The Joyous
- In Chinese
- 兌 duì
- Above
- The Joyous, lake
- Below
- The Joyous, lake
Did you get this hexagram?
Mark your changing lines and keep your cast.
Mark my castWhat hexagram 58 means
Hexagram 58 is the lake doubled. Its subject is pleasure, which the commentary on the judgment calls “pleased satisfaction”.
The judgment speaks of progress and attaches a condition to it. In Legge's words “it will be advantageous to be firm and correct”.
The lines sort pleasure by where it comes from. In the two lowest lines it comes from harmony and sincerity within, and both have good fortune. In the third its subject gathers around himself whatever can give pleasure, and the text speaks of evil.
The judgment and the image
The judgment
兌亨。利貞。
THE JOYOUS. Success. Perseverance is favorable.
success things flow and come throughit furthers it is favorable
The image
麗澤，《兌》。君子以朋友講習。
Lakes resting one on the other: The image of THE JOYOUS. Thus the superior man joins with his friends For discussion and practice.
What the commentaries say
The commentary on the judgment reads the shape of the figure. Each trigram has “the strong (lines) in the centre, and the weak (lines) on the outer edge”. From that shape it draws the condition of the judgment, that “in pleasure what is most advantageous is the maintenance of firm correctness”.
The same commentary describes what such pleasure does among people. When it leads them “they forget their toils”, and in difficulties “they forget (the risk of) death”. Through firm correctness, it says, there is “an accordance with (the will of) heaven, and a correspondence with (the feelings of) men”.
The image is one lake over another. The commentary draws from it a rule about company. The superior man encourages “the conversation of friends”, and in Wilhelm he “joins with his friends For discussion and practice”.
Legge admits that the link between the lake and pleasure is not obvious. He writes that “It is a matter of some difficulty to determine in one's mind how this attribute came to be connected with the trigram”. The answer he quotes from the Khang-hsî editors is a comparison with health, since “when the breath of health is vigorous in a man's person, the hue of it is displayed in his complexion”.
The same editors explain why the judgment asks for firmness. Mildness and harmony “without true-heartedness and integrity to control and direct them, they will fail to be correct, and may degenerate into what is evil”.
Legge also asks where the progress of the judgment is found. It is supposed to be in “the one weak line surmounting each trigram and supported by the two strong lines”, a picture of “mildness and benignity energised by a double portion of strength”.
The six lines
First line
和兌，吉。
Contented joyousness. Good fortune.
good fortune it goes well
The first pleasure is harmony within. Legge notes that this line has no partner above and “is thus confined to itself”, yet “its subject is sufficient for himself”. The commentary on the line adds that nothing in the conduct is there “to awaken doubt”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 47, Oppression
Second line
孚兌，吉，悔亡。
Sincere joyousness. Good fortune. Remorse disappears.
good fortune it goes wellremorse disappears regret fades away
Here pleasure comes from sincerity. Legge sees a risk, since this line sits next to the weak third and its subject “might be injuriously affected”. What answers the risk is “the sincerity natural in his central position”, and the text ends with good fortune and with repentance gone. The commentary on the line puts the good fortune down to “the confidence felt in the object (of the subject of the line)”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 17, Following
Third line
來兌，凶。
Coming joyousness. Misfortune.
misfortune it goes badly
This is the first broken line and the one line where the text speaks of evil. Its subject is “bringing round himself whatever can give pleasure”. Legge reads the evil as “a consequence of the excessive devotion of its subject to pleasure”, and the commentary on the line points to “the inappropriateness of the place”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 43, Breakthrough
Fourth line
商兌未寧，介疾有喜。
Joyousness that is weighed is not at peace. After ridding himself of mistakes a man has joy.
no verdict
The subject of this line has not yet chosen. He is “deliberating about what to seek his pleasure in, and not at rest”. Legge explains that the harm he borders on is the weak third line beside him, and that he “reflects and deliberates before he will yield to the seduction of pleasure”. The text ends with cause for joy.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 60, Limitation
Fifth line
孚于剝，有厲。
Sincerity toward disintegrating influences is dangerous.
danger there is danger
The fifth line trusts the wrong one, and the text calls the situation “perilous”. Legge places the danger in the weak top line above it. He leaves the outcome open. The strength and sincerity of this line “may be perverted into instruments of evil”, or “they may operate beneficially”. The commentary on the line adds that “his place is that which is correct and appropriate”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 54, The Marrying Maiden
Sixth line
引兌。
Seductive joyousness.
no verdict
The top line is the second broken line, and Wilhelm names it “Seductive joyousness.” Legge compares it with the third line. That one draws others around itself, while this one “leads them to follow himself in quest of it”. The text gives no verdict, and the commentary on the line says only that “his (virtue) is not yet brilliant”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 10, Treading
Hexagram 58 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 58 unchanging, what remains is the judgment, which joins progress to being firm and correct, and the image of two lakes, which sends a person to friends for conversation and practice.
Questions people ask
What does hexagram 58 mean?
It is about pleasure and what keeps it sound. The commentary says that “in pleasure what is most advantageous is the maintenance of firm correctness”.
What does hexagram 58 unchanging mean?
With no moving lines you read only the judgment and the image. For hexagram 58 that is progress joined to being firm and correct, and the superior man who encourages “the conversation of friends”.
What does hexagram 58 changing to 43 mean?
It is hexagram 58 with its third line moving. That line shows someone “bringing round himself whatever can give pleasure”, the text speaks of evil, and when the line changes the hexagram becomes number 43.
What does hexagram 58 changing to 17 mean?
It is hexagram 58 with its second line moving. That line shows “the pleasure arising from (inward) sincerity” and has good fortune, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 17.
Which lines of hexagram 58 are favorable?
The first and second lines are the only two with good fortune, and the fourth ends with cause for joy. The third speaks of evil and the fifth is called “perilous”. The top line has no verdict at all.
Richard Wilhelm, translated by Cary F. Baynes. Tui in James Legge. The Joyous in Wilhelm and Baynes.
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