57 巽 The Gentle
Judgement
Gentle influence penetrates where force cannot: it is the wind, which slips through any crack, or the root, which opens stone little by little. A small advance is possible, with an advantage in moving forward and in seeking a person of judgment. Here you do not impose, you insist gently. Ask yourself where you are pushing hard at something that would move better with patience and constancy.
Image
One wind after another: gentle influence, repeated, leaving its mark. The wise person repeats their orders and so gets their affairs carried out. An instruction given once is forgotten; given calmly and several times, it sinks in. Ask yourself what important message you gave only once and hope was understood, and how you could repeat it without raising your voice.
Lines
Line 1
You advance and retreat, unable to decide. The firmness of a good soldier suits you. This is the indecision of someone who does not know whether to enter. The wind has not yet found its course. You need a simple discipline: choose a direction and keep it. Ask yourself what decision you have put off for a long time.
Line 2
You are under the bed and you turn to diviners and exorcists almost to the point of confusion. It looks promising and you are unlikely to go wrong. This is someone who hides and seeks every kind of help, sometimes too much, but seeking it is paying attention. Ask yourself what advice you seek to avoid facing something.
Line 3
You penetrate only by violent, repeated efforts, and there is cause for lament. Here is the irony of this hexagram: brute force is not its method. If you have to insist by shoving, something in the approach is off. Ask yourself what you are trying to force open, and what gentle, sustained way you could try instead.
Line 4
Reasons for regret fade. You bring in game with triple benefit on your hunt. It is the image of effectiveness done well: one action, several results. When you act gently and attentively, what you do yields more. Ask yourself what action of yours could serve several ends at once, and whether you thought of it before starting.
Line 5
With firmness and integrity, that is a good sign, and reasons for regret fade. There may have been no good beginning, but the end may be good. Three days before changing something, give notice; three days after, reconsider it. It tends to be favorable. Ask yourself how you could announce your changes in time.
Line 6
You are under the bed and have lost the ax you carried out your decisions with. Even if firm and upright, that tends to end badly. Someone who yields and hides so much loses the ability to decide. Gentleness without decision turns into helplessness. Ask yourself what decision you have stopped making, and what made you lose that strength.
Reflection
- Where do you push hard at something that would move better with patience?
- What important message have you said only once?
- What decision have you stopped making, and why?