Hexagram 43: Guài (Breakthrough)

The Judgment

Guai requires (in him who would fulfil its meaning) the exhibition (of the culprit's guilt) in the royal court, and a sincere and earnest appeal (for sympathy and support), with a consciousness of the peril (involved in cutting off the criminal). He should (also) make announcement in his own city, and show that it will not be well to have recourse at once to arms. (In this way) there will be advantage in whatever he shall go forward to.

夬：扬于王庭，孚号，有厉，告自邑，不利即戎，利有攸往。

Commentary on the Judgment (Tuan)

Guai is the symbol of displacing or removing. We see (in the figure) the strong (lines) displacing the weak. (We have in it the attributes of) strength and complacency. There is displacement, but harmony (continues). 'The exhibition (of the criminal's guilt) in the royal courtyard' is suggested by the (one) weak (line) mounted on the five strong lines. There 'is an earnest and sincere appeal (for sympathy and support), and a consciousness of the peril (involved in the undertaking):' - it is the realisation of this danger, which makes the method (of compassing the object) brilliant. 'He should make an announcement in his own city, and show that it will not be well to have recourse at once to arms:' - (if he have recourse to arms), what he prefers will (soon) be exhausted. 'There will be advantage in whatever he shall go forward to:' - when the growth of the strong (lines) has been completed, there will be an end (of the displacement).

彖曰：夬，决也，刚决柔也。健而说，决而和，扬于王庭，柔乘五刚也。孚号有厉，其危乃光也。告自邑，不利即戎，所尚乃穷也。利有攸往，刚长乃终也。

The Great Image

(The trigram representing) heaven and that for the waters of a marsh mounting above it form Guai. The superior man, in accordance with this, bestows emolument on those below him, and dislikes allowing his gifts to accumulate (undispensed).

象曰：泽上于天，夬；君子以施禄及下，居德则忌。

The six lines

1. Line 1 (first): The first NINE, undivided, shows its subject in (the pride of) strength advancing with his toes. He goes forward, but will not succeed. There will be ground for blame.

   'Without (being able to) succeed, he goes forward:' - this is an error.

   In plain words: Strength in the forward toes: going on without being able to win is a fault. In this hexagram five yang lines join to remove the single yin line at the top; the first line is at the bottom, too weak, yet eager to charge ahead. The Small Image says going on when one cannot win is a fault.

   初九：壮于前趾，往不胜为咎。 象曰：不胜而往，咎也。

2. Line 2 (second): The second NINE, undivided, shows its subject full of apprehension and appealing (for sympathy and help). Late at night hostile measures may be (taken against him), but he need not be anxious about them.

   'Though hostile measures be taken against him, he need not be anxious:' - he pursues the course of the due mean.

   In plain words: Alert and calling out: even if armed men come at night, do not worry. The second line is strong and central and always watchful: being prepared, it has nothing to fear. The Small Image says this is because it finds the middle way.

   九二：惕号，莫夜有戎，勿恤。 象曰：有戎勿恤，得中道也。

3. Line 3 (third): The third NINE, undivided, shows its subject (about to advance) with strong (and determined) looks. There will be evil. (But) the superior man, bent on cutting off (the criminal), will walk alone and encounter the rain, (till he be hated by his proper associates) as if he were contaminated (by the others). (In the end) there will be no blame against him.

   'The superior man looks bent on cutting off the culprit:' - there will in the end be no error.

   In plain words: Strength shows in the cheekbones: misfortune. The noble person is resolute about removing the petty; walking alone he meets rain, gets soaked and is resented, but there is no fault. The third line corresponds to the top line and deals with it alone, and is misunderstood; as long as its resolve is firm, there is no fault in the end. The Small Image says the resolute noble person is finally without fault.

   九三：壮于頄，有凶。君子夬夬，独行遇雨，若濡有愠，无咎。 象曰：君子夬夬，终无咎也。

4. Line 4 (fourth): The fourth NINE, undivided, shows one from whose buttocks the skin has been stripped, and who walks slowly and with difficulty. (If he could act) like. a sheep led (after its companions), occasion for repentance would disappear. But though he hear these words, he will not believe them.

   'He walks slowly and with difficulty:' - he is not in the place appropriate to him. 'He hears these words, but does not believe them:' - he hears, but does not understand.

   In plain words: Thighs without skin, walking with difficulty. If one let oneself be led like a sheep, regret would vanish, but one hears these words and does not believe them. The fourth line is yang in a yin place, unable to advance and unwilling to retreat; it would do well to follow the others, but will not listen. The Small Image says the difficult walking comes from an improper position, and not believing comes from not hearing clearly.

   九四：臀无肤，其行次且。牵羊悔亡，闻言不信。 象曰：其行次且，位不当也。闻言不信，聪不明也。

5. Line 5 (fifth): The fifth NINE, undivided, shows (the small men like) a bed of purslain, which ought to be uprooted with the utmost determination. (The subject of the line having such determination), his action, in harmony with his central position, will lead to no error or blame.

   'If his action be in harmony with his central position, there will be no error:' - but his standing in the due mean is not yet clearly displayed.

   In plain words: Resolute as in pulling up purslane: walking the middle way, no fault. Purslane is a soft, brittle weed that is hard to root out entirely, standing for the top line. The fifth line is closest to the top line and close to it in feeling, so it must hold to the middle way all the more when it acts. The Small Image says walking the middle is without fault, but the middle way is not yet shining.

   九五：苋陆夬夬，中行无咎。 象曰：中行无咎，中未光也。

6. Line 6 (sixth (top)): The sixth SIX, divided, shows its subject without any (helpers) on whom to call. His end will be evil.

   'There is the misery of having none on whom to call:' - the end will be that he cannot continue any longer.

   In plain words: No more calling out: misfortune in the end. The top line is the only yin line of the hexagram and is being removed by the five yang lines; it has nowhere to go. The Small Image says it cannot last in the end.

   上六：无号，终有凶。 象曰：无号之凶，终不可长也。

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 strong, 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 Kun palace runs: Kūn (head), Fù (1st change), Lín (2nd change), Tài (3rd change), Dà Zhuàng (4th change), Guài (5th change), Xū (wandering soul), Bǐ (returning soul).

The twelve waxing and waning hexagrams

This is one of the twelve "waxing and waning" hexagrams, matched to the third month of the Chinese lunar calendar. The series starts from Fu, with one strong line returning at the bottom, grows to Qian, then gives way to weak lines until Kun, tracing the rise and fall of yang through the year; it belongs to the Han-dynasty gua qi system of Meng Xi and Jing Fang.

A recorded case from Takashima

Guai to Ge: exposing or hushing up an agent's fraud: A head clerk returned from a business trip to find the friends he had left in charge had colluded to embezzle funds, inflate prices and falsify the books, and could not decide whether to expose or hush it up. The second line of Guai, "alarm and warning; attack at night; do not worry", led Takashima to advise vigilance without cornering them, handling it firmly but calmly; the clerk did so and it was settled peacefully.

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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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