Jian to Jing: a son's business debts

1880 (Meiji 13) · A Tokyo gentleman worried about his son's business debts · 中文版

The cast

Hexagram 39 Jiǎn (Obstruction), line 2 moving, changing to Hexagram 48 Jǐng (The Well).

Original text

明治十三年某月。予過訪東京某紳士。互叙久濶。主人曰。近因小兒爲商務負債。日夕奔走措置。予甚憂慮。予曰。此等債務。憂亦無憂。當善謀一置處之方。無已不如占問一卦。以決可否。於是主人自執筮蓍。予代爲祈禱。筮得蹇之井。爻辭曰。六二王臣蹇蹇。匪躬之故。斷曰。蹇者多難之卦。二爻爲下卦之主。是身任其難者也。令郞爲商業負此巨債。不能不前往理處。無如債累重重。一時終不能了。今占得蹇二爻。爻辭曰。王臣蹇蹇。非躬之故。蹇蹇謂其事難而又難。非躬之故。謂其債因商業而負。非一身之故也。玩前後爻象。三爻以來反爲喜。知三爻不能相助爲理。四爻曰來連。能與以爲連手。五爻爲卦主。是營商正主。或成訟則爲裁判長官。曰朋來。謂招集債友。共相商議。象曰中節。節省也。謂節減債欵以了事。上六則爲局外之長者。前來居間調劑也。據此現宜從初爻之辭。暫爲退待。以俟機會。毋許勞勞。某紳士深感易之妙。後果如占所云。

In plain words

In 1880 Takashima called on a gentleman in Tokyo, and they caught up after a long time apart. The host said: lately my son has run up debts in his business, and I have been rushing about day and night trying to sort it out; I am very worried. Takashima said: worrying about debts like these does no good; what is needed is a good plan for dealing with them. Why not ask the Changes and settle what to do? So the host cast the yarrow stalks himself while Takashima said the prayer. The cast gave Jian with its second line moving, changing into Jing. The line reads: "Six in the second place: the king's servant struggles on through difficulty upon difficulty, and not for his own sake."

Takashima's judgment: Jian is the hexagram of many difficulties. The second line is the ruler of the lower trigram, one who personally shoulders the hardship. Your son took on this great debt in business and has no choice but to go and deal with it himself; but the debts are many and cannot be cleared all at once. "Difficulty upon difficulty" means the matter is hard and then harder still; "not for his own sake" means the debt was incurred for the business, not by his own fault alone.

Looking at the lines around it: the third line says "going brings difficulty; coming back", so the third cannot help. The fourth says "coming back, he joins with others", someone who can join hands with him. The fifth is the ruler of the hexagram, the real principal in the business, or, if it comes to court, the presiding judge; its "friends come" means calling the creditors together to talk it over, and its commentary's "keeping to measure" means cutting back the amounts owed to settle the matter. The top line is an elder from outside who comes in to mediate.

So for now, he should follow the first line, "going brings difficulty, coming back brings praise": step back and wait for the right moment, and stop wearing himself out. The gentleman was deeply impressed, and things later went as the reading said.

How Takashima read it

Only one line text is read: with one moving line, the second line of Jian is read, but the other five lines are all worked into a plan of action.
The hexagram is read as difficulty upon difficulty; "not for his own sake" is read as debt run up for the business rather than purely the son's fault, which first eases the father's mind.
Lines stand for people: the third cannot help, the fourth can join forces, the fifth is the principal or the judge, the top line an outside elder who mediates. This is a textbook way of reading the six lines as the parties to one affair.
It ends with the first line, "going brings difficulty, coming back brings praise": stepping back to wait is better than endless running about.

About the outcome

That things went "as the reading said" is Takashima's own record, and it does not say how the debts were settled. Calling the creditors together, negotiating reductions and bringing in a mediator are the usual ways of dealing with debt anyway. This site does not treat it as evidence; what is worth reading is how the six lines become the different parties to one affair.

Applying it to your situation

"Not for his own sake" first puts the blame where it belongs: a mess is not always one person's fault. Facing a tangle, you can ask as Takashima did: who here cannot help, who can join forces, who could mediate? Sorting out the people often clears the way.

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.

Cast a hexagram · All of Takashima's cases · The 64 hexagrams