Hexagram 43

Guài

Breakthrough

Upper Trigram

Duì

LakeJoyous

ElementMetalDirectionSouthwestFamilyYoungest DaughterQualitiesjoyful, reflective, collecting

Lower Trigram

Qián

HeavenCreative

ElementMetalDirectionSouthFamilyFatherQualitiescreative, strong, dynamic

Classical Texts

The Judgment

揚于王庭。孚號有厲。告自邑。不利即戎。利有攸往。

The Image

澤上於天,夬。君子以施祿及下,居德則忌。

The Lines

Line 1

初九 壯于前趾。往不勝為咎。

Line 2

九二 惕號。莫夜有戎。勿恤。

Line 3

九三 壯于頄。有凶。君子夬夬。獨行遇雨。若濡有慍。无咎。

Line 4

九四 臀无膚。其行次且。牽羊悔亡。聞言不信。

Line 5

九五 莧陸夬夬。中行无咎。

Line 6

上六 无號。終有凶。

Liberty Leading People

Liberty Leading People

Delacroix, 1830

Breakthrough

Paris, July 1830. Eugène Delacroix paints Liberty as an allegorical woman striding over barricades and bodies, bare-breasted, holding the tricolor flag. She leads armed citizens through gunsmoke—a boy with pistols, a man in top hat with musket, a wounded insurgent at her feet. The July Revolution overthrows King Charles X in three days. Delacroix completes the canvas within months, capturing the moment when popular uprising breaks through royal authority.

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Delacroix painted this in response to the July Revolution of 1830 in Paris, which overthrew King Charles X. The allegorical figure of Liberty leads armed citizens over barricades and bodies, holding the tricolor flag. The image depicts a decisive breakthrough moment when popular uprising breaks through royal authority, connecting to hexagram 43's theme of resolute action. This is Guài (夬), Breakthrough, called "Resoluteness" in some translations. The hexagram structure shows five yang lines pushing upward against a single yin line at the top—accumulated force achieving decisive rupture. Lake (Duì) sits above Heaven (Qián): joyous expression released by creative power, the dam breaking under pressure. Delacroix's composition surges upward and forward, the crowd's momentum carrying through the picture plane. In Zhou Dynasty court divinations, this configuration appeared when ministers confronted corrupt officials, when floodwaters breached levees, when long-accumulating tension found sudden release. The hexagram addresses not gradual change but the critical moment when restraint gives way. The Judgment text declares: "Breakthrough. One must resolutely make the matter known at the court of the king. It must be announced truthfully. Danger. It is necessary to notify one's own city. It does not further to resort to arms. It furthers one to undertake something." The text acknowledges both the necessity and peril of decisive confrontation. Delacroix shows exactly this—the dangerous moment when citizens take to the streets, when words transform into barricades and musket fire. Yet the painting also captures the Judgment's counsel: Liberty herself carries no weapon, only the flag. The breakthrough comes through will made visible, grievances announced, not through arms alone. The revolution succeeded because Charles X abdicated rather than order massacre; three days of street fighting replaced one monarchy with another. The Image Text states: "The lake has risen up to heaven: the image of Breakthrough. Thus the superior person dispenses riches downward and refrains from resting on virtue." Water accumulating until it must overflow, pressure finding release. Delacroix's Liberty embodies this principle—she rises from the people, leading them forward while distributing the revolution's promise. In the I-Ching sequence, Guài follows Yì (increase): accumulation reaches the point where it must break through existing forms or collapse under its own pressure. The barricade moment captures this threshold—buildup becoming breakthrough, the stored energy of grievance converting to kinetic force of change.

Yilin: Forest of Changes

From Jiao Yanshou's Forest of Changes (焦氏易林) — the verse for Hexagram 43 in its unchanging form. A Han dynasty collection of four-character verses interpreting every hexagram transformation.

Yilin artwork for Hexagram 43
戴堯扶禹,松喬彭祖。西過王母,道里夷易,无敢難者。

Upholding Yao, supporting Yu; with Song Qiao and Peng Zu. Journeying west past the Queen Mother; the road is smooth and easy. None dares pose a challenge.

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Lake upon heaven meets itself — Breakthrough returning to Breakthrough. The verse invokes the supreme figures of Chinese mythology: supporting Emperor Yao, assisting Yu the Great, accompanied by the immortals Chisongzi and Wang Qiao, journeying westward past the Queen Mother of the West. The road is smooth and easy; no one dares obstruct the way. This is the ultimate pilgrimage — sage-kings and immortals traveling together across the cosmos with effortless authority. From Breakthrough to itself, the pattern is pure decisiveness, undiluted and self-reinforcing. When the decisive principle encounters no contrary force, it becomes a triumphant procession through all of heaven and earth. The one who carries both royal legitimacy and celestial friendship passes unchallenged.

中文注释

澤上於天,夬遇自身。戴堯扶禹——擁戴堯帝,輔佐大禹。松喬彭祖——赤松子、王子喬、彭祖等仙人相伴。西過王母——西行拜訪西王母。道里夷易,無敢難者——道路平坦,無人敢阻。此乃至高之巡遊——聖王與仙人同行宇宙,從容自若而權威無上。從夬至夬,決斷遇決斷,純粹而自我強化。當果決之力不遇任何相反之力,便化為暢行天地之凱旋。兼具王者正統與天仙之誼者,所向無礙。