Coming to Meet
- In Chinese
- 姤 gòu
- Above
- The Creative, heaven
- Below
- The Gentle, wind
Did you get this hexagram?
Mark your changing lines and keep your cast.
Mark my castWhat hexagram 44 means
Hexagram 44 is one broken line at the bottom under five whole lines, wind below heaven. The commentary on the judgment gives the sense of its name as “unexpectedly coming on”.
The judgment is a warning. Legge has “It will not be good to marry (such) a female”, and Wilhelm has “One should not marry such a maiden”.
Legge says the broken line stands for “the small or unworthy man, beginning to insinuate himself into the government of the country”. He adds “His influence, if unchecked, would go on to grow”.
The judgment and the image
The judgment
姤女壯，勿用取女。
COMING TO MEET. The maiden is powerful. One should not marry such a maiden.
no verdict
The image
天下有風，《姤》。后以施命誥四方。
Under heaven, wind: The image of COMING TO MEET. Thus does the prince act when disseminating his commands And proclaiming them to the four quarters of heaven.
What the commentaries say
The commentary on the judgment explains the name through the lines. It sees “the weak (line) coming unexpectedly on the strong ones”, and it gives the reason for the warning. Such a person “should not be long associated with”.
The same commentary does not treat meeting as only harmful. It says “Heaven and earth meeting together (as here represented), all the variety of natural things become fully displayed”. It adds that when a strong line stands in the central and correct position, “(good government) will greatly prevail all under the sky”. It closes with praise, “Great indeed is the significance of what has to be done at the time indicated by Kâu!”
The image is wind under the sky. From it the commentary draws the act of a ruler, who “delivers his charges, and promulgates his announcements throughout the four quarters (of the kingdom)”. Wilhelm has the prince “disseminating his commands And proclaiming them to the four quarters of heaven”.
Legge explains the figure of the judgment. The first line, broken where it ought to be whole, “becomes the symbol of a bold, bad woman, who appears unexpectedly on the scene”.
He also reads the hexagram as a matter of government. The broken line is for him “the symbol of the small or unworthy man”, who would “displace one good man after another”. Legge gives the aim of the text as “to enjoin resistance to the encroachment of this bad man”.
Legge places the hexagram in the calendar. It is “the hexagram of the fifth month, when light and heat are supposed both to begin to be less”.
The six lines
First line
繫于金柅，貞吉。有攸往，見凶，羸豕孚蹢躅。
It must be checked with a brake of bronze. Perseverance brings good fortune. If one lets it take its course, one experiences misfortune. Even a lean pig has it in him to rage around.
good fortune it goes wellmisfortune it goes badly
This is the only broken line of the hexagram. Legge calls it “the bête noire of the figure”. The text wants it held, “tied and fastened to a metal drag”, and the commentary reads that as the arrest of “the weak (line) in its advancing course”.
It is the one line that names good fortune, and it names evil as well. Held with firm correctness “there will be good fortune”, but “if he move in any direction, evil will appear”. Legge adds that one restraint is not enough. “Internal and external restraints should be opposed to the bad man.”
The line ends with an animal. In Legge the subject is “(like) a lean pig, which is sure to keep jumping about”, and Wilhelm has “Even a lean pig has it in him to rage around”. Legge's note says of the subject that “If he cannot be restrained, he will become disgusting and dangerous”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 1, The Creative
Second line
包有魚，无咎，不利賓。
There is a fish in the tank. No blame. Does not further guests.
no blame there is no mistake in itit does not further it is not favorable
The text says of the second line “There will be no error”. Legge passes on a common explanation in which the wallet of fish is the first line, now in the keeping of the second. He writes that “With his strength therefore he can repress the advance of 1”, and that “all the other strong lines are merely guests”. The commentary agrees that “it is right for him not to allow (the subject of the first line) to get to the guests”.
Legge does not hide his doubt about this reading. He says “It seems farfetched; but I can neither find nor devise anything better.”
Wilhelm keeps the picture short. He has “There is a fish in the tank. No blame. Does not further guests.”
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 33, Retreat
Third line
臀无膚，其行次且，厲，无大咎。
There is no skin on his thighs, And walking comes hard. If one is mindful of the danger, No great mistake is made.
danger there is danger
The third line is hurt and walks with difficulty. The text calls the position “perilous, but there will be no great error”. Legge gives the reason. The line “is cut off from 1 by the intervening 2”, and so “It cannot do much therefore against 1; but its aim being to repress that, there will be no great error”.
The commentary sees the same safety from the other side. Of the one who walks with difficulty it says “his steps have not yet been drawn (into the course of the first line)”. Wilhelm makes the outcome depend on attention. He has “If one is mindful of the danger, No great mistake is made.”
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 6, Conflict
Fourth line
包无魚，起凶。
No fish in the tank. This leads to misfortune.
misfortune it goes badly
Here the wallet is empty, and the text says “This will give rise to evil”. Legge explains that line 1 is “the proper correlate of 4; but it has already met and associated with 2”, so that “The subject of 4 therefore stands alone”.
The commentary puts the cause in the person. The evil is owing to his “keeping himself aloof from the people”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 57, The Gentle
Fifth line
以杞包瓜，含章，有隕自天。
A melon covered with willow leaves. Hidden lines. Then it drops down to one from heaven.
no verdict
The fifth line is strong and in the ruler's place. Legge writes that “Its relation to 1 is like that of a forest tree to the spreading gourd”. Legge tells its subject not to “use force to destroy or repress the growth of 1”. In his note “let him restrain himself and keep his excellence concealed, and Heaven will set its seal to his virtue”.
The text makes the same condition. If he keeps his brilliant qualities concealed, “(a good issue) will descend (as) from Heaven”. The commentary ties this restraint to “his central and correct position”.
The two translations picture the line differently. Legge has “a medlar tree overspreading the gourd (beneath it)”, and Wilhelm has “A melon covered with willow leaves”. Wilhelm ends with “Then it drops down to one from heaven”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 50, The Cauldron
Sixth line
姤其角，吝，无咎。
He comes to meet with his horns. Humiliation. No blame.
humiliation it leads to embarrassmentno blame there is no mistake in it
The top line receives others on its horns. The text says “There will be occasion for regret, but there will be no error”, and the commentary gives the cause, “he is exhausted at his greatest height”.
Legge admits that “The symbolism of line 6 is difficult to understand”. He quotes the Khang-hsî editors, for whom the subject of the line is like “an officer who has withdrawn from the world”. They add “He can accomplish no service for the time; but his person is removed from the workers of disorder.” Wilhelm has for this line “Humiliation. No blame.”
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 28, Great Exceeding
Hexagram 44 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 44 unchanging, what remains is the warning of the judgment against marrying the bold and strong female, and the image of wind under the sky, where a ruler makes his commands known in the four quarters.
Questions people ask
What does hexagram 44 mean?
It describes something weak that comes unexpectedly on what is strong, and it warns against joining with it. The judgment says “It will not be good to marry (such) a female”.
What does hexagram 44 unchanging mean?
With no moving lines you read only the judgment and the image. For hexagram 44 that is the warning against marrying the bold and strong female, and the image of a ruler whose announcements go out “throughout the four quarters (of the kingdom)”.
What does hexagram 44 changing to 33 mean?
It is hexagram 44 with its second line moving. That line shows its subject with “a wallet of fish” and says “There will be no error”, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 33.
What does hexagram 44 changing to 1 mean?
It is hexagram 44 with its first line moving. That is the one broken line, which the text wants “tied and fastened to a metal drag”, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 1.
Why does hexagram 44 warn against marriage?
Legge explains that the broken first line stands for a bold woman who “wishes to subdue or win all the five strong lines to herself”. The commentary on the judgment adds that one so symbolised “should not be long associated with”.
Richard Wilhelm, translated by Cary F. Baynes. Kâu in James Legge. Coming to Meet in Wilhelm and Baynes.
Did you get this hexagram?
Mark your changing lines and keep your cast.
Mark my castTo find the hexagram for you, cast the three coins.
Cast the coins