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Hexagram 58
58 · Duì 兌

The Joyous, Lake

Lake above
·
Lake below
Translated from Richard Wilhelm's German (1924)

Introduction

Dui, like Xun, is one of the eight hexagrams made of a doubled trigram. Dui stands for the youngest daughter; its image is the smiling lake, and its quality is joy. Joy does not rest, as might well appear, on the softness that shows in the upper line. The quality of the soft or dark principle is melancholy, not joy. Rather, joy rests on the two strong lines within, which express themselves through the medium of softness.
True joy, then, rests on the presence within of firmness and strength that show themselves outwardly as soft and gentle.

The Judgment

The Joyous. Success. Persistence is favorable.
A cheerful mood is infectious, and that is why it has success. But joy needs constancy as its foundation, so that it does not degenerate into unrestrained merriment. The heart must be the seat of truth and strength, while gentleness shows outwardly in one's dealings with others. In this way one takes the right stance toward God and toward people, and achieves something. Mere intimidation without gentleness may in some circumstances achieve something for the moment, but not in the long run. If, on the other hand, one wins people's hearts through kindness, they will gladly take every hardship upon themselves and indeed, if need be, will not shrink even from death. So great is joy's power over people.

The Image

Lakes resting on one another: the image of the Joyous. So the noble one joins with their friends for discussion and practice.
A lake evaporates upward and so gradually exhausts itself. But when two lakes are connected, they do not exhaust themselves so easily, because each enriches the other. The same is true of learning. Learning should be a refreshing and enlivening force. It can become that only through enlivening exchange with like-minded friends, with whom one discusses things and practices applying the truths of life. In this way knowledge becomes many-sided and gains a joyous lightness, while the knowledge of the self-taught always keeps something heavy and one-sided about it.

The Lines

First line, nine
Contented joy. Good fortune.
A quiet, wordless joy, gathered within itself, that desires nothing from outside and is content with everything, remains free of all selfish likes and dislikes. This freedom is where good fortune lies, for it holds the calm assurance of a heart that is firm within itself.
Second line, nine
Sincere joy. Good fortune. Regret vanishes.
Often one finds oneself in contact with inferior people, from whose midst there beckon joys other than those that befit the higher person. Were one to take part in such joys, regret would surely follow; for a higher person cannot really be satisfied with lower joys. If, in consequence of this insight, one does not let one's will be swayed, so that one takes no pleasure in this kind of thing, then even dubious company does not dare to offer one ignoble joys, since they would give one no joy anyway. – But with that every cause for regret is removed.
Third line, six
Coming joy. Misfortune.
True joy must well up from within oneself. But if one is empty inside, so that one loses oneself to the outside world, then joys come from outside. This is what some people welcome as distraction. People who need distraction because they lack inner stability will always have opportunities to distract themselves. They draw external joys to themselves through the emptiness of their being. In this way they lose themselves more and more, which is of course harmful.
Fourth line, nine
Deliberated joy is not at peace. Once the faults are done away with, there is happiness.
People often find themselves midway between different kinds of joy. As long as one has not yet decided which kind of joy to choose, the higher or the lower, one is not at peace within. Only when one has seen clearly that passion brings pain can one decide to do away with what is low and strive for the higher joys. Once this decision is sealed, one has found true inner joy and peace, and the inner conflict is overcome.
Fifth line, nine
Sincerity toward what is corrosive is dangerous.
Dangerous elements draw near even to the best of people. If one gets involved with them, their corrosive influence works very slowly but surely, and inevitably drags its dangers along behind it. But whoever recognizes the situation and can see through the danger knows how to be on guard and remains free from harm.
Top line, six
Seductive joy.
If one is vain within, one lures the joys of distraction to oneself and has to suffer from them (compare the six on the third line). If one is not inwardly firm, the joys of the outside world, from which one does not withdraw, act on one so strongly that one is swept away. Here there is no longer any talk of danger, of good fortune or misfortune. One has given up the steering of one's life, and what becomes of one depends on chance and outside influences.
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