Lin to Tai: arrogance after a windfall

1872 (Meiji 5) · A friend of Takashima, asking about a merchant who had struck it rich · 中文版

The cast

Hexagram 19 Lín (Approach), line 3 moving, changing to Hexagram 11 Tài (Peace).

Original text

明治五年。友人某來。請占某商人氣運。筮得臨之泰。爻辭曰。六三甘臨。无攸利。既憂之。无咎。斷曰。此卦地上有澤。地坤卦。坤以生育萬物爲母。澤兌卦。兌以三索得女爲少女。有母女相臨之義。臨三爻曰甘臨。以陰居陽。位不中正。恰如少女恃寵。以甘言取悅於母。冀專家政。今某商人。占得此爻。知某商人必夙性陰險。專以機巧取利。一旦得志。便自盈滿。如婦人小子之爲。何利之有。若能遷改。尙可免咎。友人曰。甚感易理之妙。某商人甞以一步金十錢價格。買橫濱吉田新田之沼地若干。後因某豪商爲抵當某省寄托金。以一步一圓價格買之。其地券爲一步十圓。致之某省。以爲抵當。故某商人一時占萬餘圓巨利。從此遂生驕慢。輕視衆人。其狀恰類狂病者。余將對友人詳說易占之妙。使之轉告某商也。

In plain words

In 1872 a friend of Takashima came and asked about a certain merchant's fortunes. The cast gave Lin with its third line moving, changing into Tai. The line reads: "Six in the third place: a sweet approach; nothing is gained. If one grows anxious about it, there is no fault."

Takashima's judgment: this hexagram is a marsh upon the earth. Earth is Kun, which gives birth to all things, the mother; the marsh is Dui, the youngest daughter. So there is the sense of mother and daughter facing each other. The third line, "a sweet approach", is yin in a yang place, neither central nor correct, like a spoiled daughter sweet-talking her mother in the hope of running the house. For this merchant to draw this line shows that he has always been crafty and has made his money by clever tricks; the moment he succeeds he becomes full of himself, like a child, and what good is that? If he can change his ways, he may still avoid fault.

The friend said: how apt the Changes are. That merchant once bought some marshland at Yoshida Shinden in Yokohama for ten sen a tsubo. Later a great merchant, needing collateral for money a government ministry had deposited with him, bought it from him at one yen a tsubo, and the deed was valued at ten yen a tsubo and lodged with the ministry as security. So the merchant made over ten thousand yen at a stroke, and ever since he has been arrogant and contemptuous of everyone, almost like a man gone mad.

Takashima meant to explain the reading to the friend in full, so that he could pass it on to the merchant.

How Takashima read it

Only one line text is read: with one moving line, the third line of Lin is read.
The trigrams are family roles: Kun the mother, Dui the youngest daughter, so "approach" becomes mother and daughter facing each other, and the third line a daughter winning favour with sweet words.
The line's place is yin in a yang place, neither central nor correct: an improper position, widened to an improper character that profits by cleverness.
The second half, "if one grows anxious about it, no fault", is read as a way out: change, and the fault can be avoided. That is why Takashima ends by wanting the reading passed on.

About the outcome

This case predicts nothing; it fits the hexagram to something that had already happened. Only after hearing the judgment did the friend tell the story of the windfall. Someone with a particular person in mind will readily recognise him in "crafty, and full of himself on success". This site does not treat it as evidence.

Applying it to your situation

A "sweet approach" wins a place by pleasing; what comes easily can also go to one's head. In your latest success, how much came from your ability and how much from luck, and how are you treating the people around you?

Original: Takashima Kaemon, Takashima Ekidan (expanded edition), recorded by Yanagida Ikusaku, Chinese text by Wang Zhiben, 1901. Translation, notes and reflection by this site.

These are historical records kept by the diviner himself. The outcomes are his own account; this site uses them to study how the lines were read, not as evidence that divination predicts events.

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