Hexagram 54: Guī Mèi (The Marrying Maiden)

The Judgment

Gui Mei indicates that (under the conditions which it denotes) action will be evil, and in no wise advantageous.

归妹：征凶，无攸利。

Commentary on the Judgment (Tuan)

By Gui Mei (the marrying away of a younger sister) the great and righteous relation between heaven and earth (is suggested to us). If heaven and earth were to have no intercommunication, things would not grow and flourish as they do. The marriage of a younger sister is the end (of her maidenhood) and the beginning (of her motherhood). We have (in the hexagram the desire of) pleasure and, on the ground of that, movement following. The marrying away is of a younger sister. 'Any action will be evil:' - the places (of the lines) are not those appropriate to them. 'It will be in no wise advantageous:' - the weak (third and fifth lines) are mounted on strong lines.

彖曰：归妹，天地之大义也。天地不交，而万物不兴。归妹，人之终始也。说以动，所归妹也。征凶，位不当也。无攸利，柔乘刚也。

The Great Image

(The trigram representing the waters of) a marsh and over it that for thunder form Gui Mei. The superior man, in accordance with this, having regard to the far-distant end, knows the mischief (that may be done at the beginning).

象曰：泽上有雷，归妹；君子以永终知敝。

The six lines

1. Line 1 (first): The first NINE, undivided, shows the younger sister married off in a position ancillary to the real wife. (It suggests the idea of) a person lame on one leg who yet manages to tramp along. Going forward will be fortunate.

   'The younger sister is married off in a position ancillary to that of the real wife:' - it is the constant practice (for such a case). 'Lame on one leg, she is able to tramp along:' - she can render helpful service.

   In plain words: The marrying maiden goes as a secondary wife; like the lame who can still walk, setting out brings good fortune. In ancient times a younger sister went with a bride as a secondary wife. The first line is strong and low; though not the principal wife, it does its part. The Small Image says this is the constant way, and walking though lame is fortunate because they support each other.

   初九：归妹以娣，跛能履，征吉。 象曰：归妹以娣，以恒也。跛能履，吉相承也。

2. Line 2 (second): The second NINE, undivided, shows her blind of one eye, and yet able to see. There will be advantage in her maintaining the firm correctness of a solitary widow.

   'There will be advantage in maintaining the firm correctness of a solitary widow:' - (the subject of the line) has not changed from the constancy (proper to a wife).

   In plain words: One-eyed yet able to see: favourable for the steadfastness of the quiet, retiring person. The second line is strong and central and corresponds to the fifth, but the fifth line is weak and cannot make full use of its ability, so it keeps quietly to itself. The Small Image says it has not changed the constant way.

   九二：眇能视，利幽人之贞。 象曰：利幽人之贞，未变常也。

3. Line 3 (third): The third SIX, divided, shows the younger sister who was to be married off in a mean position. She returns and accepts an ancillary position.

   'The younger sister who was to be married off is in a mean position:' - this is shown by the improprieties (indicated in the line).

   In plain words: The marrying maiden waits to be the principal wife, but in the end goes as a secondary wife. The key word may mean waiting, or an elder sister. The third line is neither central nor correct: its ambitions are high but its place is low. The Small Image says its position is not proper.

   六三：归妹以须，反归以娣。 象曰：归妹以须，未当也。

4. Line 4 (fourth): The fourth NINE, undivided, shows the younger sister who is to be married off protracting the time. She may be late in being married, but the time will come.

   (The purpose in) 'protracting the time' is that, after waiting, the thing may be done (all the better).

   In plain words: The marrying maiden misses her time; a late marriage has its own right moment. The fourth line and the first are both yang, with no correspondence; it does not hurry to marry but waits for a good match. The Small Image says the intent in missing the date is to wait and then act.

   九四：归妹愆期，迟归有时。 象曰：愆期之志，有待而行也。

5. Line 5 (fifth): The fifth SIX, divided, reminds us of the marrying of the younger sister of (king) Di-yi, when the sleeves of her the princess were not equal to those of the (still) younger sister who accompanied her in an inferior capacity. (The case suggests the thought of) the moon almost full. There will be good fortune.

   'The sleeves of the younger sister of (king) Di-yi, when she was married away, were not equal to those of her (half-)sister, who accompanied her:' - such was her noble character, indicated by the central position of the line.

   In plain words: King Di Yi gives his sister in marriage; the bride's sleeves are not as fine as those of the secondary wife; the moon is nearly full: good fortune. The fifth line, of noble rank, marries down to the second, preferring plainness to finery; the nearly full moon pictures fullness that stops short of excess. The Small Image says the bride's sleeves are plainer because she stands in the middle and acts from noble virtue.

   六五：帝乙归妹，其君之袂，不如其娣之袂良，月几望，吉。 象曰：帝乙归妹，不如其娣之袂良也。其位在中，以贵行也。

6. Line 6 (sixth (top)): The sixth SIX, divided, shows the young lady bearing the basket, but without anything in it, and the gentleman slaughtering the sheep, but without blood flowing from it. There will be no advantage in any way.

   '(What is said in) the sixth SIX, (divided),about there being nothing in the basket' shows that the subject of it is carrying an empty basket.

   In plain words: The woman holds a basket with nothing in it; the man stabs the sheep but no blood flows: nothing is gained. These are wedding rites performed without substance, a picture of name without reality. The top line is at the end of the hexagram and has no correspondence with the third. The Small Image says it holds an empty basket.

   上六：女承筐无实，士刲羊无血，无攸利。 象曰：上六无实，承虚筐也。

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; being one strong and one weak, they 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 Dui palace runs: Duì (head), Kùn (1st change), Cuì (2nd change), Xián (3rd change), Jiǎn (4th change), Qiān (5th change), Xiǎo Guò (wandering soul), Guī Mèi (returning soul).

A recorded case from Takashima

Gui Mei to Lin: holding stock until the time is right: A merchant asked about the right time to buy and sell and received the fourth line of Gui Mei, "the maiden's marriage is delayed; a late marriage has its time". Takashima said a woman waits for the right time to marry as goods wait for the right price; a younger sister cannot marry before her elder, so the merchant must still have earlier stock unsold, and his newer goods should wait. Selling later would pay.

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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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