Abundance
- In Chinese
- 豐 fēng
- Above
- The Arousing, thunder
- Below
- The Clinging, fire
Did you get this hexagram?
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Mark my castWhat hexagram 55 means
Hexagram 55 is thunder over fire. Legge says that its name “denotes a condition of abundant prosperity”.
The judgment is favorable. In Legge the hexagram “intimates progress and development”, and the king who has reached this point is told “Let him be as the sun at noon”.
The commentary on the judgment sets a limit to this fullness. It says “When the sun has reached the meridian height, it begins to decline”.
Legge reads the hexagram as a lesson for those who rule. It shows them “how they may preserve the prosperity of their state and people”.
The judgment and the image
The judgment
豐亨，王假之。勿憂，宜日中。
ABUNDANCE has success. The king attains abundance. Be not sad. Be like the sun at midday.
success things flow and come through
The image
雷電皆至，《豐》。君子以折獄致刑。
Both thunder and lightning come: The image of ABUNDANCE. Thus the superior man decides lawsuits And carries out punishments.
What the commentaries say
The commentary on the judgment explains the name. It says “Făng has the signification of being great”, and it finds the reason in the two trigrams, which stand for “intelligence and movement directed by that intelligence”.
The same commentary does not let the king rest at the high point. Of the condition he has reached it says “he has still to make it greater”, and of the sun at noon it says “it is for him to cause his light to shine on all under the sky”.
Then it turns to what follows fullness. “When the moon has become full, it begins to wane”, and heaven and earth themselves grow and diminish with the seasons. The commentary asks “How much more must it be so with (the operations of) men!”
Legge says the same of human affairs. In his note “a condition of prosperity has often given place to one of an opposite character”. The king is told not to be anxious, and to study how to be like the sun at its height, “cheering and enlightening all”.
The image is thunder and lightning arriving together. From it the commentary draws a rule for judging. The superior man “decides cases of litigation, and apportions punishments with exactness”. Wilhelm has that he “decides lawsuits And carries out punishments”.
Legge also points out something unusual in the lines. Elsewhere two lines answer one another when one is whole and the other divided, but he notes that “Here two undivided lines make a correlation”. He does not hide his doubt about it, and of the departures from the usual rules he writes “none so gross as that in this hexagram”.
The six lines
First line
遇其配主，雖旬无咎，往有尚。
When a man meets his destined ruler, They can be together ten days, And it is not a mistake. Going meets with recognition.
no blame there is no mistake in it
The first line meets its mate, and Legge takes the mate to be line 4. Both are whole lines, yet the text finds no fault in that. Legge draws the lesson “that mutual helpfulness is the great instrument for the maintenance of prosperity”.
The line is urged to go on. Legge has “Advance will call forth approval”, and Wilhelm “Going meets with recognition”. The commentary adds a warning for whoever tries to go beyond that likeness, since then “there will be calamity”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 62, Small Exceeding
Second line
豐其蔀，日中見斗。往得疑疾，有孚，發若吉。
The curtain is of such fullness That the polestars can be seen at noon. Through going one meets with mistrust and hate. If one rouses him through truth, Good fortune comes.
good fortune it goes well
This line is screened so heavily that stars show at midday. Legge explains that the ruler it answers to is weak and has become benighted, so that “darkness is shed from him down on 2”. Going to him brings suspicion and dislike.
The stars seen at midday are the constellation of the Bushel in Legge and the polestars in Wilhelm. Legge notes that the Bushel “corresponds to our Ursa Major, or perhaps part of Sagittarius”.
The line still ends in good fortune, and the way to it is sincerity. The commentary says “it is by sincerity that the mind is affected”. Wilhelm puts it as “If one rouses him through truth”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 34, Great Power
Third line
豐其沛，日中見沬，折其右肱，无咎。
The underbrush is of such abundance That the small stars can be seen at noon. He breaks his right arm. No blame.
no blame there is no mistake in it
A further screen is added here, a large and thick banner, and the star seen through it at midday is a small one. Legge notes that “Mei is a small star in or near the Bushel”. He says of this line that “His symbolism and auspice are worse than those of 2”, and that “the subject of 3 has no one to co-operate with him”. In the dark he breaks his right arm.
The text still finds no error. Legge gives the reason, that “his own proper goodness and capacity will save him from error”. The commentary draws the limit, “great things should not be attempted (in such circumstances)”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 51, The Arousing
Fourth line
豐其蔀，日中見斗，遇其夷主，吉。
The curtain is of such fullness That the polestars can be seen at noon. He meets his ruler, who is of like kind. Good fortune.
good fortune it goes well
The darkness of the second line returns. Legge notes that “The symbolism of line 4 is the same as that of 2, till we come to the last sentence”. The commentary explains the screen by the place, since “the position of the line is inappropriate”.
What changes the outcome is a meeting. This line meets the first line, “undivided like himself”, and Legge concludes that “the issue is good”. Wilhelm has “He meets his ruler, who is of like kind”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 36, Darkening of the Light
Fifth line
來章，有慶譽，吉。
Lines are coming, Blessing and fame draw near. Good fortune.
good fortune it goes well
This is the ruler's place, and Legge calls its subject weak. Such a ruler “can do little unhelped”. The text shows him “bringing around him the men of brilliant ability”, and it ends in congratulation, praise and good fortune.
Legge states the principle behind the line. “Nothing consolidates the prosperity of a country so much as the co-operation of the ruler and able ministers”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 49, Revolution
Sixth line
豐其屋，蔀其家，闚其戶，闃其无人，三歲不覿，凶。
His house is in a state of abundance. He screens off his family. He peers through the gate And no longer perceives anyone. For three years he sees nothing. Misfortune.
misfortune it goes badly
The top line is the one line of the six whose text ends in evil. Its subject has made his house large, and the house serves only as a screen to his household. The commentary reads pride in it, “he soars (in his pride) to the heavens”.
The door is still and nobody is about it. Legge writes that the subject of the line “is left to himself without any helpers”, and that “He is isolated for long, and undone”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 30, The Clinging
Hexagram 55 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 55 unchanging, what remains is the progress of the judgment, with its advice to be like the sun at noon and not to be anxious, and the image of thunder and lightning, which asks for cases decided and punishments set with exactness.
Questions people ask
What does hexagram 55 mean?
It describes a time of abundance and how to keep it. The judgment says it “intimates progress and development”, and the commentary recalls that the sun at its height “begins to decline”.
What does hexagram 55 unchanging mean?
With no moving lines you read only the judgment and the image. For hexagram 55 that is progress without cause for anxiety, the advice to be “as the sun at noon”, and the call to decide cases with exactness.
What does hexagram 55 changing to 36 mean?
It is hexagram 55 with its fourth line moving. That line sits in a tent so thick that stars show at midday, then meets the first line, “undivided like himself”, and ends in good fortune. When it changes the hexagram becomes number 36.
What does hexagram 55 changing to 30 mean?
It is hexagram 55 with its top line moving. That line shows a large house and a door where “there is nobody about it”, and its text ends in evil. When it changes the hexagram becomes number 30.
Is hexagram 55 a good sign?
The judgment is favorable, and the second, fourth and fifth lines end in good fortune. The first and third lines are without error. Only the top line ends in evil, and Legge says of it that “The issue is only evil”.
Richard Wilhelm, translated by Cary F. Baynes. Făng in James Legge. Abundance in Wilhelm and Baynes.
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