Hexagram 44: Gòu (Coming to Meet)

The Judgment

Gou shows a female who is bold and strong. It will not be good to marry (such) a female.

姤：女壮，勿用取女。

Commentary on the Judgment (Tuan)

Gou has the significance of unexpectedly coming on. (We see in it) the weak (line) coming unexpectedly on the strong ones. 'It will not be good to marry (such) a female:' - one (so symbolised) should not be long associated with. Heaven and earth meeting together (as here represented), all the variety of natural things become fully displayed. When a strong (line) finds itself in the central and correct position, (good government) will greatly prevail all under the sky. Great indeed is the significance of what has to be done at the time indicated by Gou!

彖曰：姤，遇也，柔遇刚也。勿用取女，不可与长也。天地相遇，品物咸章也。刚遇中正，天下大行也。姤之时义大矣哉！

The Great Image

(The trigram representing) wind and that for the sky above it form Gou. The sovereign, in accordance with this, delivers his charges, and promulgates his announcements throughout the four quarters (of the kingdom).

象曰：天下有风，姤；后以施命诰四方。

The six lines

1. Line 1 (first): The first SIX, divided, shows how its subject should be kept (like a carriage) tied and fastened to a metal drag, in which case with firm correctness there will be good fortune. (But) if he move in any direction, evil will appear. He will be (like) a lean pig, which is sure to keep jumping about.

   'Tied and fastened to a metal drag:' - (this describes the arrest of) the weak (line) in its advancing course.

   In plain words: Tied to a metal brake; steadfastness brings good fortune. If one goes anywhere, misfortune appears, like a lean pig restless and straining. The first line is the first yin line appearing below, and should be restrained early. The Small Image says the yielding way is held back.

   初六：系于金柅，贞吉，有攸往，见凶，羸豕孚蹢躅。 象曰：系于金柅，柔道牵也。

2. Line 2 (second): The second NINE, undivided, shows its subject with a wallet of fish. There will be no error. But it will not be well to let (the subject of the first line) go forward to the guests.

   'He has a wallet of fish:' - it is right for him not to allow (the subject of the first line) to get to the guests.

   In plain words: There is fish in the kitchen: no fault, but it is not favourable to serve it to guests. The fish, a yin creature, stands for the first line. The second line meets the first line first and keeps it under control, not letting it affect others. The Small Image says by what is right it should not reach the guests.

   九二：包有鱼，无咎，不利宾。 象曰：包有鱼，义不及宾也。

3. Line 3 (third): The third NINE, undivided, shows one from whose buttocks the skin has been stripped so that he walks with difficulty. The position is perilous, but there will be no great error.

   'He walks with difficulty:' - but his steps have not yet been drawn (into the course of the first line).

   In plain words: Thighs without skin, walking with difficulty: danger, but no great fault. The third line is strong but not central and wants to meet the first line, but the second stands in between, so it is uneasy whether it goes or stays. The Small Image says its movement has not yet been drawn in.

   九三：臀无肤，其行次且，厉，无大咎。 象曰：其行次且，行未牵也。

4. Line 4 (fourth): The fourth NINE, undivided, shows its subject with his wallet, but no fish in it. This will give rise to evil.

   'The evil' indicated by there being 'no fish in the wallet' is owing to (the subject of the line) keeping himself aloof from the people.

   In plain words: No fish in the kitchen: rising up brings misfortune. The fourth line should correspond to the first, but the second line has already taken the first, so the fourth has lost what should have been its own. The Small Image says this is because it is far from the people.

   九四：包无鱼，起凶。 象曰：无鱼之凶，远民也。

5. Line 5 (fifth): The fifth NINE, undivided, (shows its subject as) a medlar tree overspreading the gourd (beneath it). If he keep his brilliant qualities concealed, (a good issue) will descend (as) from Heaven.

   'The subject of the fifth NINE, (undivided), keeps his brilliant qualities concealed:' - as is indicated by his central and correct position. '(The good issue) descends (as) from Heaven: - 'his aim does not neglect the ordinances (of Heaven).

   In plain words: Wrapping the melon in willow leaves, holding beauty within: something falls from heaven. The tall tree shelters the melon, a yin thing growing below, which stands for the first line. The fifth line is central and correct in the place of honour and embraces with virtue without showing its edge. The Small Image says it holds beauty within because it is central and correct, and what falls from heaven comes because its aim does not abandon its mandate.

   九五：以杞包瓜，含章，有陨自天。 象曰：九五含章，中正也。有陨自天，志不舍命也。

6. Line 6 (sixth (top)): The sixth NINE, undivided, shows its subject receiving others on his horns. There will be occasion for regret, but there will be no error.

   'He receives others on his horns:' - he is exhausted at his greatest height, and there will be cause for regret.

   In plain words: Meeting with its horns: regret, but no fault. The top line is strong at the very top, proud and aloof, butting everything it meets. The Small Image says at the top it has come to its limit, hence regret.

   上九：姤其角，吝，无咎。 象曰：姤其角，上穷吝也。

Line positions

2 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 Qian palace runs: Qián (head), Gòu (1st change), Dùn (2nd change), Pǐ (3rd change), Guān (4th change), Bō (5th change), Jìn (wandering soul), Dà Yǒu (returning soul).

The twelve waxing and waning hexagrams

This is one of the twelve "waxing and waning" hexagrams, matched to the fifth 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

Gou to Ding: merchants and landowners fight over common property: A Yokohama lawyer handling a major suit between merchants and landowners over rights to common property asked who would win. The fifth line of Gou, "wrapping the melon in willow; hidden beauty; something falls from heaven", led Takashima to say both sides had a claim: the willow is the merchants, the melon the landowners, and the merchants should accommodate them. The final outcome lay with heaven, and both parties should accept it.

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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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