Hexagram 57

Xùn

The Gentle Wind

Upper Trigram

Xùn

WindGentle

ElementWoodDirectionSoutheastFamilyEldest DaughterQualitiesgentle, penetrating, persistent

Lower Trigram

Xùn

WindGentle

ElementWoodDirectionSoutheastFamilyEldest DaughterQualitiesgentle, penetrating, persistent

Classical Texts

The Judgment

小亨。利有攸往。利見大人。

The Image

隨風,巽。君子以申命行事。

The Lines

Line 1

初六 進退。利武人之貞。

Line 2

九二 巽在牀下。用史巫。紛若。吉。无咎。

Line 3

九三 頻巽吝。

Line 4

六四 悔亡。田獲三品。

Line 5

九五 貞吉悔亡。无不利。无初有終。先庚三日。後庚三日。吉。

Line 6

上九 巽在牀下。喪其資斧。貞凶。

Cloud Study, Hampstead, Tree at Right

Cloud Study, Hampstead, Tree at Right

John Constable, 1821

The Gentle

Clouds shift and reform across John Constable's Hampstead sky. The English painter made this oil sketch in 1821, part of a systematic study of atmospheric phenomena—dozens of cloud studies documenting how invisible air currents shape visible vapor. Wind moves through the composition without appearing in it, reshaping cumulus masses through continuous, patient pressure.

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This captures what Zhou Dynasty diviners called Xun (巽), the doubled Wind trigram—gentle penetration. Wind above, wind below: subtle force working through the smallest openings. The ancient character 巽 shows a person kneeling in submission, suggesting influence through yielding rather than assertion. Where hexagram 51's doubled Thunder shocks with sudden power, Xun works gradually, the way Constable's wind sculpts clouds or air seeps through cracks stone cannot stop. Ancient practitioners saw this configuration when circumstances required tact, when transformation demanded patience, when forceful action would shatter what gentle persistence might shape. Constable made dozens of cloud studies in Hampstead Heath to understand atmospheric phenomena scientifically. This oil sketch depicts wind's invisible movement shaping clouds through gradual, continuous pressure. The Gentle (Sun) represents subtle penetration—air currents slowly forming and reforming vapors without force. The Judgment speaks to Constable's scientific method: "Small success. It furthers one to have somewhere to go. It furthers one to see the great man." The painter returned to Hampstead Heath repeatedly, studying the same phenomena from different angles. Zhou court diviners associated Xun with wood and growth—not the thunder-crack of sprouting, but the slow work of roots finding pathways through soil. Wind bends trees without breaking them, enters buildings through gaps no eye can see. The Image Text offers unexpected counsel: "Winds following one upon the other: the image of the Gently Penetrating. Thus the superior one spreads commands abroad and carries out undertakings." Constable's clouds demonstrate this principle—each gust builds on the previous one, cumulative pressure creating forms that individual gusts could never shape. In the I-Ching sequence, Xun follows hexagram 56's Wanderer: after displacement comes the work of gradually re-establishing influence, seeping back into spaces through persistent, humble attention to small openings.

Yilin: Forest of Changes

From Jiao Yanshou's Forest of Changes (焦氏易林) — the verse for Hexagram 57 in its unchanging form. A Han dynasty collection of four-character verses interpreting every hexagram transformation.

Yilin artwork for Hexagram 57
溫山松柏,常茂不落。鸞鳳以庇,得其歡樂。

Pine and cypress on Wen Mountain; ever flourishing, never falling. Phoenix and luan find shelter there; gaining their joy and delight.

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Wind upon wind returns to wind upon wind: the Gentle remains itself. On the warm mountain, pine and cypress stand evergreen, never shedding their leaves. Phoenix and luan birds shelter among them, finding their joy and contentment. The doubled wind of Xun sustaining itself produces an image of permanence within flexibility. Pine and cypress are classical symbols of constancy — they endure winter's harshest blasts while deciduous trees go bare. The phoenix choosing to roost among them validates their worthiness: only the noblest tree attracts the noblest bird. From The Gentle to The Gentle, the pattern is self-reinforcing: wind follows wind without interruption, commands issued and carried through. Steady virtue, like the evergreen, needs no revolution — only persistence.

中文注释

隨風巽,巽復為巽,風行不息。溫山松柏,常茂不落——溫潤之山上松柏長青,四季不凋。鸞鳳以庇,得其歡樂——鸞鳳棲息其間,怡然自得。巽風自行相續,生成柔韌中之恆常。松柏為堅貞之經典象徵——寒冬凜冽中挺立不凋,落葉木盡褪而松柏獨青。鳳凰擇此而棲,正驗其高潔——唯最尊之木方引最貴之禽。從巽復歸於巽,此為自我強化之格局:風繼以風,號令既出必行。恆常之德如松柏,無需革新,唯在不輟。