Before Completion
- In Chinese
- 未濟 wèijì
- Above
- The Clinging, fire
- Below
- The Abysmal, water
Did you get this hexagram?
Mark your changing lines and keep your cast.
Mark my castWhat hexagram 64 means
Hexagram 64 is fire over water, with broken and whole lines alternating from the bottom to the top. It describes a work that is not yet done. Legge says the name tells us that “the successful accomplishment of whatever the writer had in his mind had not yet been realised”.
The judgment gives success and a warning together. Legge has “progress and success”, and then the picture of “a young fox that has nearly crossed (the stream), when its tail gets immersed”.
Legge reads the fox as a lesson about care. In his note the animal suggests “a want of caution” in those who try to set things right.
The judgment and the image
The judgment
未濟亨。小狐汔濟，濡其尾，无攸利。
BEFORE COMPLETION. Success. But if the little fox, after nearly completing the crossing, Gets his tail in the water, There is nothing that would further.
success things flow and come throughnothing that would further nothing is favorable
The image
火在水上，《未濟》。君子以慎辨物居方。
Fire over water: The image of the condition before transition. Thus the superior man is careful In the differentiation of things, So that each finds its place.
What the commentaries say
The commentary on the judgment gives the reason for the success. It is that “the weak (fifth) line is in the centre”.
The same commentary explains the fox. He has nearly crossed, but “he has not yet escaped from the midst (of the danger and calamity)”. The text says there is no advantage because “there is not at the end a continuance (of the purpose) at the beginning”.
Legge points to the lines, “not one of which is in the correct place”. Yet he adds that “each of them has a proper correlate”, and the old commentary agrees that “a strong (line) and a weak (line always) respond to each other”. For Legge this is why the figure hints at “some successful progress”.
The image is fire above water. From it the commentary draws a rule of attention. The superior man “carefully discriminates among (the qualities of) things, and the (different) positions they (naturally) occupy”.
Wilhelm gives the purpose of that care. The superior man is careful in telling things apart “So that each finds its place”.
Legge also explains why a book of change does not close on a finished picture. He writes that we find in it “no idea of a perfect and abiding state”, and that this hexagram calls us to see “the struggle for its realisation recommenced”.
The six lines
First line
濡其尾，吝。
He gets his tail in the water. Humiliating.
humiliation it leads to embarrassment
The fox of the judgment returns in the bottom line, and again its tail gets wet. The commentary is severe and calls it “the very height of ignorance”. Legge reads that the subject of the line “attempts to be doing, but finds cause to regret his course”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 38, Opposition
Second line
曳其輪，貞吉。
He brakes his wheels. Perseverance brings good fortune.
good fortune it goes well
This is the first of three lines with good fortune. Its subject holds the carriage back, and Legge says he “is able to repress himself”. The commentary finds the reason in the position of the line, since “it is in the central place”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 35, Progress
Third line
未濟，征凶。利涉大川。
Before completion, attack brings misfortune. It furthers one to cross the great water.
misfortune it goes badlyit furthers it is favorable
The line says two things that are hard to hold together. Advancing leads to evil, and yet there is “advantage in (trying to) cross the great stream”. The commentary explains the evil by saying that “the place (of the line) is not that appropriate for it”.
Legge does not hide the difficulty. He reports that the Khang-hsî editors find it “very difficult to understand what is said under line 3”, and that “many critics suppose that a negative has dropt out”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 50, The Cauldron
Fourth line
貞吉，悔亡，震用伐鬼方，三年，有賞于大國。
Perseverance brings good fortune. Remorse disappears. Shock, thus to discipline the Devil’s Country. For three years, great realms are awarded.
good fortune it goes wellremorse disappears regret fades away
This line calls for effort. The text says “Let him stir himself up”, and Legge reads it as a call to “exert himself vigorously and long”. The line has good fortune, and the commentary adds that “the aim (of the subject of the line) is carried into effect”.
Legge notes a risk in the position, since the line “though strong, is in an even place”. What helps is the ruler just above, a weak line that he calls “humble therefore, and prepared to welcome his endeavours”.
The text compares the effort to “invading the Demon region”, with rewards that come for three years. Legge explains the rewards from the custom of such campaigns, where “Rewards, distinctions, and whatever was necessary to encourage the army, were often sent to it”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 4, Youthful Folly
Fifth line
貞吉，无悔。君子之光，有孚、吉。
Perseverance brings good fortune. No remorse. The light of the superior man is true. Good fortune.
good fortune it goes wellno remorse there is nothing to regret
This is the line of the ruler, and Legge's version names good fortune twice. The text sees in its subject “the brightness of a superior man, and the possession of sincerity”. Legge describes a ruler who is “humble and supported by the subject of the strong 2”, and concludes that “the auspice is very good”.
The commentary stays with the brightness and says that “the diffusion of that brightness tends to good fortune”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 6, Conflict
Sixth line
有孚于飲酒，无咎。濡其首，有孚失是。
There is drinking of wine In genuine confidence. No blame. But if one wets his head, He loses it, in truth.
no blame there is no mistake in it
The top line shows someone “full of confidence and therefore feasting (quietly)”, and the text finds no error in that. The warning comes after. If the confidence goes too far, the fox returns with its head under water, and the commentary says that “he does not know how to submit to the (proper) regulations”.
Legge draws the same border. To rest and enjoy is right, but to “play with the peril of the situation” ends badly.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 40, Deliverance
Hexagram 64 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 64 unchanging, what remains is the judgment, with its success and its warning about the fox that nearly crosses, and the image that asks for care in telling things apart and seeing where each belongs.
Questions people ask
What does hexagram 64 mean?
It describes a work that is close to its end and not yet done. The judgment gives success, and warns with the picture of “a young fox that has nearly crossed (the stream), when its tail gets immersed”.
What does hexagram 64 unchanging mean?
With no moving lines you read only the judgment and the image. For hexagram 64 that is success with a warning about the fox, and the rule to be careful so that, in Wilhelm's words, “each finds its place”.
What does hexagram 64 changing to 40 mean?
It is hexagram 64 with its top line moving. That line shows someone “full of confidence and therefore feasting (quietly)”, with a warning against letting that confidence go too far, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 40.
What does hexagram 64 changing to 35 mean?
It is hexagram 64 with its second line moving. That line shows its subject “dragging back his (carriage-) wheel”, and it has good fortune. When it changes the hexagram becomes number 35.
How is hexagram 64 related to hexagram 63?
The two are bound in every way the structure records. Hexagram 63 comes just before it, and it is also its opposite, its inverse and its nuclear hexagram.
Richard Wilhelm, translated by Cary F. Baynes. Wei Žî in James Legge. Before Completion in Wilhelm and Baynes.
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