第59卦
渙
Huàn
Dispersion
上卦
巽 Xùn
Wind — Gentle
下卦
坎 Kǎn
Water — Abysmal
经典文本
彖辞
亨。王假有廟。利涉大川。利貞。
象辞
風行水上，渙。先王以享於帝，立廟。
爻辞
第初爻
初六 用拯馬壯吉。
第二爻
九二 渙奔其机。悔亡。
第三爻
六三 渙其躬。无悔。
第四爻
六四 渙其羣元吉。渙有丘。匪夷所思。
第五爻
九五 渙汗其大號。渙。王居无咎。
第上爻
上九 渙其血。去逖出。无咎。
Nocturne in Black and Gold
Whistler, Unknown
Dispersion
Fireworks dissolve into darkness above the Thames. James McNeill Whistler painted this nocturne in the 1870s, abstracting Cremorne Gardens' pyrotechnic displays into scattered golden sparks against indigo night. Forms blur and boundaries vanish—the distinction between water, sky, and burning debris collapsing into atmospheric haze. What was solid disperses into mist, what was gathered scatters across the canvas.
阅读完整论述 ↓
Whistler captures Huan (渙), the hexagram of Dispersion—Wind above Water, the trigram Xun over Kan. Wind moving across water's surface breaks up what has congealed, scatters what has accumulated. The character 渙 contains the water radical and suggests melting ice, dissolving barriers, the breaking apart of rigid structures. Where fire burns away, wind disperses through gentle, persistent movement. Ancient diviners saw this configuration when accumulated tensions required release, when hardened positions needed softening, when isolation gave way to flow. Spring thaw dispersing winter ice, ceremonies where individual ego dissolves into collective ritual. Whistler's nocturne abstracts fireworks at Cremorne Gardens into dissolving atmospheric effects. Forms scatter and blur into darkness, boundaries dispersing. Dispersion (Huan) describes dissolution of rigid structures—here paint itself disperses into mist, solid forms giving way to atmospheric diffusion. The Judgment speaks to Whistler's dissolving forms: "Dispersion. Success. The king approaches his temple. It furthers one to cross the great water. Perseverance furthers." Zhou Dynasty texts describe religious gatherings where rigid social boundaries temporarily dispersed, allowing unity across divisions. The fireworks scatter upward, water spreads horizontally—both movements dissolving fixed arrangements. In divination, Huan appeared when questions concerned breaking up stagnation, releasing accumulated pressure, allowing movement where rigidity had taken hold. The Image Text clarifies the paradox Whistler paints: "The wind drives over the water: the image of Dispersion. Thus the kings of old sacrificed to the Lord and built temples." Dispersion is not destruction—like wind dispersing clouds to reveal sky, proper dissolution clears space for new patterns. In the I-Ching sequence, Huan follows hexagram 58's joy: after connection comes the necessary release, the scattering that prevents stagnation. What disperses can gather again in new configurations, but only after old forms dissolve.
焦氏易林
焦延寿《易林》——第59卦本卦之辞。西汉时期以四言诗阐释卦变，为最早的系统性易学占辞集。
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。
風行水上，渙歸渙。
阅读完整注释 ↓
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。
English 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.