Upper Trigram
巽 Xùn
Wind — Gentle
Lower Trigram
坎 Kǎn
Water — Abysmal
Classical Texts
The Judgment
Success. The king approaches his temple. It furthers one to cross the great water. Persistence furthers. When vital energy is dammed up within, gentleness serves to break up and dissolve the blockage. Religious forces are needed to overcome the egotism that divides people. Sacred rites and music arouse a strong tide of emotion shared by all hearts in unison, awakening consciousness of the common origin of all creatures. In this way disunity is overcome and rigidity dissolved. Cooperation in great undertakings sets a high goal for the will of the people; in the common concentration on this goal, all barriers dissolve.
The Lines
Line 1
He brings help with the strength of a horse. Good fortune. It is important that disunion should be overcome at the outset, before it has become complete—that the clouds be dispersed before they have brought storm and rain. At such times, take quick and vigorous action to dissolve misunderstandings and mutual distrust.
Line 2
At the dissolution he hurries to that which supports him. Remorse disappears. When you discover within yourself the beginnings of alienation from others, of misanthropy and ill humor, set about dissolving these obstructions. Rouse yourself inwardly, hasten to that which supports you. Such support is never found in hatred, but always in moderate and just judgment of others, linked with good will.
Line 3
He dissolves his self. No remorse. Under certain circumstances, your work may become so difficult that you can no longer think of yourself. Set aside all personal desires and disperse whatever the self gathers about it to serve as a barrier against others. Only on the basis of great renunciation can you obtain the strength for great achievements.
Line 4
He dissolves his bond with his group. Supreme good fortune. Dispersion leads in turn to accumulation—something ordinary people do not think of. When working at a task that affects the general welfare, leave all private friendships out of account. Only by rising above party interests can you achieve something decisive. He who has the courage to forego what is near wins what is afar.
Line 5
His loud cries are as dissolving as sweat. Dissolution! A king abides without blame. In times of general dispersion and separation, a great idea provides a focal point for the organization of recovery. Just as an illness reaches its crisis in a dissolving sweat, so a great stimulating idea is true salvation in times of general deadlock. It gives the people a rallying point.
Line 6
He dissolves his blood. Departing, keeping at a distance, going out, is without blame. The dissolving of that which might lead to bloodshed and wounds—avoidance of danger. But here the thought is not that you avoid difficulties for yourself alone, but rather that you rescue your kin, helping them to get away before danger comes, or to keep at a distance from an existing danger, or to find a way out. In this way you do what is right.
Yilin: Forest of Changes
From Jiao Yanshou's Forest of Changes (焦氏易林) — the verse for Hexagram 59 in its unchanging form. A Han dynasty collection of four-character verses interpreting every hexagram transformation.
望幸不到，文章未就。王子逐兔，犬踦不得。
畫龍未點睛，詩成缺末句。風吹墨跡散，紙上空留痕。
The dragon is painted but the eye is not dotted; the poem is complete but missing its final line. Wind scatters the wet ink — only smudges remain on the paper.
Read full commentary ↓
Wind over water, returning to itself — Dispersion into Dispersion. The original verse captures incompletion at every level: the hoped-for audience never arrives, the literary work remains unfinished. A prince chases a rabbit, but his dog stumbles and the prey escapes. Each image is of effort that falls just short, the final stroke never delivered. Wind over water, dispersing what was already dispersed — the condition is recursive, an endless loop of dissolution. From Dispersion to Dispersion, there is no transformation, no resolution: the dragon painted without its pupils, the poem missing its last line, the ink blown across the page by the very wind that should have dried it. This is the hexagram contemplating its own nature: the permanent condition of things never quite coming together.
中文注释
風行水上，渙歸渙。此詩有改寫，當據原文：「望幸不到，文章未就。王子逐兔，犬踦不得。」所望之人不至，文章未成——事事差一步。王子追兔，獵犬跛足，獵物逃逸。每一意象皆為功虧一簣：最後一筆永遠落不下。渙之渙，散者再散，遞歸無盡。從渙至渙，無轉化、無解答：龍未點睛，詩缺末句，墨跡被風吹散——而那風正是應該使其乾透的風。此為卦觀照自身：永遠差一步聚攏的常態。
Related Hexagrams
Same upper trigram: Wind (巽)
Same lower trigram: Water (坎)