Hexagram 22: Bì (Grace)

The Judgment

Bi indicates that there should be free course (in what it denotes). There will be little advantage (however) if it be allowed to advance (and take the lead).

贲：亨。小利有攸往。

Commentary on the Judgment (Tuan)

(When it is said that) Bi indicates that there should be free course (in what it denotes): - (We see) the weak line coming and ornamenting the strong lines (of the lower trigram), and hence (it is said that ornament) 'should have free course.' On the other hand, the strong line above ornaments the weak ones (of the upper trigram), and hence (it is said) that 'there will be little advantage, if (ornament) be allowed to advance (and take the lead).' (This is illustrated in the) appearances that ornament the sky. Elegance and intelligence (denoted by the lower trigram) regulated by the arrest (denoted by the upper) suggest the observances that adorn human (society). We look at the ornamental figures of the sky, and thereby ascertain the changes of the seasons. We look at the ornamental observances of society, and understand how the processes of transformation are accomplished all under heaven.

彖曰：贲，亨。柔来而文刚，故亨。分刚上而文柔，故小利有攸往。刚柔交错，天文也。文明以止，人文也。观乎天文，以察时变；观乎人文，以化成天下。

The Great Image

(The trigram representing) a mountain and that for fire under it form Bi. The superior man, in accordance with this, throws a brilliancy around his various processes of government, but does not dare (in a similar way) to decide cases of criminal litigation.

象曰：山下有火，贲；君子以明庶政，无敢折狱。

The six lines

1. Line 1 (first): The first NINE, undivided, shows one adorning (the way of) his feet. He can discard a carriage and walk on foot.

   'He can discard a carriage and walk on foot:' - righteousness requires that he should not ride.

   In plain words: Adorning one's toes, leaving the carriage and going on foot. The first line is at the bottom, content to walk and not taking pride in riding. The Small Image says by what is right it should not ride.

   初九：贲其趾，舍车而徒。 象曰：舍车而徒，义弗乘也。

2. Line 2 (second): The second SIX, divided, shows one adorning his beard.

   'He adorns his beard:' - he rouses himself to action (only) along with the (subject of the) line above.

   In plain words: Adorning the beard. The beard grows on the chin and moves with it; the second line is weak and has no partner in the fifth, so it clings to the third line beside it and moves with it. Adornment cannot stand alone; it must attach to something real. The Small Image says it rises together with the one above.

   六二：贲其须。 象曰：贲其须，与上兴也。

3. Line 3 (third): The third NINE, undivided, shows its subject with the appearance of being adorned and bedewed (with rich favours). But let him ever maintain his firm correctness, and there will be good fortune.

   'The good fortune consequent on his ever maintaining firm correctness' is due to this, - that to the end no one will insult him.

   In plain words: Adorned and glossy; lasting steadfastness brings good fortune. The third line sits between two yin lines and is adorned by them; it could easily sink into splendour, but if it stays steadfast for the long term, no one will wrong it. The Small Image says in the end no one can override it.

   九三：贲如濡如，永贞吉。 象曰：永贞之吉，终莫之陵也。

4. Line 4 (fourth): The fourth SIX, divided, shows one looking as if adorned, but only in white. As if (mounted on) a white horse, and furnished with wings, (he seeks union with the subject of the first line), while (the intervening third pursues), not as a robber, but intent on a matrimonial alliance.

   'The place occupied by the fourth six, (divided),' affords ground for doubt (as to its subject); but '(as the subject of the third pursues) not as a robber, but as intent on a matrimonial alliance,' he will in the end have no grudge against him.

   In plain words: Adorned in white, a white horse comes as if flying; not a robber, but a suitor. The fourth line corresponds to the first but is separated from it by the third, and so is doubtful; in the end they come together. The Small Image says its position raises doubt, but since it is a suitor and not a robber, there is no fault in the end.

   六四：贲如皤如，白马翰如，匪寇婚媾。 象曰：六四，当位疑也。匪寇婚媾，终无尤也。

5. Line 5 (fifth): The fifth SIX, divided, shows its subject adorned by (the occupants of) the heights and gardens. He bears his roll of silk, small and slight. He may appear stingy; but there will be good fortune in the end.

   'The good fortune falling to the fifth six, (divided); affords occasion for joy.

   In plain words: Adornment in the hills and gardens; the roll of silk is small and thin: regret, but in the end good fortune. Hills and gardens are where recluses live. The fifth line holds the place of honour yet values plainness: the gift is small but the feeling is true. The Small Image says there is joy.

   六五：贲于丘园，束帛戋戋，吝，终吉。 象曰：六五之吉，有喜也。

6. Line 6 (sixth (top)): The sixth NINE, undivided, shows one with white as his (only) ornament. There will be no error.

   'The freedom from error attached to (the subject of) the topmost line, with no ornament but the (simple white),' shows how he has attained his aim.

   In plain words: Plain white adornment: no fault. The top line is at the far end of adornment, where ornament comes back round to simplicity; Confucius said that painting comes after the plain ground. The Small Image says at the top it achieves its aim.

   上九：白贲，无咎。 象曰：白贲无咎，上得志也。

Line positions

4 of the six lines stand in their proper place (strong lines in odd places, weak lines in even places).

The second and fifth lines hold the central places of the lower and upper trigrams; both are weak, so they do not correspond.

Of the three pairs of corresponding places (first and fourth, second and fifth, third and top), 1 pair is made of one strong and one weak line.

Strong lines belong in odd places and weak lines in even places; the second and fifth are the central places; first and fourth, second and fifth, third and top correspond, and they "respond" when one is strong and the other weak.

These are structural conventions, not scores of good or bad fortune. Commentators differ: Wang Bi treats the first and top places as beginning and end without fixed yin or yang positions. Read each line with its Small Image and the whole hexagram.

Place in Jing Fang's eight palaces

Jing Fang grouped the 64 hexagrams into eight "palaces" of eight, each headed by a doubled trigram. Changing the lines of the head hexagram one by one from the bottom gives the next five; the last two are the "wandering soul" and "returning soul" hexagrams. The Gen palace runs: Gèn (head), Bì (1st change), Dà Chù (2nd change), Sǔn (3rd change), Kuí (4th change), Lǚ (5th change), Zhōng Fú (wandering soul), Jiàn (returning soul).

A recorded case from Takashima

Bi (Grace) to Jia Ren: leaving trade for a garden in old age: A friend who had done well from long years in trade asked about his fortunes and received the fifth line of Bi (Grace), "adorning the hill garden; a modest roll of silk; shame, but good in the end". Takashima advised him to stop competing with the flashy new ways of business and retire to a garden in the hills.

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English text: James Legge, The Yi King (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16, 1882), public domain, as transcribed by the Chinese Text Project. Chinese: the received text. Offered for study and reflection, not as prediction.

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