Scryway

Hexagram 38

睽 Kuí · Opposition

Legge: Khwei

☲ Fire (Lí) above ☱ Lake (Duì)

Scryway summary

Modern commentary written for Scryway. Not part of the classic text.

Estrangement and differing aims. Small matters can still go well; look for common ground.

The judgment

Khwei indicates that, (notwithstanding the condition of things which it denotes), in small matters there will (still) be good success.

The image

(The trigram representing) fire above, and that for (the waters of) a marsh below, form Khwei. The superior man, in accordance with this, where there is a general agreement, yet admits diversity.

The lines, bottom to top

  1. Bottom line, solid

    The first line, undivided, shows that (to its subject) occasion for repentance will disappear. He has lost his horses, but let him not seek for them;—they will return of themselves. Should he meet with bad men, he will not err (in communicating with them).

  2. Second line, solid

    The second line, undivided, shows its subject happening to meet with his lord in a bye-passage. There will be no error.

  3. Third line, broken

    In the third line, divided, we see one whose carriage is dragged back, while the oxen in it are pushed back, and he is himself subjected to the shaving of his head and the cutting off of his nose. There is no good beginning, but there will be a good end.

  4. Fourth line, solid

    The fourth line, undivided, shows its subject solitary amidst the (prevailing) disunion. (But) he meets with the good man (represented by the first line), and they blend their sincere desires together. The position is one of peril, but there will be no mistake.

  5. Fifth line, broken

    The fifth line, divided, shows that (to its subject) occasion for repentance will disappear. With his relative (and minister he unites closely and readily) as if he were biting through a piece of skin. When he goes forward (with this help), what error can there be?

  6. Top line, solid

    The topmost line, undivided, shows its subject solitary amidst the (prevailing) disunion. (In the subject of the third line, he seems to) see a pig bearing on its back a load of mud, (or fancies) there is a carriage full of ghosts. He first bends his bow against him, and afterwards unbends it, (for he discovers) that he is not an assailant to injure, but a near relative. Going forward, he shall meet with (genial) rain, and there will be good fortune.

Quoted from James Legge (trans.), The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1882. Public domain. The image is from Legge’s Appendix II. Words in parentheses are Legge’s additions.