Influence
- In Chinese
- 咸 xián
- Above
- The Joyous, lake
- Below
- Keeping Still, mountain
Did you get this hexagram?
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Mark my castWhat hexagram 31 means
Hexagram 31 is about influence, the way one thing moves another. Legge names its subject as “Influence; the different ways of bringing it to bear, and their issues”.
The figure is the mountain below and the lake above. Three whole lines sit in the middle, with two broken lines under them and one broken line at the top.
The judgment is favorable and sets a condition. In Legge the advantage “will depend on the being firm and correct”, and the example he gives is a marriage.
The line texts climb the body, from the great toe through the calves and the thighs to the jaws and tongue. Legge reads them as different ways of bringing influence to bear.
The judgment and the image
The judgment
咸亨。利貞。取女吉。
Influence. Success. Perseverance furthers. To take a maiden to wife brings good fortune.
success things flow and come throughit furthers it is favorablegood fortune it goes well
The image
山上有澤，《咸》。君子以虛受人。
A lake on the mountain: The image of influence. Thus the superior man encourages people to approach him By his readiness to receive them.
What the commentaries say
The commentary on the judgment explains the name. It reads the word “in the sense of Kan, meaning (mutually) influencing”. It then describes the two halves of the figure, with “their two influences moving and responding to each other, and thereby forming a union”.
The same commentary widens the picture. It says “Heaven and earth exert their influences, and there ensue the transformation and production of all things.” Of the wise it says “The sages influence the minds of men, and the result is harmony and peace all under the sky.”
The image is a lake on a mountain. From it the commentary draws a rule for a person, who “keeps his mind free from pre-occupation, and open to receive (the influences of) others”. Wilhelm has the same person draw people near “By his readiness to receive them”.
Legge sums up the teaching of the figure. The author holds “that that influence, correct in itself, and for correct ends, is sure to be effective”.
In a note on the name, Legge offers a guess and marks it as one. He thinks the name may have been written as it is in order “to indicate the most important element in the thing,--the absence of all purpose or motive”.
Legge also reports a reading of the figure as a young husband and wife. He passes it on in the words “No influence, it is said, is so powerful and constant as that between husband and wife”. He does not hide his doubt and writes “All this is to me very doubtful.”
The six lines
First line
咸其拇。
The influence shows itself in the big toe.
no verdict
Influence begins at the great toe, at the bottom of the figure, and the line gives no verdict of fortune or harm. Legge explains that the influence here “must be ineffective”, since “However much a man's great toes may be moved, that will not enable him to walk.” The commentary adds that “his mind is set on what is beyond (himself)”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 49, Revolution
Second line
咸其腓，凶。居吉。
The influence shows itself in the calves of the legs. Misfortune. Tarrying brings good fortune.
misfortune it goes badlygood fortune it goes well
The movement rises to the calves, and the text warns of evil. Legge gives the reason in two short sentences. “The calves cannot move of themselves. They follow the moving of the feet.” The line turns on staying put. Wilhelm has “Tarrying brings good fortune”, and Legge reads that its subject should stay quiet “till he is acted on from above”. The commentary on the line adds that through compliance “there will be no injury”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 28, Great Exceeding
Third line
咸其股，執其隨，往吝。
The influence shows itself in the thighs. Holds to that which follows it. To continue is humiliating.
humiliation it leads to embarrassment
This is the first whole line of the figure. The thighs move, and the person keeps hold of those he follows. Legge reads a strong line that “will wish to move”, and that uses its influence “with a mind and purpose, which is not good”. The commentary says of him that “what he holds in his grasp is low”. The text ends in regret for whoever goes forward this way.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 45, Gathering Together
Fourth line
貞吉。悔亡。憧憧往來，朋從爾思。
Perseverance brings good fortune. Remorse disappears. If a man is agitated in mind, And his thoughts go hither and thither, Only those friends On whom he fixes his conscious thoughts Will follow.
good fortune it goes wellremorse disappears regret fades away
The fourth line names no part of the body. Legge calls it “the seat of the mind”, and says its subject “is warned to be firm and correct in order to a good issue”. The text gives good fortune to that firmness. Then comes the other case. In Legge's note “If he be wavering and uncertain, his influence will not extend beyond the circle of his friends.” The commentary says of the unsettled one that his power to influence “is not yet either brilliant or great”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 39, Obstruction
Fifth line
咸其脢，无悔。
The influence shows itself in the back of the neck. No remorse.
no remorse there is nothing to regret
The fifth line moves “the flesh along the spine above the heart”. Wilhelm places it “in the back of the neck”. Legge takes this for a part of the body behind the heart. He reports the usual reading as an influence that is “ineffective indeed, but free from selfish motive, and not needing to be repented of”. The commentary says only that “his aim is trivial”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 62, Small Exceeding
Sixth line
咸其輔頰舌。
The influence shows itself in the jaws, cheeks, and tongue.
no verdict
At the top the influence is only speech. The line shows “one moving his jaws and tongue” and adds no verdict. The commentary says “he (only) talks with loquacious mouth”. Legge reads an influence that amounts to “loquacity and flattery”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 33, Retreat
Hexagram 31 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 31 unchanging, what remains is the judgment, which gives success to influence that stays firm and correct, and the image, which asks for a mind open to receive others.
Questions people ask
What does hexagram 31 mean?
It is about influence and the ways it is brought to bear. The judgment grants success and adds that the advantage “will depend on the being firm and correct”.
What does hexagram 31 unchanging mean?
With no moving lines you read only the judgment and the image. For hexagram 31 that is success for influence that stays firm and correct, and a mind kept “open to receive (the influences of) others”.
What does hexagram 31 changing to 28 mean?
It is hexagram 31 with its second line moving. That line shows the calves moving and warns of evil, but it adds “If he abide (quiet in his place), there will be good fortune.” When it changes the hexagram becomes number 28.
What does hexagram 31 changing to 39 mean?
It is hexagram 31 with its fourth line moving. That line shows “that firm correctness which will lead to good fortune”, and it warns the one who is unsettled that only his friends follow his purpose. When it changes the hexagram becomes number 39.
Richard Wilhelm, translated by Cary F. Baynes. Hsien in James Legge. Influence in Wilhelm and Baynes.
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