Opposition
- In Chinese
- 睽 kuí
- Above
- The Clinging, fire
- Below
- The Joyous, lake
Did you get this hexagram?
Mark your changing lines and keep your cast.
Mark my castWhat hexagram 38 means
Hexagram 38 is fire above the lake. The commentary on the judgment says that fire “when moved, tends upwards” and that the waters of the marsh “when moved, tend downwards”.
Legge reads it as a picture of people divided. It denotes “a social state in which division and mutual alienation prevail”.
The judgment is still favorable, within a limit. Wilhelm has “In small matters, good fortune.”
The judgment and the image
The judgment
睽小事吉。
OPPOSITION. In small matters, good fortune.
good fortune it goes well
The image
上火下澤，《睽》。君子以同而異。
Above, fire; below, the lake: The image of OPPOSITION. Thus amid all fellowship The superior man retains his individuality.
What the commentaries say
The commentary on the judgment adds a second picture to fire and marsh. It sees “two sisters living together, but whose wills do not move in the same direction”.
It then explains the good fortune in small matters from the figure itself. It points to “the weak line advanced and acting above”, which holds the central place and “is responded to by the strong (line below)”.
The same commentary does not treat separation as only a loss. It says “Heaven and earth are separate and apart, but the work which they do is the same”, and its last words are “Great indeed are the phenomena and the results of this condition of disunion and separation”.
From the image the commentary draws a rule for a person among others. The superior man, “where there is a general agreement, yet admits diversity”.
Wilhelm words the same verse another way. Amid all fellowship the superior man “retains his individuality”.
Legge explains why the judgment speaks of small matters. The hexagram teaches “how in small matters this condition may be healed, and the way prepared for the cure of the whole system”.
The six lines
First line
悔亡。喪馬，勿逐自復。見惡人无咎。
Remorse disappears. If you lose your horse, do not run after it; It will come back of its own accord. When you see evil people, Guard yourself against mistakes.
remorse disappears regret fades awayno blame there is no mistake in it
The line tells its subject not to chase what was lost. Of the horses it says “they will return of themselves”.
Legge ties this line to the fourth. Both are strong, which would point to disappointment, but in this hexagram “where people have a common virtue, they will help one another”.
It also allows contact with bad men. The commentary gives the reason, “to avoid the evil of their condemnation”, and Legge adds that “His good may overcome their evil”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 64, Before Completion
Second line
遇主于巷，无咎。
One meets his lord in a narrow street. No blame.
no blame there is no mistake in it
The meeting with the lord happens in a bye-passage. Legge explains that the second and fifth lines “might meet openly; but for the separation and disunion that mark the time”.
He calls it “A casual, as it were a stolen, interview” that “may lead on to a better understanding”. The commentary insists that the subject “has not deviated (for this meeting) from the (proper) course”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 21, Biting Through
Third line
見輿曳，其牛掣，其人天且劓，无初有終。
One sees the wagon dragged back, The oxen halted, A man’s hair and nose cut off. Not a good beginning, but a good end.
no verdict
Here everything is pushed back and the subject himself is punished. The commentary puts it down to “the inappropriateness of the position (of the line)”, and Legge notes that the line is weak “where it ought to be strong”.
The line does not end there. Legge writes “It is thus bad for 3 at first, but we are told that in the end it will be well with him”, and he draws a wider lesson, “Disorder shall in the long run give place to order, and disunion to union”.
Legge also links this line to the top one. The subject of the sixth line inflicts the punishments, and the good end “will be due to the strength of the sixth line”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 14, Great Possession
Fourth line
睽孤，遇元夫，交孚，厲无咎。
Isolated through opposition, One meets a like-minded man With whom one can associate in good faith. Despite the danger, no blame.
danger there is dangerno blame there is no mistake in it
The subject is “solitary amidst the (prevailing) disunion” and then finds a companion in the first line. Legge notes that “the subjects of 4 and 1, meeting together, work with good will and success”.
The text calls the position “one of peril” and still finds no mistake. The commentary says of the two that “their (common) aim is carried into effect”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 41, Decrease
Fifth line
悔亡。厥宗噬膚，往何咎？
Remorse disappears. The companion bites his way through the wrappings. If one goes to him, How could it be a mistake?
remorse disappears regret fades away
The fifth line is weak and is supported by the strong second line. Legge writes “It is as easy for 5, so supported, to deal with the disunion of the time, as to bite through a piece of skin”.
The text asks what error there can be in going forward with this help. The commentary answers that “his going forward will afford ground for congratulation”.
Wilhelm gives the verse a different picture. In his version “The companion bites his way through the wrappings.”
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 10, Treading
Sixth line
睽孤，見豕負塗，載鬼一車，先張之弧，後說之弧，匪寇，婚媾。往遇雨，則吉。
Isolated through opposition, One sees one’s companion as a pig covered with dirt, As a wagon full of devils. First one draws a bow against him, Then one lays the bow aside. He is not a robber; he will woo at the right time. As one goes, rain falls; then good fortune comes.
good fortune it goes well
The top line is the one line with good fortune. Its subject looks at the third line, in Legge's words, “with the evil eye of disunion”, and seems to see a pig and a carriage full of ghosts.
He bends his bow and then unbends it, for the other is “not an assailant to injure, but a near relative”. The commentary says the good fortune “springs from the passing away of all doubts”.
Legge explains the rain. The good luck is “comparable to the falling rain, which results from the happy union of the yang and yin in nature”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 54, The Marrying Maiden
Hexagram 38 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 38 unchanging, what remains is the judgment, which finds good success in small matters, and the image of a person who agrees with others and still admits difference.
Questions people ask
What does hexagram 38 mean?
It describes a time when people are divided and their wills move apart. The judgment still finds success in small things, and Wilhelm has “In small matters, good fortune.”
What does hexagram 38 unchanging mean?
With no moving lines you read only the judgment and the image. For hexagram 38 that is good success in small matters, and a person who, “where there is a general agreement, yet admits diversity”.
What does hexagram 38 changing to 54 mean?
It is hexagram 38 with its top line moving. That line shows a person who bends a bow against someone and then finds he is “not an assailant to injure, but a near relative”, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 54.
What does hexagram 38 changing to 64 mean?
It is hexagram 38 with its first line moving. That line says of the lost horses that “they will return of themselves”, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 64.
Is hexagram 38 a bad sign?
The text does not say so. The judgment speaks of good success in small matters, and the commentary on the judgment ends with “Great indeed are the phenomena and the results of this condition of disunion and separation”.
Richard Wilhelm, translated by Cary F. Baynes. Khwei in James Legge. Opposition in Wilhelm and Baynes.
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