家人

Hexagram 37: The Family → Hexagram 4: Youthful Folly

家人
The Family
Wind / Fire
Youthful Folly
Mountain / Water
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 5).

Line 1

初九 閑有家。悔亡。

xiándiscipline
yǒuhold
jiā(a
huǐregret(s)
wángpass

Nine at the beginning means: Firm seclusion within the family. Remorse disappears.

Line 2

六二 无攸遂。在中饋。貞吉。

(having) no
yōucause
suìto pursue
zàiremain
zhōnginside
kuìmaking
zhēnpersistence
(is) promising

Six in the second place means: She should not follow her whims. She must attend within to the food. Perseverance brings good fortune.

Line 3

九三 家人嗃嗃。悔厲吉。婦子嘻嘻。終吝。

jiāthe family
rénmembers
(are) sharply
rebuked
huǐ(a) regrettable
harshness
(but
(but) wife
(and) child
(are) smirking
(and) mocking
zhōng(this) concludes
lìndisgrace

Nine in the third place means: When tempers flare up in the family, Too great severity brings remorse. Good fortune nonetheless. When woman and child dally and laugh It leads in the end to humiliation.

Line 5

九五 王假有家。勿恤吉。

wáng(as
jiǎcomes
yǒuhis
jiāfamily
do not
be anxious
(the) promise

Nine in the fifth place means: As a king he approaches his family. Fear not. Good fortune.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramWind MountainThe Gentle → Keeping Still
Lower TrigramFire WaterThe Clinging → The Deep

Yilin Verse

膏壤肥澤,民人孔樂。宜利居止,長安富有。

Rich soil and fertile marshes; the people are greatly content. Fit to dwell and settle here; long peace and abundant wealth.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Wind from fire illuminates a vision of prosperous settlement. Rich soil and fertile marshland make the people deeply content. The land is suitable for dwelling and long-term habitation — a place of enduring wealth and security. This verse paints an ideal of domestic abundance: not fleeting fortune but the steady prosperity that comes from settling in the right place. From The Family to Youthful Folly, the mountain spring emerges fresh from the earth, promising growth but requiring guidance. The family that has found fertile ground must still educate the next generation. Abundance without cultivation breeds complacency; the spring at the mountain's base flows pure only when its source is tended with care.

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