Difficulty at the Beginning
- In Chinese
- 屯 zhūn
- Above
- The Abysmal, water
- Below
- The Arousing, thunder
Did you get this hexagram?
Mark your changing lines and keep your cast.
Mark my castWhat hexagram 3 means
Hexagram 3 is about the difficulty of a beginning. Legge explains its character as a picture of “how a plant struggles with difficulty out of the earth, rising gradually above the surface”.
Its figure is Thunder below and Water above. Two whole lines, the first and the fifth, stand among four broken ones.
The judgment gives success and asks for restraint. In Legge there will be “great progress and success”, and yet “any movement in advance should not be (lightly) undertaken”.
It closes with advice about help. Wilhelm has “It furthers one to appoint helpers.”
The judgment and the image
The judgment
屯元亨，利貞。勿用有攸往。利建侯。
Difficulty at the Beginning works supreme success, Furthering through perseverance. Nothing should be undertaken. It furthers one to appoint helpers.
success things flow and come throughit furthers it is favorable
The image
雲雷、屯。君子以經綸。
Clouds and thunder: The image of Difficulty at the Beginning. Thus the superior man Brings order out of confusion.
What the commentaries say
The commentary on the judgment says where the success comes from. In its words “Movement in the midst of peril gives rise to 'great progress and success, (through) firm correctness.'”
The same commentary does not call the time settled. By the action of thunder and rain “all (between heaven and earth) is filled up”, and still “the condition of the time is full of irregularity and obscurity”. Even with princes established, “the feeling that rest and peace have been secured should not be indulged (even then)”.
The image is clouds and thunder. From it the commentary draws a task of ordering. The superior man works “as in sorting the threads of the warp and woof”.
Wilhelm gives the same task in fewer words. The superior man “Brings order out of confusion.”
Legge carries the growing plant over to public life. Its difficulty is used “to symbolise the struggles that mark the rise of a state out of a condition of disorder”.
Legge also describes the state of affairs behind the text. King Wăn, he writes, “saw the social and political world around him in great disorder, hard to be remedied”. The remedy he names is “prudence and caution, with unswerving adherence to the right”. He adds “let the government of the different states be entrusted to good and able men”.
The six lines
First line
磐桓。利居貞。利建侯。
Hesitation and hindrance. It furthers one to remain persevering. It furthers one to appoint helpers.
it furthers it is favorable
The line is strong and still finds it hard to advance. Legge's note gives the reason, which is that “above him is the trigram of peril”. From this Legge draws “the necessity of caution, and the advantage of his being clothed with authority”. The commentary says the mind of its subject “is set on doing what is correct” and praises his manner. “While noble, he humbles himself to the mean, and grandly gains the people.”
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 8, Holding Together
Second line
屯如邅如，乘馬班如。匪寇，婚媾。女子貞不字，十年乃字。
Difficulties pile up. Horse and wagon part. He is not a robber; He wants to woo when the time comes. The maiden is chaste, She does not pledge herself. Ten years—then she pledges herself.
no verdict
Advance is harder here. The commentary puts the difficulty in the line's “place over the undivided line below it”. The one who approaches is no enemy. She is assailed “not by a spoiler” but “by one who seeks her to be his wife”. She declines a union, and the commentary reads the union after ten years as “things resuming their regular course”. Legge's note pictures “a young lady, sought in marriage by a strong wooer, when marriage was unsuitable, rejecting him, and finally, after ten years, marrying a more suitable, the only suitable, match for her”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 60, Limitation
Third line
即鹿無虞，惟入于林中，君子幾不如舍，往吝。
Whoever hunts deer without the forester Only loses his way in the forest. The superior man understands the signs of the time And prefers to desist. To go on brings humiliation.
humiliation it leads to embarrassment
The picture is a hunt without a guide. The hunter ends up “only finding himself in the midst of the forest”. The text advises giving up the chase, and the commentary says what going on would cost. The hunter “would be reduced to extremity”. Wilhelm ends the line with “To go on brings humiliation.” Legge's note says that “the superior man sees the immediate danger and avoids it”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 63, After Completion
Fourth line
乘馬班如，求婚媾。往吉，无不利。
Horse and wagon part. Strive for union. To go brings good fortune. Everything acts to further.
good fortune it goes wellnothing that does not further everything is favorable
The horses appear in retreat, but this line looks for help and goes on. Legge's note says its subject “has recourse to the strong suitor of line 1”. With that help the subject “is able to cope with the difficulties of the position, and go forward”. The commentary says that going forward after such a search “shows intelligence”. The text says “Advance will be fortunate”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 17, Following
Fifth line
屯其膏，小貞吉，大貞凶。
Difficulties in blessing. A little perseverance brings good fortune. Great perseverance brings misfortune.
good fortune it goes wellmisfortune it goes badly
This line holds the place of authority and cannot give as it should. The text speaks of “the rich favours that might be expected from him” and of the difficulties in dispensing them. Legge's note gives the cause, which is that he is “in the very centre of the trigram denoting perilousness”. The commentary says of the favours that “the extent to which they reach will not yet be conspicuous”. The verdict is split. There is good fortune “in small things” and evil “in great things”. Legge concludes that “great things should not be attempted”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 24, Return
Sixth line
乘馬班如，泣血漣如。
Horse and wagon part. Bloody tears flow.
no verdict
The top line is weak, and so is the line that answers it. Legge places it “at the extremity of peril” and says “the game is up”. The text shows its subject “weeping tears of blood in streams”. The commentary answers with a question, “how can the state (thus emblemed) continue long?”
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 42, Increase
Hexagram 3 unchanging
If none of your six lines is moving, you read the hexagram as a whole. That is the judgment and the image above, without any of the line texts.
The book gives the reason. Lines that do not move are “non-moving lines, which serve only as structural matter in the hexagram, without intrinsic meaning of their own”.
For hexagram 3 unchanging, what remains is the judgment, with its success through firmness, its caution about advancing and its advice to appoint helpers. The image adds the task of bringing order out of confusion.
Questions people ask
What does hexagram 3 mean?
It describes the difficulty of a beginning, like a plant struggling out of the earth. The judgment finds “great progress and success” in it and asks that no advance be lightly undertaken.
What does hexagram 3 unchanging mean?
With no moving lines you read only the judgment and the image. For hexagram 3 that is success through firmness, caution about advancing, the advice to appoint helpers, and the call to bring “order out of confusion”.
What does hexagram 3 changing to 8 mean?
It is hexagram 3 with its first line moving. That line shows “the difficulty (its subject has) in advancing” and the advantage of staying correct and firm. When it changes the hexagram becomes number 8.
What does hexagram 3 changing to 17 mean?
It is hexagram 3 with its fourth line moving. That line seeks a helper and goes on, and its text says “Advance will be fortunate; all will turn out advantageously.” When it changes the hexagram becomes number 17.
What does hexagram 3 changing to 24 mean?
It is hexagram 3 with its fifth line moving. That line has good fortune only “in small things”, and Legge reads that “great things should not be attempted”. When it changes the hexagram becomes number 24.
Richard Wilhelm, translated by Cary F. Baynes. Kun in James Legge. Difficulty at the Beginning in Wilhelm and Baynes.
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