1.
When the eight trigrams formed ranks, the [basic] images were present there within them. {H.K: They provide all the [basic] images in the world.¹} And so, when they [the sages] doubled these, the lines were present there within them. {H.K: Although the eight trigrams provide all the principles of the world, they do not extend to cover all the change connected with them. This is why they [the sage] doubled them so they could provide images for all the activities involved. They used comparisons with analogous things so they could clarify what was appropriate for bringing order to disorder. They observed how correspondences took place so they could bring to light the merit that results from achieving synchronicity. As a consequence, the way concepts are contained in individual lines and the way they are contained in whole hexagrams differ. This is why the text says: “The lines were present there within them.”} When they let the hard and the soft [i.e., the strong and the weak, the yang and yin trigrams] displace each other, change was present there within them. When they attached phrases to the lines and made them injunctions, the ways the lines move were present there within them. {H.K: “The hard and the soft displace each other”—this is equivalent to “the eight trigrams activate each other.”² This means either obstruction and stagnation or ease and success. They [the sages] attached phrases to them so as to make judgments about good fortune or misfortune. This is comparable to how the movement of the six hexagram lines is always in step with the moments of time.³ The concepts involved in the way the hexagrams are set up are to be seen in the Commentary on the Judgments and in the Commentary on the Images, and the efficacy with which the lines stay in step with moments of time is to be seen in the line phrases. Mr. Wang’s General Remarks deal with all this in detail.}

Good fortune, misfortune, regret, and remorse are all generated from the way the lines move. {H.K: Only with this movement does indication of good fortune and misfortune appear.} The hard and the soft constitute the fixed bases, {H.K: The “fixed bases’’ are equivalent to the trigrams.} and change and consummation are represented by those entities that are in step with the moment. {H.K: “Those entities that are in step with the moment’’ are equivalent to the trigram lines.} Thanks to constancy, either good fortune or misfortune prevails. {H.K: Constancy means the correct and unified, the One. No act ever stays completely clear of entanglement. One may sacrifice oneself to good fortune yet in doing so never stay free of misfortune. It takes someone who makes perfect use of change, as it governs how things come together and go smoothly, to avoid becoming entangled in good fortune and misfortune, for who else could ever achieve real constancy! The Laozi says: “A prince or noble who obtains the One uses it to provide constancy for the entire world.”⁴ Although the myriad ways that things undergo change are all different, it is possible to control them all by cleaving to the One.} Thanks to constancy, the Dao of Heaven and Earth reveals itself. {H.K: How clear Heaven and Earth are, for of the myriad things, not one of them fails to sustain the constancy they [Heaven and Earth] provide and, in so doing, [the things] perfectly fulfill their functions.} Thanks to constancy, the Dao of the sun and the moon makes them bright. All the activity that takes place in the world, thanks to constancy, is the expression of the One. Qian being unyielding shows us how easy it is; Kun being yielding shows us how simple it is. {H.K: “Unyielding’’ refers to the hard aspect of the one, and “yielding” refers to the soft aspect of the other. As Qian and Kun both constantly keep their single virtues intact, things draw on both to achieve existence. Thus the one is easy, the other simple.} The lines reproduce how particular things act, and the images provide likenesses of particular things.⁵ As the lines and images move within the hexagrams, {H.K: This refers to the mantic signs or numbers that show themselves in the hexagrams.} so do good fortune and misfortune appear outside them. {H.K: This refers to the failure and success that one experiences in matters.} Meritorious undertakings are revealed in change, {H.K: It is due to change that meritorious undertakings manage to flourish. Thus they “are revealed in change.”} and the innate tendencies of the sages are revealed in the attached phrases. {H.K: Each of the attached phrases indicates the direction a sage would take. This is why the text says “innate tendencies.”}

The great virtue of Heaven and Earth is called “generation.” {H.K: It gives life but makes no purposeful effort to do so. Thus it is able to bring about life constantly. This is why the text refers to it in terms of its “great virtue.”} The great treasure of the sage is called his “position.” {H.K: If something is of no use, there is nothing about it to treasure, but if it does have a use, there is something about it to treasure. Nothing is more marvelous than the Dao when it comes to being of no use and as such being always sufficient unto itself, and nothing is greater than position when it comes to being of use and as such augmenting the Dao. This is why the text says: “The great treasure of the sage is called his ‘position.’”} The means by which such a one preserves this position we call “benevolence”; the means by which he gathers people to him we call “resources.” {H.K: Resources are the means by which one provides for the subsistence of things.} The regulation of resources, the rectification of pronouncements, and his preventing the people from doing wrong we call “righteousness.”

2.
When in ancient times Lord Bao Xi⁶ ruled the world as sovereign, he looked upward and observed the images in heaven and looked downward and observed the models that the earth provided. He observed the patterns on birds and beasts and what things were suitable for the land. {H.K: When the sage made the Changes, there was no great thing he did not explore to the utmost and no small thing he did not thoroughly investigate. For great things he took images from Heaven and Earth and for small things he observed the markings on birds and beasts and what things were suitable for the land.} Nearby, adopting them from his own person, and afar, adopting them from other things, he thereupon made the eight trigrams in order to become thoroughly conversant with the virtues inherent in the numinous and the bright and to classify the myriad things in terms of their true, innate natures.

He tied cords together and made various kinds of snare nets for catching animals and fish. He probably got the idea for this from the hexagram Li [Cohesion].⁷ {H.K: Here Li means “cling to.” For a snare net to work, one must carefully examine to what places creatures cling. Fish cling to waters, and beasts cling to mountains.}

After Lord Bao Xi perished, Lord Shen Nong⁸ applied himself to things. He hewed wood and made a plowshare and bent wood and made a plow handle. The benefit of plowing and hoeing he taught to the world. He probably got the idea for this from the hexagram Yi [Increase].⁹ {H.K: By creating implements he brought about abundance and in so doing increased the myriad things.}

He had midday become market time, had the people of the world gather, had the goods of the world brought together, had these exchanged, had them then retire to their homes, and enabled each one to get what he should. He probably got the idea for this from the hexagram Shihe [Bite Together].¹⁰ {H.K: Shihe means “come or bring together.” It refers to how he gathered the people of the marketplace, to how he had them come together from all different directions, and to his establishment of laws that governed the assemblage of goods. This is the basic concept inherent in Shihe.}

After Lord Shen Nong perished, the Lord Yellow Emperor, Lord Yao, and Lord Shun applied themselves to things. They allowed things to undergo the free flow of change and so spared the common folk from weariness and sloth. {H.K: As they allowed things to undergo the free flow of change, they made the use of these implements a delight, so the common folk did not become apathetic about them.¹¹} With their numinous powers they transformed things and had the common folk adapt to them. As for [the Dao of] change, when one process of it reaches its limit, a change from one state to another occurs. As such, change achieves free flow, and with this free flow, it lasts forever. {H.K: If change is allowed to flow freely, it will never be exhausted. This is why it can last forever.} This is why “Heaven will help him as a matter of course; this is good fortune, and nothing will be to his disadvantage.”¹² The Yellow Emperor, Yao, and Shun let their robes hang loosely down, yet the world was well governed. They probably got the idea for this from the hexagrams Qian and Kun. {H.K: By letting their robes hang down, they distinguished noble from base. This involves the concept that Qian is noble and Kun humble.¹³}

They hollowed out some tree trunks to make boats and whittled down others to make paddles. The benefit of boats and paddles was such that one could cross over to where it had been impossible to go. This allowed faraway places to be reached and so benefited the entire world. They probably got the idea for this from the hexagram Huan [Dispersion].¹⁴ {H.K: Huan means to bring about a thoroughgoing dispersal by taking advantage of the principle involved.¹⁵}

They domesticated the ox and harnessed the horse to conveyances. This allowed heavy loads to be pulled and faraway places to be reached and so benefited the entire world. They probably got the idea for this from the hexagram Sui [Following].¹⁶ {H.K: Sui means “to follow or be made to follow an appropriate course.” By domesticating the ox and harnessing the horse to conveyances, one has them follow in the direction one would go, so in each case one gets what is appropriate.}

They had gates doubled and had watchmen’s clappers struck and so made provision against robbers. They probably got the idea for this from the hexagram Yu [Contentment].¹⁷ {H.K: This takes up the idea of being prepared beforehand.¹⁸}

They cut tree trunks to make pestles and hollowed out the ground to make mortars. The benefit of pestles and mortars was such that the myriad folk used them to get relief from want. They probably got the idea for this from the hexagram Xiaoguo [Minor Superiority].¹⁹ {H.K: This refers to providing succor through the use of things that have minor functions.}

They strung pieces of wood to make bows and whittled others to make arrows. The benefit of bows and arrows was such that they dominated the world. They probably got the idea for this from the hexagram Kui [Contrariety].²⁰ {H.K: Kui means “recalcitrance.” When people are recalcitrant, strife arises. The use of bows and arrows provides the means to gain dominance over recalcitrance and strife.}

In remote antiquity, caves were dwellings and the open country was a place to stay. The sages of later ages had these exchanged for proper houses, putting a ridgepole at the top and rafters below in order to protect against the wind and the rain. They probably got the idea for this from the hexagram Dazhuang [Great Strength].²¹ {H.K: Proper houses are stronger and greater than cave dwellings, this is why they constructed proper houses, and they got the idea for this from Dazhuang.²²}

In antiquity, for burying the dead, people wrapped them thickly with firewood and buried them out in the wilds, where they neither made grave mounds nor planted trees. For the period of mourning there was no definite amount of time. The sages of later ages had this exchanged for inner and outer coffins. They probably got the idea for this from the hexagram Daguo [Major Superiority].²³ {H.K: This takes up the idea of the coffins being exceedingly thick.}

In remote antiquity, people knotted cords to keep things in order. The sages of later ages had these exchanged for written tallies, and by means of these all the various officials were kept in order, and the myriad folk were supervised. They probably got the idea for this from the hexagram Kuai [Resolution].²⁴ {H.K: Kuai means “to decide.” Written tallies were the means by which they decided and passed judgment on the myriad affairs.}

3.
This is why the Changes as such consist of images. The term image means “the making of semblances,” and the Judgments deal with their materials. {H.K: Material here means “the virtue inherent in the material.” The Judgments address themselves to the material out of which the hexagrams are formed in order to deal comprehensively with the concepts involved.} The lines as such reproduce every action that takes place in the world, and this is why “good fortune” and “misfortune” come about and “regret” and “remorse” appear.

4.
The yang trigrams have more yin than yang lines, and the yin trigrams have more yang than yin lines.²⁵ What is the reason for this? The yang trigrams are odd in number, and the yin trigrams are even in number.²⁶ {H.K: As the few are patriarchs of the many, so the One is he to whom the masses gravitate. Yang trigrams have two yin lines, thus the one odd one is the sovereign of it. Yin hexagrams have two yang lines, thus the one even one is the master of it.}

As for their virtues and actions, what are these? {H.K: The following passage distinguishes the virtues and actions of the yang trigrams from those of the yin trigrams.} The yang trigrams consist of one sovereign and two subjects; this denotes the Dao of the noble man. The yin trigrams consist of two sovereigns and one subject; this denotes the Dao of the petty man. {H.K: Yang represents the Dao of the sovereign, and yin represents the Dao of the subject. The sovereign, through taking no purposeful action, maintains unified control over the masses. This nonpurposeful action as such is a manifestation of the One. The subject, by engaging himself in matters, concludes them on behalf of his sovereign. But once he so engages himself, duality manifests itself. Therefore yang lines are drawn with a single stroke in order to show that the Dao of the sovereign must be one, and yin lines are drawn with two strokes in order to show that the substance of the subject must involve duality. This is how the yin and yang numbers provide a way to distinguish between sovereign and subject. If the sovereign is represented by a single-stroke line, this then is the virtue of the sovereign, but if a two-stroke line occupies the position of sovereign, this does not represent the Dao of the sovereign. This is why a yang trigram is referred to as “the Dao of the noble man” and a yin trigram is referred to as “the Dao of the petty man.”}

5.
The Changes say: “You pace back and forth in consternation, and friends follow your thoughts.”²⁷ {H.K: All the activity that takes place in the world must revert back to the One. A person who has to resort to thought to seek friends is still incapable of the One, but when he elicits a response in others with the One, they will come to him without thinking.} The Master [Confucius] said: “What does the world have to think and deliberate about? As all in the world ultimately comes to the same end, though the roads to it are different, so there is an ultimate congruence in thought, though there might be hundreds of ways to deliberate about it. So what does the world have to think and deliberate about?” {H.K: If few are involved, it will mean success, but if many are involved, then it will mean perplexity. Although the roads to it differ, where they all go to is the same place. Although deliberations may take hundreds of different forms, what they all ultimately reach admits no division. If indeed one knows what the essential is—that it is not to be found in wide searching but something strung together by the One—then, without any deliberating, he will get it completely.}

When the sun goes, then the moon comes, and when the moon goes, then the sun comes. The sun and the moon drive each other on, and brightness is generated in this process. When the cold goes, then the heat comes, and when the heat goes, then the cold comes. The cold and the heat drive each other on, and the yearly seasons come into being in this process. What has gone is a contraction, and what is to come is an expansion. Contraction and expansion impel each other on, and benefits are generated in this process.

The contraction of the measuring worm is done in order to try to stretch itself out, and the hibernation of dragons and snakes is done in order to preserve their lives. Perfect concepts [jingyi] come about by entrance into the numinous [ru shen], which, once had, allows one to extend their application to the utmost. {H.K: Perfect concepts means “the profound subtlety of the principles of things.” The numinous, being utterly still, does not act, but when it responds to something, that response is perfect and thoroughgoing. Thus one is able to take advantage of all the subtle secrets that underlie the world and gain unified and complete control over their applications.} The use of these applications comes about by making one’s person secure, which allows for the subsequent exaltation of his virtue. {H.K: The Dao governing how to make use of applications means that one first makes one’s position secure and only after that takes action. Perfect concepts derive from “entrance into the numinous, which, once had, allows one to extend their application to the utmost.” The use of these applications derives from “making one’s person secure, which allows for the subsequent exaltation of his virtue.” As principles must derive from their progenitor, so each and every matter springs from the root. If one returns to the root of things, he will find quiescence there and discover all the world’s principles available to him. However, if he enslaves his capacity for thought and deliberation just so he can seek ways to put things to use and if he disregards the need to make his person secure just so he can sacrifice himself to achievement and fine reputation, then the more the spurious arises, the more principles will be lost, and the finer his reputation grows, the more obvious his entanglements will become.} To go beyond this is something that no one has ever known how to do, for to plumb the numinous to the utmost and to understand transformation represent the very acme of virtue.

The Changes say: “This one suffers Impasse on rocks, so he tries to hold on to the puncture vine for support, and then he enters his home but does not see his wife. This means misfortune.”²⁸ The Master said: “If it is not something by which one should be brought to grief yet one is brought to grief by it, one’s name will surely be disgraced. If it is not something to hold on to for support yet one holds on to it, one’s person will surely be put in danger. Not only disgraced but also in danger: the time of such a person’s death will soon arrive, so how could he ever manage to see his wife!”

The Changes say: “The duke uses this opportunity to shoot at a hawk located atop a high wall, so he gets it, and nothing fails to be fitting.”²⁹ The Master said: “The hawk is the quarry, the bows and arrows are the instruments, and he who does the shooting is a man. The noble man lays up a store of instruments in his own person and waits for the proper moment and then acts, so how could there ever be anything to his disadvantage! Here one acts without impediment; it is due to this that when one goes out, he obtains his catch. What this means is that one should act only after having first developed his instruments.” {H.K: The gua [in “one acts without gua (impediment)] means “being tied up.” The noble man waits for the right moment and only then acts. Thus he never has any trouble with impediments.}

The Master said: “The petty man is not ashamed of being unkind, nor is he afraid of being unjust. If he does not see an advantage in something, he does not act, and, if he is not threatened by force, he is not chastised. For small matters one chastises him, so that for great matters he takes warning. This is how the petty man prospers. The Changes say: ‘Made to wear whole foot shackles, his toes are destroyed, but he will be without blame.’³⁰ This is what is meant here.”

As for goodness, if one does not accumulate it, there will not be enough of it to make a name for oneself, and, as for evil, if one does not accumulate it, there will not be enough of it to destroy one’s life. The petty man takes small goodness to be of no advantage and so does not do it, and he takes small evil to be of no harm, so he does not forsake it. This is why evil accumulates to the point where one can no longer keep it hidden and crimes become so great that one can no longer be exonerated. The Changes say: “Made to bear a cangue, his ears are destroyed, and this means misfortune.”³¹

The Master said: “To get into danger is a matter of thinking one’s position secure; to become ruined is a matter of thinking one’s continuance protected; to fall into disorder is a matter of thinking one’s order enduring. Therefore the noble man when secure does not forget danger, when enjoying continuance does not forget ruin, when maintaining order does not forget disorder. This is the way his person is kept secure and his state remains protected. The Changes say: ‘This might be lost, this might be lost, so tie it to a healthy, flourishing mulberry.’”³²

The Master said: “If one’s virtue be meager but position noble, or knowledge little but plans grandiose, or powers few but responsibilities heavy, then it is rare indeed that such a one will not be outstripped. The Changes say: ‘The Caldron breaks its legs and overturns all its pottage, so its form is drenched, which means misfortune.’³³ This speaks of someone who is unequal to his responsibilities.”

The Master said: “To understand incipience [ji], is this not a matter of the numinous! The noble man is not fawning toward what is above and is not contemptuous of what is below. Is this not to understand incipience! {H.K: What is above [prior to] physical form is equivalent to the Dao, and what is below [subsequent to] physical form is equivalent to concrete objects [the phenomenal world].³⁴ If one is not in silent, passive communion with the Dao but instead consciously makes demands upon it, he will never be free of fawning. If one does not detach himself from the material world but instead maintains close relations with it, he will never avoid contempt. One who is touched by neither fawning nor contempt, is this not one who has plumbed principle to its depths!³⁵} As for incipience itself, it is the infinitesimally small beginning of action, the point at which the precognition of good fortune can occur. {H.K: Incipience is the point at which something leaves nonbeing and enters being. As it is still in the realm of principle, it lacks any phenomenal aspect, so one cannot pin it down by name, cannot perceive it by shape. It is the numinous alone that, not hurrying in the least but with all possible speed, allows perfect access to it [incipience] by just responding. Thus it is so bright and lucid that it can cast a mysterious light that finds a mirror in the prephenomenal. ‘A tree as large as a man’s embrace begins with the tiniest of shoots,’³⁶ so the manifestation of good fortune and misfortune begins with the most subtle of mantic signs. Thus they are the vehicles for the precognition of good fortune.} The noble man acts upon something as soon as he becomes aware of its incipience and does not wait for the day to run its course. The Changes say: ‘Harder than rock, he does not let the day run its course. Constancy means good fortune.’³⁷

As hard as rock in the face of it,
Why would he ever need to let the day run its course,
For he can perceive the way things will break.

{H.K: Since he determines how things will be right at their start, he does not have to wait for the day to run its course.}

The noble man grasps the infinitesimally small and what is manifestly obvious.
He understands the soft as well as the hard.
So the myriad folk look to him.

{H.K: This is an example of “to understand incipience, is this not a matter of the numinous!”}

The Master said: “The scion of the Yan clan [Yan Hui] is just about perfect!³⁸ Whenever he had a misdeed, he never failed to realize it, and, realizing it, never committed it again.” {H.K: When it was still in the realm of principle, it remained dark and hidden from him, but when it took shape, he realized what it was. Master Yan’s capacity was such that he failed when it came to incipiency. This is why he had misdeeds. However, he was successful when it came to handling things the second time around. This is a matter of returning after not having gone far, so once he understood, he never committed them again.} The Changes say: ‘This one returns before having gone far, so there will be no regret here, which means fundamental good fortune.’³⁹ {H.K: The terms Good fortune and misfortune relate to images of success and failure. The fact that one obtains the first line [of Fu (Return), Hexagram 24] here indicates that, in regard to principle, the situation is not fully developed and has not yet reached its mature form, and this is why one obtains the “this one returns before having gone far.” The good fortune that comes of shunning misfortune allows one to avoid “regret here” and finally obtain “fundamental good fortune.” Zhi [“here”; literally, “god of the earth,” i.e., “great”] means “great.”⁴⁰}

“Heaven and Earth mesh together, and the myriad things develop and reach perfect maturity; male and female blend essences together, and the myriad creatures are formed and come to life. The Changes say: ‘If three people travel together, one person will be lost, but when one person travels, he will find his companion.’⁴¹ This refers to the achievement of perfect unity.” {H.K: Only after perfect unity has been achieved will transformation fulfill itself.}

The Master said: “The noble man acts only after he has made his person secure, speaks only after he has calmed his heart and mind, makes requests only after making his relationships firm. The noble man cultivates these three matters and so succeeds completely. If one acts from a position of precariousness, the people will not join in; if one speaks out of anxiety, the people will not respond; if one has not established relationships and yet makes requests, then the people will not join with him. Since no one will join in with him, those who would harm him will surely draw near. The Changes say: ‘This one brings Increase to no one, so there are those who strike at him. There is no consistency in the way he sets his heart and mind, so he shall have misfortune.’”⁴² {H.K: If one empties oneself of self and preserves his sincerity, this will succeed in keeping the common folk free of defiance, but if one vexes them with his demands, this will succeed in making them uncompliant.}

6.
The Master said: “Qian and Kun, do they not constitute the two-leaved gate into the Changes? Qian is a purely yang thing, and Kun is a purely yin thing. The hard and the soft exist as hexagrams only after yin and yang have combined their virtues, for it is in this way that the numbers of Heaven and Earth become embodied in them {H.K: Zhuan [enumeration or calculation] here means “numbers.”⁴³} and so perfectly realize their numinous, bright virtues. The names for them may be heterogeneous, but they stay in bounds. {H.K: As they cover all the way that change operates, their names have to be heterogeneous, but each one takes its place in order and does not transgress upon the scope of another, and this is even more true for the phrases that follow the hexagram lines.} However, in examining the categories involved, do we not find ideas associated with an age in decline?”⁴⁴ {H.K: It was only after they became concerned about calamities that the sages made the Changes. With an age in decline, failure and success become all the more obvious, and it was by means of the phrases that follow the hexagram lines that they [the sages] clarified failure and success. Could this be the reason why we understand that they [the Changes] imply an age in decline? Ji [examine] means something similar to kao [ponder, consider].}

The Changes make evident both that which has already happened and scrutinizes what is yet to come, thus subtlety comes to light, revealing what is hidden. {H.K: For the Changes, nothing of the past remains unexposed, and nothing of the future escapes scrutiny. It is through the Changes that subtlety comes to light and the hidden becomes exposed. Chan [expose, reveal] here means “bring to light.”} The hexagrams are elucidated in such a way that they suit their names. These elucidations, in their differentiation of things and rectification of language, form decisive phrases. Thus they are perfect and complete. {H.K: The way the elucidations interpret the lines and the hexagrams allows each hexagram to suit its name. They differentiate and clarify things in terms of principle and category; this is why they are called “decisive phrases.”} The way they [the hexagrams] are named involves insignificant things, but the analogies so derived concern matters of great importance. {H.K: They rely on the images to bring the concepts to light and use the insignificant to serve as metaphors for the great.} The meanings are far-reaching, and the phrasing elegant. The language twists and turns but hits the mark. {H.K: Change and transformation lack any consistency, so no definite paradigms can be made for them. This is why the text says: “The language twists and turns but hits the mark.”} The things and events dealt with are obviously set forth, but hidden implications are involved. {H.K: Things and events are obvious, but the principles involved are subtle.} One uses the concept of the two to assist the common folk in the way they behave and to clarify the retribution and reward involved with failure and success.⁴⁵ {H.K: The two refers to failure and success. It is by using the concepts of failure and success that one may comprehensively assist the common folk in the way they behave. Thus it “clarifies the retribution and reward involved with failure and success.” The way that this retribution and reward works is that when one is able to seize the right moment for something, he will enjoy good fortune, but if he goes against the principle involved, he will suffer misfortune.}

7.
The rise of the Changes, was it not in middle antiquity?⁴⁶ Did not the makers of the Changes become concerned about calamities? {H.K: If they had not become concerned about calamities, then it would have been sufficient for them to deal with things through nonpurposeful action.} Thus, Lü [Treading, Hexagram 10] is the foundation of virtue. {H.K: A foundation is where one plants one’s feet.} Qian [Modesty, Hexagram 15] is how virtue provides a handle to things. Fu [Return, Hexagram 24] is the root of virtue. {H.K: Action originates in repose, and speech begins from silence. Return signifies the beginning to which each thing reverts. Thus it is virtue in its aspect of root or origin.} Heng [Perseverance, Hexagram 32] provides virtue with steadfastness. {H.K: Steadfastness means “not to waver.”} Sun [Diminution, Hexagram 41] is how virtue is cultivated. Yi [Increase, Hexagram 42] is how virtue proliferates. {H.K: One who is able to bring increase to things is someone whose virtue is broad and great.} Kun [Impasse, Hexagram 47] is the criterion for distinguishing virtue. {H.K: The more impasse is encountered, the more virtue is apparent.} Jing [The Well, Hexagram 48] is the ground from which virtue springs. {H.K: Where a well is located does not change, so it is an image for being able to abide in one’s proper place.} Sun [Compliance, Hexagram 57] is the controller of virtue. {H.K: Compliance is the way to issue commands and to clarify controls.}

Lü [Treading, Hexagram 10] demonstrates how by practicing harmony one reaches goals. {H.K: To practice harmony yet fail to reach the goal is a matter of just following where things lead one, but Lü means to practice harmony and yet manage to reach the goal. Thus it constitutes a way upon which one may tread.} “Modesty provides nobility and so allows ones radiance to shine.”⁴⁷ Fu [Return] demonstrates how distinctions among things should be made while they are still small. {H.K: If one makes distinctions while things are still at the subtle stage, one will return “after not having gone far.”⁴⁸} Heng [Perseverance, Hexagram 32] demonstrates how, faced with the complexity of things, one yet does not give way to cynicism. {H.K: “Faced with the complexity of things, one yet does not give way to cynicism”: this is how one is able to practice perseverance.} Sun [Diminution, Hexagram 41] demonstrates how things can first be difficult and easy later. {H.K: One leads a frugal existence in order to cultivate the self. Thus at first things are difficult. However, it is due to having cultivated the self that one stays free of calamities. Thus things are easy later.} Yi [Increase, Hexagram 42] demonstrates how one brings about growth and opulence while avoiding any contrivance to do so. {H.K: This involves procedures that are promoted to bring increase to things. This is why the text says “one brings about growth and opulence.” One promotes what has to be done in accordance with things themselves and avoids any artificial contrivance.} Kun [Impasse, Hexagram 47] demonstrates how one who suffers tribulation still stays in complete control of himself. {H.K: One may find himself in poverty and misery but does not compromise his commitment to the Dao.} Jing [The Well, Hexagram 48] demonstrates how one stays in one’s place and yet can transfer what one has to others. {H.K: One can change the location of a fief or district but not the location of a well. Although where a well is located does not change, yet it can transfer its benefactions elsewhere.} Sun [Compliance, Hexagram 57] demonstrates how one can weigh things while yet remaining in obscurity. {H.K: One weighs and promulgates orders and commands, yet the common folk do not know where they come from.}

Lü [Treading, Hexagram 10] provides the means to make one’s actions harmonious. Qian [Modesty, Hexagram 15] provides the means by which decorum exercises its control. Fu [Return, Hexagram 24] provides the means to know oneself. {H.K: This means to seek for it [the cause of failure or success]⁴⁹ within oneself.} Heng [Perseverance, Hexagram 32] provides the means to keep one’s virtue one. {H.K: This means to keep virtue whole and intact.} Sun [Diminution, Hexagram 41] provides the means to keep harm at a distance. {H.K: As this does not go beyond the cultivation of one’s own person, one can use it to do nothing more than keep harm at a distance.} Yi [Increase, Hexagram 42] provides the means to promote benefits. Kun [Impasse, Hexagram 47] provides the means to keep resentments few. {H.K: One may have encountered impasse but is not swept away by it, neither does he hold resentment against things.} Jing [The Well, Hexagram 48] provides the means to distinguish what righteousness really is. {H.K: Do good to others but have no selfish motives. This is the way righteousness works.} Sun [Compliance, Hexagram 57] provides the means to practice improvisations. {H.K: To improvise means “to violate accepted ways of doing things and yet stay in harmony with the Dao.” One can only practice improvisation by staying in accord with the principle of compliance.}

8.
As a book, the Changes is something that cannot be kept at a distance. {H.K: One should act only after he has drawn comparisons and discussed what is involved, so the Changes cannot be kept at a distance.⁵⁰} As a manifestation of the Dao the Changes involves frequent shifts. Change and action never stand still but keep flowing all through the six vacancies. {H.K: “The six vacancies” are the six line positions.} Rising and falling without any consistency, the hard and the soft lines change one into the other, something for which it is impossible to make definitive laws, {H.K: That is, one cannot establish constant rules for it.} since they are doing nothing but keeping pace with change. {H.K: In dealing with change and action, the important thing is to keep in step with the moment, for whether one advances or remains still depends on how things come together.}

One uses the Changes as the standard to determine whether one should go forth or withdraw. The hexagrams make one feel caution about being abroad or staying in.⁵¹ {H.K: This clarifies the standards for going forth and withdrawing so that one can understand the admonitions connected with being abroad and staying in. “Going forth” and “withdrawing” are like “acting” and “retiring.” “Being abroad” and “staying in” are like “becoming prominent” and “going into seclusion.” In Dun [Withdrawal, Hexagram 33], “a time when one distances himself from events” is taken to mean “good fortune.” In Feng [Abundance, Hexagram 55], “secluded withdrawal” is taken to mean the “utmost misfortune.” In Jian [Gradual Advance, Hexagram 53] “lofty prominence” is taken to mean “a fine thing.” In Mingyi [Suppression of the Light, Hexagram 36] “living in obscurity” is taken to mean “it is advantageous to persevere.” These are examples of admonitions connected with being abroad and staying in.} They also cast light on calamities as well as the incidents that underlie them. {H.K: Incidents here means “the causes or reasons involved.”} Let them [the hexagrams] be there not as a teacher or guardian but rather as if it were one’s parents who had drawn near! {H.K: “The noble man when secure does not forget danger, when enjoying continuance does not forget ruin,”⁵² and “makes earnest efforts throughout the day,”⁵³ thus one cannot afford to become slack.} At first one follows their phrases and then appraises their prescriptions. After that one will find that the hexagrams do contain a constant law. {H.K: If one is able to follow their phrases and so get the measure of their concepts, if one is able to appreciate how they trace beginnings and sum up endings, then one will understand that “they are doing nothing but keeping pace with change” and that this is their “constant law.” One who understands how change operates will retain its essentials. This is why the text says: “But if one is not such a person, the Dao will not operate in vain.”} But if one is not such a person, the Dao will not operate in vain.

9.
As a book, the Changes takes the plumbing of beginnings and the summing up of endings as its material. {H.K: Material here means “embodiment” [of change, i.e., the hexagrams]. A hexagram unites a concept as it progresses from its beginning to its end point.} The way the six lines mix in together is due to the fact that they are nothing other than momentary things. {H.K: Each line depends on the moment. Things here means “events.”} The first lines are difficult to understand, but the top lines are easy, for these are the roots and branches [i.e., causes and effects, origins and endings]. The phrases attached to the first lines draw comparisons with things, about which the ending ones formulate conclusions. {H.K: Events begin in subtlety and later develop into the obvious. First lines, as the beginnings of calculations, draw comparisons and discuss the first stages involved. Thus they are difficult to understand. Top lines are the endings of hexagrams, where the events involved have all matured and become obvious. Thus they are easy to understand.} As for complicated matters, the calculation⁵⁴ of the virtues and the determination of the rights and wrongs involved could not be complete without the middle lines. Ah! If one actually were to sum up the chances for survival or destruction and good fortune or bad in this way, he could, even without stirring, understand what they will be! One who has such understanding has but to look at the hexagram Judgments to have his thought cover more than half of what is involved! {H.K: The Judgments focus on the unifying principles that establish the images and discuss the concepts connected with the middle lines. It is by means of their tight grip that they preserve wide-ranging meanings, and it is by means of their simplicity that they bring together all the different aspects of things. When one calculates the virtues of complicated matters, it is by means of the One that one can string them together [i.e., discern the unity in them]. Things of the phenomenal world have for their progenitor the Dao, and what all such things revert back to is the One. The more complicated things are, the more prone one is to become bogged down in concrete objects [the phenomenal world], but the tighter the grip that one has on the principles involved, the closer one will shift toward the Dao. In the way they deal with concepts, the Judgments depend on the One, and in the way it functions, the One is identical to the Dao. It is in what is prior to physical form that one can discern the Dao, so is it not indeed appropriate that the Judgments provide one with more than a fifty percent advantage!}

The second and the fourth lines involve the same kind of merit {H.K: Their yin merit is identical.} but differ as to position, {H.K: There is the difference between inner and outer trigrams.} so the respective good of each is not the same. Second lines usually concern honor, {H.K: Second lines occupy positions of harmony and centrality. Thus for the most part they involve honor.} while fourth lines usually concern fear, this because they are near [fifth lines]. {H.K: Their positions are immediately next to the rulers of the hexagrams [the fifth lines].} Thus for the most part they involve fear. In terms of its Dao, the soft or yielding does not find it beneficial to be distant. Its main tenet is to remain “without blame,” and its function is to be soft or yielding and be centrally placed. {H.K: That fourth lines often involve fear is because they are near to the rulers. In terms of its Dao, the soft or yielding has to provide aid and assistance. Thus there is no benefit for it to be distant. Second lines are able to be “without blame” by being soft or yielding and being centrally placed.}

The third and the fifth lines involve the same kind of merit {H.K: Their yang merit is identical.} but differ as to position. {H.K: There is the difference between nobility and servility.} Third lines usually concern misfortune, while fifth lines usually concern achievement, this because of the different levels involved, the one lofty and noble and the other lowly and servile. To be soft and yielding here surely involves danger, whereas to be strong and hard surely means success. {H.K: The third and the fifth being yang positions are not for the soft and yielding [yin lines], so if they locate themselves there, it will mean danger. But if instead these positions are occupied by the hard and strong [yang lines], they will be up to the responsibilities inherent in them. What imbues the hard and the strong with nobility is the way they ward off depravity and preserve sincerity, how they act in such a way that they never violate their moral integrity. What imbues the soft and yielding with nobility is the way they embrace things widely and sustain a position of centrality, how they submit to others in such a way that they never lose their perseverance. If one uses his hardness and strength to engage in criminality, this is not the true Dao of the hard and the strong. If one uses his softness and submissiveness to engage in ignoble servility, this is not the true Dao of the soft and the yielding.}

10.
As a book, the Changes is something which is broad and great, complete in every way. There is the Dao of Heaven in it, the Dao of Man in it, and the Dao of Earth in it. It brings these three powers together and then doubles them. This is the reason for there being six lines. What these six embody are nothing other than the Dao of the three powers. {H.K: What Explaining the Trigrams [Shuo gua] has to say about this is indeed complete!}

Since the Dao consists of change and action, we refer to it in terms of the “moving lines” [yao]. Since the moving lines consist of different classes, we refer to them as “things.” {H.K: Classes mean categories. Qian [Pure Yang, Hexagram 1] is a yang thing. Kun [Pure Yin, Hexagram 2] is a yin thing. The moving lines belong to either the yin or the yang category; it is in consequence of this that they acquire hard or soft functions. This is why the text says: “Since the moving lines consist of different classes, we refer to them as ‘things.’”} Since these things mix in together, we refer to these as “patterns.” {H.K: The hard and the soft intermingle just as black [the color of Heaven] and yellow [the color of Earth] form combinations.} When these patterns involve discrepancies, fortune is at issue there.”⁵⁵

11.
The rise of the Changes, was it not just at the end of the Yin [Shang] era when the virtue of the Zhou had begun to flourish, just at the time when the incident between King Wen and King Zhou was taking place?⁵⁶ {H.K: It was due to King Wen’s flourishing virtue that he suffered such hardship and distress and yet was able to make the Dao prevail. Thus the text here praises the virtue of King Wen in order to clarify the Dao of change.} This is why King Wen’s phrases [i.e., the Judgments] are concerned with danger. {H.K: It was King Wen’s experience with King Zhou that imbued his Judgments with danger.} Being conscious of danger allows one to find peace and security, but to be easy brings about downfall. {H.K: Easy here means “easygoing, careless.”} The Dao involved here is so very great that its sustenance of everything never fails. It instills a sense of fearful caution about things from beginning to end, and its essential purpose is to permit people to be “without blame.” This is what the Dao of the Changes means. {H.K: When patterns involve discrepancies, fortune becomes at issue there. Consequently, one who would have his continuance preserved shall perish, but one who remains mindful of the possibility of perishing shall survive, and one who would maintain his control over things shall end in chaos, but one who remains mindful of danger shall find security. By having “a sense of fearful caution about things from beginning to end,” one is always brought back to where he is “without blame.” The dynamics that give rise to security and danger are embodied in the sum and substance of the lines and images.}

12.
Qian is the strongest thing in the entire world, so it should always be easy to put its virtue into practice. Thus one knows whether or not there is going to be danger. Kun is the most compliant thing in the entire world, so it should always be simple to put its virtue into practice. Thus one knows whether or not there are going to be obstacles.⁵⁷ The one is able to delight hearts and minds, and the other is able to refine the concerns of the feudal lords.⁵⁸ {H.K: Feudal lords are proprietary masters who exercise power. This means: “The one is able to delight the hearts and minds of the myriad folk, and the other is able to refine the sense of responsibility of those in power.”} The Dao of change is what determines all the good fortune and misfortune that take place in the world; it is that which allows the world to realize all its unceasing and untiring efforts. Therefore, as speech and deed are subject to change and transformation, auspicious endeavors result in blessings, matters rendered into images provide understanding of concrete things, and the practice of divination allows one to know the future. {H.K: The fact that speech and deed are subject to change and transformation means that if one engages in auspicious activities, he will reap a reward of blessings; if he observes the way matters are rendered into images, he will know the methods of constructing concrete objects; and if he savors the practice of divination, he will witness experiences that are about to happen in the future.}

Heaven and Earth established the positions of things, and the sages fully realized the potential inherent in them. {H.K: The sages availed themselves of the rightness of Heaven and Earth and so had each of the myriad things realize its potentiality.} Whether consulting with men or consulting with spirits, they allowed the ordinary folk to share in these resources. {H.K: “Consulting with men” is equivalent to discussing things with the mass of people in order to determine the chances for failure and success. “Consulting with spirits” is equivalent to resorting to divination in order to examine the possibilities for good fortune and misfortune. Without enslaving their capacity for thought and deliberation, failure and success thus came to light by themselves, and, without belaboring their capacity for study and examination, good fortune and misfortune made themselves known. They [the sages] categorized the innate tendencies of the myriad things and thoroughly explored the reasons that underlie the most obscure and most profound of things. This is why, as the ordinary folk were allowed to share in these resources, they “delighted in being their [the sages’] advocates and never tired of doing so.”⁵⁹} The eight trigrams make their pronouncements in terms of images, {H.K: That is, they express themselves to us by means of their images.} and the line texts and Judgments address themselves to us in terms of the innate tendencies of things. {H.K: The phrases⁶⁰ used involve either danger or ease, and in each case they get at the true innate tendency involved.} The hard and soft lines intermingle and take up positions, thus allowing good fortune and bad to be seen.

Change and action speak to us in terms of the expression “advantageous.” {H.K: When change occurs, be thoroughly commensurate with it, for this will exhaust the advantage in it.} Good fortune and misfortune shift from one to the other in accordance with the innate tendencies involved. {H.K: There is nothing fixed about good fortune and misfortune, as they are only the results of how men act. If the tendency is to stay in accord with principle, this will result in a disposal toward good fortune, but if the tendency is to go against the Dao, this will result in a fall into misfortune. This is why the text says: “Good fortune and misfortune shift from one to the other in accordance with the innate tendencies involved.”} Therefore, it is when the covetous and the hateful make their attacks that good fortune and misfortune are produced. {H.K: If things go along smoothly together without any differentiation, what good fortune or misfortune could possibly occur? “It is only after the covetous and the hateful make their attacks” that discord and accord differentiate from each other, and this is why the text says: “Good fortune and misfortune are produced.”} It is when the distant and the contiguous try to seize each other that regret and remorse are produced. {H.K: “Seize each other” is like saying “make each the possession of the other.” Only after lines that are distant and lines that are contiguous try to seize and possess each other do “regret” and “remorse” come into being.} It is when true innate tendencies and spurious countertendencies work their influence that advantage and harm are produced. {H.K: If things respond to true innate tendencies, “advantage” will obtain, but if things respond to spurious countertendencies, “harm” will prevail.} For all the tendencies inherent in change, whenever the contiguous do not serve each other’s interests, this is termed “misfortune.” {H.K: “The contiguous” is equivalent to “lines that form contiguous pairs.” The tendencies inherent in change are such that when hard and soft lines stroke each other, it indicates a state in which change and action are in step, but “whenever the contiguous do not serve each other’s interests,” there is sure to be calamity brought about by conflicting interests. Cases where there is mutual opposition but no calamity mean that a harmonious response has been obtained after all. All occasions in which mutual accord exists but results in “misfortune” indicate an inherent untimeliness. If one examines all such occasions in terms of the matters that comprise them, what they mean will become readily apparent.} Even when something might have caused harm [but did not], this is still an occasion for remorse and regret. {H.K: If one does not set himself up in opposition to things and, as a consequence, manages perfectly to fulfill the Dao of compliance, how then could there ever be anything that might harm him? [If, however, one does not manage to do this,]⁶¹ even though he is able to extricate himself from such situations, he is sure to experience “remorse” and “regret.” “Might have” expresses the idea that harm could potentially have happened.}

The words of someone who is about to revolt have a sense of shame about them; the words of someone who entertains doubts in his innermost mind tend to prevaricate; the words of a good person are few; the words of an impatient and impetuous person are many; the words of someone who tries to slander good people tend to vacillate; and the words of someone who has neglected his duty or lost his integrity tend to be devious.