Hexagram 54
歸妹
Guī Mèi
The Marrying Maiden
Upper Trigram
震 Zhèn
Thunder — Arousing
Lower Trigram
兌 Duì
Lake — Joyous
Classical Texts
The Judgment
征凶。无攸利。
The Image
澤上有雷，歸妹。君子以永終知敝。
The Lines
Line 1
初九 歸妹以娣。跛能履。征吉。
Line 2
九二 眇能視。利幽人之貞。
Line 3
六三 歸妹以須。反歸以娣。
Line 4
九四 歸妹愆期。遲歸有時。
Line 5
六五 帝乙歸妹。其君之袂。不如其娣之袂良。月幾望吉。
Line 6
上六 女承筐无實。士刲羊无血。无攸利。
Olympia
Édouard Manet, 1863
The Marrying Maiden
Édouard Manet's 1863 work depicts a reclining nude woman gazing directly at the viewer while a servant presents flowers from a client. The painting scandalized the Paris Salon by presenting transactional intimacy without romantic idealization. The woman, likely a courtesan, wears only a ribbon at her throat and a single shoe. Olympia, the title suggests—named after a common courtesan pseudonym, not the classical mountain. Behind her, the Black servant extends a lavish bouquet wrapped in paper. The woman's direct stare acknowledges the exchange openly: flowers for favors, money for access, a relationship built on unequal terms.
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This is Guī Mèi (歸妹), the Chinese hexagram of The Marrying Maiden. The phrase literally means "returning younger sister," referring to the ancient practice where a younger sister accompanied the bride as secondary wife or concubine. Ancient diviners saw this configuration when Thunder (Zhèn) sits above Lake (Dui): the eldest son above the youngest daughter, vigorous movement pressing upon yielding joy. The structural imbalance reveals itself immediately—this relationship lacks the reciprocity needed for lasting union. Manet's painting makes visible what polite society concealed: relationships built on subordinate positions and economic necessity rather than mutual standing. Manet's controversial modernist work depicts a reclining nude woman, likely a courtesan, gazing directly at the viewer while a servant presents flowers from a client. The painting scandalized the 1865 Paris Salon by presenting transactional intimacy without idealization. This unequal relationship and subordinate position connect to The Marrying Maiden's theme of improper or secondary unions. The Judgment warns directly: "The Marrying Maiden. Undertakings bring misfortune. Nothing that would further." The ancient text offers no encouraging interpretation—this hexagram signals improper foundation. In Zhou Dynasty marriage protocol, the primary wife maintained ritual authority and family standing. The marrying maiden occupied a necessary but subordinate position, lacking independent status. Her children ranked below the first wife's, her voice carried less weight, her situation depended entirely on others' favor. Manet's Olympia embodies this precarious position—she receives flowers today, but the relationship contains no promise of tomorrow. Classical I-Ching commentaries use this hexagram to discuss what happens when desire overrides structural considerations. The Image Text states: "Thunder over the lake: the image of The Marrying Maiden. Thus the superior man understands the transitory in the light of the eternity of the end." Thunder stirs the lake's surface, creating temporary waves that vanish quickly. The trigram configuration shows enthusiasm without foundation, movement without proper ground. In the hexagram sequence, The Marrying Maiden follows Development: after gradual, proper advancement comes the warning against shortcuts that bypass necessary stages. Manet's direct gaze challenges the viewer to acknowledge uncomfortable truths about relationships built on unequal terms.
Yilin: Forest of Changes
From Jiao Yanshou's Forest of Changes (焦氏易林) — the verse for Hexagram 54 in its unchanging form. A Han dynasty collection of four-character verses interpreting every hexagram transformation.
堅冰黃裳，鳥哀悲愁。不見白粒，但覩藜蒿。數驚鷙鳥，為我心憂。
Hard ice and yellow earth; the bird mourns in sorrow. No white grain to be seen, only goosefoot and wormwood. Startled again and again by birds of prey; this weighs upon my heart.
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Thunder over lake returns to itself: the Marrying Maiden unchanged, its pattern intensified. Hard ice and yellow garments; birds cry in sorrow. No white grain is visible, only goosefoot and mugwort. Raptors startle repeatedly, becoming a constant worry. The verse is bleak beyond measure: winter ice, mourning birds, famine food replacing grain, and predators circling overhead. When the hexagram transforms into itself, there is no movement, no escape, no resolution. The maiden's subordinate position deepens into permanence. The yellow garment evokes the Kun hexagram's line-six warning, while the ice recalls the hexagram's opening: 'Treading on frost, solid ice will come.' From the Marrying Maiden to itself, the pattern locks into place without relief.
中文注释
澤上有雷為歸妹，歸妹之歸妹。堅冰黃裳，鳥哀悲愁；不見白粒，但覩藜蒿；數驚鷙鳥，為我心憂。冰封大地，黃裳喪色，哀鳥悲鳴。五穀不見，唯藜蒿充飢。猛禽頻驚，令人憂懼。歸妹之歸妹，無變無動，困局自我強化。黃裳呼應坤卦上六之象，堅冰則暗引初六「履霜堅冰至」之警。當卦變回歸自身，無出路、無轉機，歸妹「永終知敝」之訓化為切膚之痛。
Related Hexagrams
Same upper trigram: Thunder (震)
Same lower trigram: Lake (兌)