Hexagram 59: Huàn (Dispersion)
风水涣 · 第 59 卦 · Wind over Water · 中文版
The Judgment
Huan intimates that (under its conditions) there will be progress and success. The king goes to his ancestral temple; and it will be advantageous to cross the great stream. It will be advantageous to be firm and correct.
涣：亨。王假有庙，利涉大川，利贞。
Commentary on the Judgment (Tuan)
'Huan intimates that there will be progress and success:' - (we see) the strong line (in the second place) of the lower trigram, and not suffering any extinction there; and (also) the weak line occupying its place in the outer trigram, and uniting (its action) with that of the line above. 'The king goes to his ancestral temple:' - the king's (mind) is without any deflection. 'It will be advantageous to cross the great stream:' - (the subject of the hexagram) rides in (a vessel of) wood (over water), and will do so with success.
彖曰：涣，亨。刚来而不穷，柔得位乎外而上同。王假有庙，王乃在中也。利涉大川，乘木有功也。
The Great Image
(The trigram representing) water and that for wind moving above the water form Huan. The ancient kings, in accordance with this, presented offerings to God and established the ancestral temple.
象曰：风行水上，涣；先王以享于帝立庙。
The six lines
Line 1 (first): The first SIX, divided, shows its subject engaged in rescuing (from the impending evil) and having (the assistance of) a strong horse. There will be good fortune.
'The good fortune attached to the first six, divided),'is due to the natural course (pursued by its subject).
In plain words: Rescued by a strong horse: good fortune, regret vanishes. The hexagram stands for dispersal. The first line is at the start of dispersal and relies early on the strong second line to save the situation. The Small Image says the good fortune of the first line lies in going along.
初六：用拯马壮，吉，悔亡。 象曰：初六之吉，顺也。
Line 2 (second): The second NINE, undivided, shows its subject, amid the dispersion, hurrying to his contrivance (for security). All occasion for repentance will disappear.
'Amidst the prevailing dispersion, he hurries to his contrivance (for security):' - he gets what he desires.
In plain words: In dispersal, running to one's support: regret vanishes. The support is a low table to lean on, some say the first line. The second line is strong and central but caught in the danger of the lower trigram; finding something to lean on, it settles. The Small Image says it gets what it wished for.
九二：涣奔其机，悔亡。 象曰：涣奔其机，得愿也。
Line 3 (third): The third SIX, divided, shows its subject discarding any regard to his own person. There will be no occasion for repentance.
'He has no regard to his own person:' - his aim is directed to what is external to himself.
In plain words: Dispersing one's self-interest: no regret. The third line is weak, neither central nor correct, but corresponds to the top line; it can set itself aside and aims to help with the dispersal outside. The Small Image says its aim is outward.
六三：涣其躬，无悔。 象曰：涣其躬，志在外也。
Line 4 (fourth): The fourth SIX, divided, shows its subject scattering the (different) parties (in the state); which leads to great good fortune. From the dispersion (he collects again good men standing out, a crowd) like a mound, which is what ordinary men would not have thought of.
'He scatters the (different) parties (in the state), and there is great good fortune:' - brilliant and great (are his virtue and service).
In plain words: Dispersing one's faction: supreme good fortune. Dispersing the small groups gathers a crowd like a hill: this is not what ordinary people would think of. The Chinese idiom for the unimaginable comes from this line. The fourth line is yielding and correct, serves the fifth, and breaks up cliques so that everyone turns to the common good. The Small Image calls this bright and great.
六四：涣其群，元吉。涣有丘，匪夷所思。 象曰：涣其群元吉，光大也。
Line 5 (fifth): The fifth NINE, undivided, shows its subject amidst the dispersion issuing his great announcements as the perspiration (flows from his body). He scatters abroad (also) the accumulations in the royal granaries. There will be no error.
'The accumulations of the royal (granaries) are dispersed, and there is no error:' - this is due to the correctness of the position.
In plain words: Great commands go out like sweat; the king's stores are dispersed: no fault. The fifth line is central and correct in the place of honour, the ruler of the hexagram; in a time of dispersal, its command, once given, cannot be taken back, like sweat, and it gives out its wealth to gather people's hearts. The Small Image says the king is without fault because he is in his proper place.
九五：涣汗其大号，涣王居，无咎。 象曰：王居无咎，正位也。
Line 6 (sixth (top)): The topmost NINE, undivided, shows its subject disposing of (what may be called) its bloody wounds, and going and separating himself from its anxious fears. There will be no error.
'His bloody wounds are gone:' - he is far removed from the danger of injury.
In plain words: Dispersing harm, going far away and getting out: no fault. The top line is at the end of the hexagram, furthest from the danger of the lower trigram, and can keep far from harm. The Small Image says it keeps far from harm.
上九：涣其血，去逖出，无咎。 象曰：涣其血，远害也。
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.
| Line | Proper place | Central | Corresponds with |
|---|---|---|---|
| top (strong) | — | — | 3rd line: yes |
| 5th (strong) | yes | yes | 2nd line: no |
| 4th (weak) | yes | — | 1st line: no |
| 3rd (weak) | — | — | top line: yes |
| 2nd (strong) | — | yes | 5th line: no |
| 1st (weak) | — | — | 4th line: no |
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 Li palace runs: Lí (head), Lǚ (1st change), Dǐng (2nd change), Wèi Jì (3rd change), Méng (4th change), Huàn (5th change), Sòng (wandering soul), Tóng Rén (returning soul).
A recorded case from Takashima
Huan to Song: was she on the ship that was wrecked?: Ōura O-Kei, a woman merchant of Nagasaki, was due home on the ship Nagoya, when news came that the Nagoya had been wrecked off Suō. Her family wired Takashima. Not knowing whether she had boarded, he cast and got the fourth line of Huan, "scattering the crowd; on the hill; beyond ordinary thought", and judged that she was safe. The family were unsure, until a telegram from Ōura said she had escaped.
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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.