moves on. You are a guest here. Be courteous, travel light, and never mistake the inn for a home.
57
巽
Wind following wind, entering everywhere. Soft, repeated pressure changes things that force cannot. Reiterate, then execute.
58
兑
Lake on lake, moistening one another. Joy that comes out of speech and friendship. Flattery is the counterfeit version, and it is short-lived.
59
涣
Wind over water, breaking the surface into ripples. Dispersion that releases what has hardened. Establish the centre before you scatter.
60
节
Water above the lake, held by its banks. Limitation keeps the whole thing from spilling. But the bitter limit cannot be sustained — choose a sweet one.
61
中孚
Wind over the lake: emptiness that can receive. Inner truth that even fishes feel. The crane calls in the shade and its young answer.
62
小过
Thunder on the mountain. Small exceeds are fine, great ones are not. Fly low. Better to be a little too modest, a little too frugal.
63
既济
Water above fire: everything in its place, everything finished. The first line says: auspicious at first, disorder later. Maintenance is the work now.
64
未济
Fire above water: nothing in its place, all things still in motion. The last hexagram is not an ending — the unfinished is the permanent state.