The Cauldron

The caldron is upside down, and the text finds advantage in it. Legge gives the reading of the commentators, that the vessel is “emptied of bad stuff that had accumulated in it”. The commentary on the line agrees that “this is not (all) contrary (to what is right)”.

The concubine is a second picture of the same thing. Through her son she “will share in the honour of his position”, so that a poor start ends well. Legge does not hide his doubt about this reading. He writes “I give it, but am myself dissatisfied with it”.

When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 14, Great Possession

The caldron now has food in it, and an enemy who cannot come near. Legge says that “the whole paragraph gives a good auspice”, and he turns the verse into a rhyme that ends “But touch me he does not dare.”

Legge also notices the word “My” in the verse. For him the personal pronoun “seems to show that the whole was, or was intended to be, understood as an oracular response in divination”.

Wilhelm words the verse differently. Where Legge has an enemy, he has “My comrades are envious, But they cannot harm me.”

The commentary on the line adds one caution. It says “let (the subject of the line) be careful where he goes”.

When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 56, The Wanderer

The ears of the caldron are out of place, and what it holds goes to waste. In Legge's note “The good meat in the caldron which it symbolises will not be eaten”. The commentary on the line puts the fault on the person, who “has failed in what was required of him”.

Legge calls the line strong and in the proper place, and says that “if its correlate were the divided 5, its auspice would be entirely good”. Its correlate is the strong top line instead, and so “The advance of 3 is stopped”.

The line does not end there. Legge reads the rain as the meeting of the yin and the yang, whose “union will be followed by genial rain”, and the text closes with “good fortune in the end”.

When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 64, Before Completion

This is the one line of the six with a verdict of evil. The feet break and the meal meant for the ruler is lost. Legge sees a minister with duties too heavy for one person, who “is insufficient of himself for his work, and he has no sufficient help”.

Legge adds two reasons from the figure. The strength of the line “is weakened by being in an even place”, and its correlate is “the weak 1 in the lowest place”.

The commentary on the line asks a plain question about him. It is “how can (the subject of the line) be trusted?”

When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 18, Repairing What Was Spoiled

The fifth line is the ears of the vessel, yellow and fitted with rings of metal. Legge says these details “are intended to intensify our appreciation of the occupant of 5”. He quotes the Daily Lecture, which says the paragraph “praises the ruler as condescending to the worthy with his humble virtue”.

Legge notes that yellow has come up before as “a correct colour”. The commentary on the line looks at the place of the line and says “the central position (of the line) is taken as (a proof of) the solid (virtue of its subject)”.

The line still carries a condition. Legge explains that “As the line is divided, a caution is added about being firm and correct”.

When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 44, Coming to Meet

The top line is the handle, and here it is of jade. Legge explains the choice of stone, which “though very hard, is supposed to have a peculiar and rich softness of its own”. The commentary on the line says that at the very top “the strong and the weak meet in their due proportions”.

Legge calls the outlook of this line “very good”. Its subject helps the ruler of the fifth line and does for him “the part which the handle does for the caldron”.

When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 32, Duration