Upper Trigram
兌 Duì
Lake — Joyous
Lower Trigram
乾 Qián
Heaven — Creative
Classical Texts
The Judgment
The matter must be resolutely made known at the king's court. Truthfully announced. Danger. Notify your own city. Do not resort to arms. It furthers one to undertake something. A single passion lurking in the heart can obscure reason. Fight without quarter is necessary. But there are rules: resolution must combine strength with friendliness. Evil must be openly discredited. Don't gloss over your own shortcomings. Don't fight directly by force—you'll get entangled in hatred. Begin at home. Combat your own faults by making energetic progress in the good.
The Lines
Line 1
Mighty in the forward-striding toes. If you go and are not equal to the task, you make a mistake. At the beginning of resolute advance, resistance is still strong. Gauge your strength. Venture only so far as you can go with certainty. Plunging blindly ahead brings unexpected setbacks with disastrous results.
Line 2
A cry of alarm. Arms at evening and at night. Fear nothing. Readiness is everything. Resolution is bound up with caution. Watchful at all times, even before danger is present—you're armed when it approaches. Circumspect, never forgetting your armor: this is the right way to security.
Line 3
Powerful in the cheekbones. Misfortune. You have a certain relationship with an inferior person while others fight against all that is inferior. If you show strength outwardly before the time is ripe, you endanger everything. Maintain the association, avoid participation in vileness. You'll be misjudged, lonely, sullied in others' eyes. But remain true to yourself—this is without mistake.
Line 4
No skin on his thighs, walking comes hard. If led like a sheep, remorse disappears. But these words will not be believed. Inner restlessness, obstinacy in enforcing your will against insuperable obstacles. If you would desist, everything would go well. But like much good counsel, this will be ignored. Obstinacy makes a person unable to hear.
Line 5
In dealing with weeds, firm resolution is necessary. Walking in the middle remains free of blame. Weeds grow back. Struggle against an inferior person in high position demands resolution. There is danger of giving up as hopeless. Don't. Continue resolutely; don't be deflected.
Line 6
No cry. In the end, misfortune comes. Victory seems achieved. Only a remnant of evil remains to be eradicated. Everything looks easy—this is the danger. If not vigilant, evil escapes through concealment. New misfortunes develop from remaining seeds. Evil does not die easily. In your own character too, go to work with thoroughness.
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.
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.
Read full commentary ↓
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。
Related Hexagrams
Same upper trigram: Lake (兌)
Same lower trigram: Heaven (乾)