Hexagram 40, Xiè (Deliverance): Line 1

解卦初六 · 雷水解 · 中文版

初六:无咎。

The line (Legge)

The first SIX, divided, shows that its subject will commit no error.

Small Image commentary

The strong (fourth) line and the weak line here are in correlation: - we judge rightly in saying that 'its subject will commit no error.'

象曰:刚柔之际,义无咎也。

In plain words

No fault. The first line is the start of deliverance: the difficulty has just been lifted. It is yielding at the bottom and corresponds to the fourth, firm and yielding meeting, so there is no fault. The Small Image says at the meeting of firm and yielding, there is in principle no fault.

Applying it to your situation

If a hard matter has just been resolved, this line suggests catching your breath without rushing into anything. What kind of rest do you most need?

Position

A broken (yin) line in the first place, which is a yang (odd) place, so it is not in its proper place. Its partner is line 4; one is yin and the other yang, so they respond to each other.

If this line moves

With this line moving alone, Xiè changes into Hexagram 54 Guī Mèi (The Marrying Maiden). The Jiaoshi Yilin verse for this change (Chinese): 焦氏易林·解之归妹.

The hexagram

Hexagram 40 Xiè (Deliverance). The Judgment: In (the state indicated by) Jie advantage will be found in the south-west. If no (further) operations be called for, there will be good fortune in coming back (to the old conditions). If some operations be called for, there will be good fortune in the early conducting of them.

Next: Line 2

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. Plain-English readings and position notes by this site.

Cast a hexagram · All 64 hexagrams · Worked examples