SIX LINES
The Third-Class Carriage
䷑

Hexagram 18

蠱

Gǔ

Work on the Decayed

The Third-Class Carriage — Honore Daumier, 1864

A grandmother, a young mother nursing her infant, and a sleeping boy crowd into a third-class railway carriage. Honoré Daumier painted these working-class Parisians in 1864, documenting the cramped conditions inherited by those without wealth or status. The elderly woman's weathered face and the mother's exhausted posture tell a story of hardship passed from one generation to the next. The child sleeps unaware of what awaits him.

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The I-Ching names this situation Gǔ (蠱), a character depicting worms eating grain in a covered bowl—corruption that accumulated while no one was watching. The hexagram shows Mountain (Gèn) above Wind (Xùn): stillness sitting over gentle penetration. Wind works its way into cracks; decay spreads beneath a solid surface. In ancient divination, this configuration appeared when someone inherited a broken system, a family burden, a social wound that predated their birth. The third-class carriage exists before any individual passenger boards it. Daumier, a political caricaturist and realist painter, depicted working-class Parisians in cramped railway carriages. The painting shows an elderly woman, a young mother nursing an infant, and a sleeping boy crowded together in third-class accommodations. The scene addresses the inherited conditions and social stratification of 19th-century French society. The Judgment text speaks to Daumier's subjects: "Work on what has been spoiled has supreme success. It furthers one to cross the great water. Before the starting point, three days. After the starting point, three days." The text promises that inherited corruption can be addressed, but it requires preparation before action and consolidation after. Ancient practitioners understood that systemic decay cannot be fixed impulsively—it took time to accumulate and will take time to repair. The "three days before, three days after" suggests careful examination of how things became spoiled and vigilant attention to prevent recurrence. The Image Text offers unexpected counsel: "The wind blows low on the mountain: the image of Decay. Thus the superior man stirs up the people and strengthens their spirit." Repair begins not with blame but with rousing those who have grown dispirited under inherited burdens. Daumier, himself a political satirist, painted this scene to make visible what the wealthy preferred not to see. In the I-Ching sequence, Work on What Has Been Spoiled follows Following—when people follow without understanding, when tradition becomes empty repetition, decay sets in. The next hexagram is Approach, when fresh energy begins to address what has been neglected.

Upper Trigram

☶

艮 Gèn

Mountain — Stillness

ElementEarthDirectionNortheastFamilyYoungest SonQualitiesstill, stopping, resting

Lower Trigram

☴

巽 Xùn

Wind — Gentle

ElementWoodDirectionSoutheastFamilyEldest DaughterQualitiesgentle, penetrating, persistent

Classical Texts

The Judgment

Supreme success. It furthers one to cross the great water. Three days before the turning point, three days after. What was spoiled through neglect can be repaired through work. Deliberate carefully before and after beginning.

The Lines

Line 1

Setting right the father's decay. If there is a son, no blame falls on the departed father. Danger, but good fortune in the end. The child corrects what the parent let slide.

Line 2

Setting right the mother's decay. One should not be too persistent. Gentler correction required here—rigidity would harm rather than heal.

Line 3

Setting right the father's decay. Small regret, no great blame. Some friction in the repair, but nothing seriously wrong. The work proceeds.

Line 4

Tolerating the father's decay. Continuing brings humiliation. Passivity when action is required—watching the rot spread—this brings shame.

Line 5

Setting right the father's decay. Meeting with praise. The correction is recognized and honored. The work earns reputation.

Line 6

Not serving kings and princes. Making one's own work lofty. Some stand apart from public service to pursue higher aims. This is valid—not everyone must repair the common structures.

Yilin: Forest of Changes

From Jiao Yanshou's Forest of Changes (焦氏易林) — the verse for Hexagram 18 in its unchanging form. A Han dynasty collection of four-character verses interpreting every hexagram transformation.

Yilin artwork for Hexagram 18
魴生江淮，一轉為百；周流天下，無有難惡。

The bream is born in rivers and streams; one fish multiplies to a hundred. Circling throughout the realm, encountering no hardship or evil.

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Wind beneath the mountain turns upon itself — decay facing its own reflection. The bream is born in rivers and marshes; one turns into a hundred. Circulating freely through all under heaven, encountering nothing difficult or harmful. The fish multiplying effortlessly in its native waters evokes natural abundance without external intervention. When the source hexagram meets itself as target, the question becomes: can decay renew decay? The answer here is yes — through natural fertility and free circulation. From Work on the Decayed to itself, the insight is that corruption contains its own remedy when life-force flows unobstructed. The mountain's wind, rather than stagnating, circulates and regenerates.

中文注释

山下有風，蠱遇自身。魴生江淮——魴魚生於江淮之間；一轉為百——一化為百，繁殖自然。周流天下——游遍天下；無有難惡——不遇困難與惡事。魚在本水中自然繁衍，不假外力而豐饒。蠱之蠱，敗壞遇見自身之倒影：腐敗能否自我更新？此詩給出肯定之答：生命力若能自由流通，朽壞自有其再生之機。山下之風不再鬱滯，而是循環往復、生生不息。

Transformations

Hexagram 18 transforming into each of the 64 hexagrams, with Yilin verses.

䷀1䷁2䷂3䷃4䷄5䷅6䷆7䷇8䷈9䷉10䷊11䷋12䷌13䷍14䷎15䷏16䷐17䷑18䷒19䷓20䷔21䷕22䷖23䷗24䷘25䷙26䷚27䷛28䷜29䷝30䷞31䷟32䷠33䷡34䷢35䷣36䷤37䷥38䷦39䷧40䷨41䷩42䷪43䷫44䷬45䷭46䷮47䷯48䷰49䷱50䷲51䷳52䷴53䷵54䷶55䷷56䷸57䷹58䷺59䷻60䷼61䷽62䷾63䷿64

Related Hexagrams

Same upper trigram: Mountain (艮)

䷃蒙Youthful Folly䷕賁Grace䷙大畜Great Taming䷚頤Nourishment䷨損Decrease䷳艮Keeping Still Mountain䷷旅The Wanderer䷽小過Small Exceeding

Same lower trigram: Wind (巽)

䷛大過Great Exceeding䷟恆Duration䷫姤Coming to Meet䷭升Pushing Upward䷯井The Well䷱鼎The Cauldron䷸巽The Gentle Wind
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