Moving Lines
CastThe BookJournalTodaySettings
Hexagram 57
57 · Xùn 巽

The Gentle

(The Penetrating, Wind)
Wind above
·
Wind below
Translated from Richard Wilhelm's German (1924)

Introduction

Xun is one of the eight hexagrams made of a doubled trigram. It is the eldest daughter; its image is the wind or wood, and its quality is gentleness, which nevertheless penetrates like the wind, or like wood with its roots.
The dark, in itself rigid and unmoving, is dissolved by the light principle, which penetrates it and to which it submits in gentleness. In the natural world it is the wind, which scatters the massed clouds and makes the sky serene and clear. In human life it is the penetrating clarity of judgment, which brings all dark ulterior motives to nothing. In the life of a community it is the mighty influence of a person of stature who uncovers and scatters all machinations that shun the light.

The Judgment

The Gentle. Success comes through small things. It is favorable to have somewhere to go. It is favorable to see the great person.
Penetration produces gradual and inconspicuous effects. One should work not by violence but by uninterrupted influence. These effects catch the eye less than those gained by a surprise attack, but they last longer and are more complete. To be able to work in this way, one must have a clear aim; for only when the penetrating influence always works in the same direction is anything achieved.
What is small can achieve something only if it subordinates itself to a person of stature who has the ability to create order.

The Image

Winds following one another: the image of the Gently Penetrating. So the noble one spreads their commands and carries out their affairs.
The wind's penetrating quality lies in its ceaselessness. That is what makes it so powerful. It uses time as its means of having an effect. In the same way the ruler's thought must penetrate the people's soul. For this, too, a lasting influence is needed, through explanation and command. Only when the command has passed into the soul of the people is it possible to act on it. Action without preparation only frightens people off and repels them.

The Lines

First line, six
In advancing and retreating, the persistence of a warrior is favorable.
A gentle nature often goes to the point of indecision. One does not feel the strength to advance resolutely. A thousand misgivings arise, but one has no wish to withdraw either; instead one drifts irresolutely back and forth. In such a case military resolve is the right thing: doing decisively what order requires. Resolute discipline is far better than irresolute indiscipline.
Second line, nine
Penetrating under the bed. Priests and magicians are employed in great numbers. Good fortune. No fault.
Now and then one has hidden enemies to contend with, intangible influences that creep into the darkest corners and from there work on people by suggestion. In such cases it is necessary to track these things right into the most secret corners, to determine what kind of influences are involved – this is the task of the priests – and to remove them – this is the task of the magicians. It is precisely the anonymity of such intrigues that calls for especially tireless energy, but that energy is rewarded. For once such uncontrollable influences have been brought to light and branded, they have lost their power over people.
Third line, nine
Penetrating again and again. Shame.
Penetrating reflection must not be carried too far, or it hampers the ability to decide. Once a matter has been thoroughly thought through, it is time to decide and act. By thinking it through again and again, one keeps falling back into misgivings, and so into shame, because one proves unable to act.
Fourth line, six
Regret vanishes. On the hunt one catches three kinds of game.
If, by virtue of the responsible position one holds and the experience one has gathered, one combines innate modesty with energetic activity, one is sure to be highly successful. The three kinds of game served as offerings to the gods, as fare for guests and for daily use. If one brought down something for all three purposes, the hunt had been especially good.
Fifth line, nine
Persistence brings good fortune. Regret vanishes. Nothing that is not favorable. No beginning, but an end. Three days before the change and three days after it. Good fortune.
Whereas in hexagram 18, Work on What Is Spoiled, an entirely new starting point has to be created, here it is only a matter of reforms. The beginning was not good, but one has reached a point at which a new direction can be taken. One has to change and improve things. This must be done with constancy, that is, in a right and firm frame of mind; then it will meet with success, and regret vanishes. But it should be borne in mind that such improvements need careful deliberation. Before one carries out the change, repeated deliberation is needed, and once the change has come, one must still examine carefully for a while how the improvements actually turn out. Good fortune accompanies such careful work.
Top line, nine
Penetrating under the bed. They lose their possessions and their axe. Persistence brings misfortune.
One's insight is penetrating enough. One pursues the damaging influences into the most secret corners. But one no longer has the strength to fight them decisively. In this case every attempt to penetrate the personal domains of darkness is only harmful.
← 56 · The Wanderer
58 · The Joyous, Lake →