I Ching · Hexagram 45 of 64
Hexagram 45: Cui （萃） — Gathering Together
Cui is Lake over Earth: the lake reclining on the earth gathers birds and beasts, fish and water creatures, the image of people coming together. The hexagram concerns assembling people and, beyond assembly, managing and teaching them, so that they become a body with a common purpose rather than a mere crowd.
At a glance
| Hexagram | 45 of 64 |
|---|---|
| Name | Cui 萃 · Gathering Together |
| Upper trigram | Dui （兑）· Lake |
| Lower trigram | Kun （坤）· Earth |
| Structure | Lake over Earth |
| Lines | 6 lines |
The Judgment （卦辞）
Gathering Together. Success. The king approaches his temple; favorable to see the great person. Success, benefit, steadfastness. Using a great sacrificial victim brings good fortune; favorable to have somewhere to go.
ExplainedPeople brought together naturally exchange what they have, and so it prospers; but a crowd must not become a mob, and therefore a leader must establish a common faith, as ancient kings gathered a people around temple and ancestor. Then a person of virtue must stand out to lead them, and the rest follow, so that assembly, benefit and steadfastness are all attained: good affinity gathered, service rendered to all, able people produced. What is built on faith endures; what rests on personal charm alone scatters.
Tuan Zhuan — Commentary on the Judgment （彖传）
Gathering Together means gathering. Yielding and pleasing, firm and central and responding: therefore they gather. The king approaches his temple: he brings filial offering. Favorable to see the great person, success: gathering by uprightness. Using a great sacrificial victim brings good fortune, favorable to have somewhere to go: following heaven's mandate. Observe what they gather around, and the true feeling of heaven and earth and all things may be seen.
ExplainedTo gather people one must be yielding of manner and speak so as to fill them with joy, while holding the center and adjusting heart, body and affairs to just the right measure, like tea brewed neither strong nor weak. The temple means teaching filial duty and offering to heaven; the great person means a leader of virtue, so that what gathers is upright. Sacrifice and giving are heaven's mandate, and heaven lends its shoulder: and looking at what people gather around, one sees that only the heart is real and all else passes.
Xiang Zhuan — Image Commentary （大象）
The lake upon the earth: Gathering Together. Thus the noble one prepares weapons and guards against the unforeseen.
ExplainedThe lake resting on the earth gathers the waters, and so the noble one prepares force to protect the good and restrain the wicked, guarding against what cannot be foreseen, as a nation keeps an army and a community keeps its invisible guardians. The hall of the Way has both the Bodhisattva's downcast eyes and the wrathful protector's glare: when nothing else avails, awe restrains evil.
The Six Lines （六爻）
The lines are read from the bottom upward. Each carries its own text, a Small Image commentary, and a plain-English reading.
Line 1 · YinLine 1
Sincerity that does not last: disorder and then gathering. If he calls out, in a moment there is laughter. Do not fret; going brings no blame.
Small ImageDisorder and then gathering: his will is disordered.
ExplainedWinning trust is the first principle, but charm and popularity do not last, for opinion flows like water. Without faith and great virtue people gather and scatter again; shouting slogans and cheering may hold them a moment in laughter, but only as a stopgap. The root is a shared faith, and where wills differ gathering is never stable.
Line 2 · YinLine 2
Drawing others on brings good fortune and no blame; with sincerity, even a thin offering may be used.
Small ImageDrawing others on, good fortune and no blame: the center is unchanged.
ExplainedOne must guide people toward what is truly auspicious, the sacrifice of saving the world rather than the pursuit of name and gain. With sincerity even a thin offering suffices: a stick of incense, a cup of tea, the little one can afford, refined by ritual as iron is tempered into steel, is enough to set a person right. Anger in the heart destroys kindness; lead with benevolence and order with propriety.
Line 3 · YangLine 3
Gathering and sighing: nothing is favorable. Going brings no blame.
Small ImageGoing brings no blame: upward, yielding.
ExplainedWhere people gather only for advantage, without sincerity, no profit comes and only sighs and complaints remain, as with those who come to a hall of worship only to avert calamity or gain a favor. The remedy is to rise: yield to heaven and turn from evil to good, doing no evil and practicing every good, and one stops both erring and lamenting.
Line 4 · YangLine 4
Great good fortune; no blame.
Small ImageGreat good fortune, no blame: the position is not fitting.
ExplainedThe great sacrifice and the great giving are the right road of heaven's mandate, and so they bring great good fortune without blame. Yet giving is not enough: one must return to the proper place, not only relieving the body with food, medicine and clothing but leading the heart back and lifting the spirit. Charity that never leads anyone to virtue is tested at last and fails.
Line 5 · YangLine 5
Gathering with a place: no blame. Where trust is lacking, hold the origin and endure in steadfastness, and regret vanishes.
Small ImageGathering with a place: the will is not yet bright.
ExplainedGathering requires a right place, and true leadership is a matter of virtue: like the pole star, it stays where it is, unmoved, and the other stars gather around it, effortless and wordless and done by non-doing. Everyone already has this place within, but it must be held: hold the origin, keep the one and never lose it, and regret ends and the world is at peace. Yet the will is not yet bright, for the light of wisdom must still be refined to transform others.
Line 6 · YinLine 6
Sighing and weeping: no blame.
Small ImageSighing and weeping: the one above is not at peace.
ExplainedA leader without great sacrifice, great virtue, or the power to hold his place can only grieve and weep in fear. But fear that knows its fault, knowing the leadership has gone wrong, is still no blame. This line answers the third: when those below sigh with complaint, those above weep with anxiety. Better to choose carefully and remove the harmful horse.
Key takeaway
Gathering Together teaches gathering people around a common faith and leading them in uprightness, so that a crowd becomes a community.
Frequently asked questions
What does Hexagram 45 (Cui) mean in the I Ching?
Cui is Lake over Earth: the lake reclining on the earth gathers birds and beasts, fish and water creatures, the image of people coming together. The hexagram concerns assembling people and, beyond assembly, managing and teaching them, so that they become a body with a common purpose rather than a mere crowd.
What is the judgment of Hexagram 45?
Gathering Together. Success. The king approaches his temple; favorable to see the great person. Success, benefit, steadfastness. Using a great sacrificial victim brings good fortune; favorable to have somewhere to go. People brought together naturally exchange what they have, and so it prospers; but a crowd must not become a mob, and therefore a leader must establish a common faith, as ancient kings gathered a people around temple and ancestor. Then a person of virtue must stand out to lead them, and the rest follow, so that…
What do the six lines of Hexagram 45 say?
Line 1: Sincerity that does not last: disorder and then gathering. If he calls out, in a moment there is laughter. Do not fret; going brings no blame. Line 2: Drawing others on brings good fortune and no blame; with sincerity, even a thin offering may be used. Line 3: Gathering and sighing: nothing is favorable. Going brings no blame. Line 4: Great good fortune; no blame. Line 5: Gathering with a place: no blame. Where trust is lacking, hold the origin and endure in steadfastness, and regret vanishes. Line 6: Sighing and weeping: no blame.
What is the main lesson of Hexagram 45 (Gathering Together)?
Gathering Together teaches gathering people around a common faith and leading them in uprightness, so that a crowd becomes a community.
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