I Ching · Hexagram 57 of 64
Hexagram 57: Xun （巽） — The Gentle Wind
Wind above and below: the wind passes and the grass lies down before it, the emblem of yielding and obedience. The wanderer is a guest, and a guest follows the host, so the Wanderer is followed by the Gentle. The hexagram teaches obedience, above all obedience to the heavenly mandate, and how to tell what should be obeyed from what should not.
At a glance
| Hexagram | 57 of 64 |
|---|---|
| Name | Xun 巽 · The Gentle Wind |
| Upper trigram | Xun （巽）· Wind |
| Lower trigram | Xun （巽）· Wind |
| Structure | Wind over Wind |
| Lines | 6 lines |
The Judgment （卦辞）
The Gentle. Small success. Favorable to have somewhere to go. Favorable to see the great man.
ExplainedThe gentle is obedience, and obedience is itself a virtue. Small success means making oneself small rather than inflated, taking the heavenly mandate as great and putting aside one's own opinion, and so succeeding everywhere and finding every way open. To see the great man is not to go and look at someone: it is to become the great man, to obey the heavenly mandate until one becomes a sage. The key is to know what one is obeying: the orders poured into us since childhood - high degrees, high income, fame, profit - are the orders of the devil, and only the mandate of Heaven, which turns men from evil to good, is the right road.
Tuan Zhuan — Commentary on the Judgment （彖传）
Repeated gentleness to renew the command. The firm is gentle in the center and correct, and so its will is carried out. The yielding all obey the firm. Therefore small success, favorable to have somewhere to go, favorable to see the great man.
ExplainedRepeated gentleness means life obeying the heavenly mandate, and Heaven issuing commands - when one does wrong, the conscience in unrest is the command. The firm is gentle in the center and correct: the center and correctness are the second and fifth lines, where strength obeys the middle and the right; this is the heavenly mandate, and one must hold the center to set the heart right, for before joy, anger, sorrow and fear have risen is the center, and holding it stills the passions and rights the heart. The yielding all obey the firm, as the body's organs obey the mandate rather than their own will. Obeying so, one succeeds in the small and sees the great man - the one sure way to sagehood, as Confucius let go of office to travel and Socrates went to his death at the god's word.
Xiang Zhuan — Image Commentary （大象）
Following wind: The Gentle. The gentleman renews the command and carries out affairs.
ExplainedTwo winds following each other are the Gentle. The gentleman knows the heavenly mandate clearly and acts in obedience to it, holding to the great direction of restraining evil and promoting good: do no evil, do every good, keeping the body, the speech and the mind from their three evils each. Whoever dies for this - as Confucius gave up honor, as the martyrs gave up life - dies obedient to Heaven, and their death weighs as the mountain against a feather.
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
Advancing and retreating. Favorable is the perseverance of the warrior.
Small ImageAdvancing and retreating: the will doubts. Favorable is the perseverance of the warrior: the will is set in order.
ExplainedAt first the command from Heaven produces advance and retreat, not knowing whether to press on or draw back: the will doubts, because to be good may bring poverty and good intentions may go unrepaid. The perseverance of the warrior means to take up obedience as a soldier takes his duty, without bargaining or conditions. The first step of a life must be to settle the direction - restrain evil and promote good, dwell in benevolence and walk in rightness - and never waver again.
Line 2 · YangLine 2
The Gentle beneath the bed. He employs the priests and magicians in great number. Good fortune. No blame.
Small ImageThe good fortune of the many divinations: he has attained the middle.
ExplainedThe bed is the seat of the god; beneath it one lies prostrate in prayer. The direction is settled, but the outcome of one's affairs is unknown, so one divines and beseeches unceasingly, as the Christian prays and Socrates stood still listening in the street. The good fortune of the many divinations is that the answer is found and the middle is attained: once a decision is complete all the passions fall quiet, the army is steadied, and the word may be followed.
Line 3 · YangLine 3
Repeated gentleness. Distress.
Small ImageThe distress of repeated gentleness: the will is exhausted.
ExplainedTo obey Heaven at one moment and disobey at the next is to swing between rightness and profit, listening and not listening by turns. The end is distress, the road narrowing with every step, and the will is exhausted: the self-expectation of aspiring to be a sage is lost. Human beings are born with the moral measure that calls them to sagehood, as the migrating bird is born with its impulse; to weigh everything by advantage loses that great will.
Line 4 · YinLine 4
Regret vanishes. The hunt brings three kinds of game.
Small ImageThe hunt brings three kinds of game: there is merit.
ExplainedRegret vanishes: no longer regretting that one chose to be a noble person and obey Heaven. The hunt's three kinds of game - the highest for Heaven, the middle for guests, the lowest for oneself - mean a rich reward: one is not in want, can receive guests, and can sacrifice to Heaven and the ancestors. There is merit, and Heaven rewards merit with a heavenly endowment that is not a passing gift but an inheritance for generations.
Line 5 · YangLine 5
Perseverance brings good fortune. Regret vanishes. Nothing is unfavorable. Without a beginning, yet with an end. Three days before the change, three days after the change. Good fortune.
Small ImageThe good fortune of the fifth line: its place is right and central.
ExplainedNow, with reward, one becomes rich; and being rich without pride, rich with propriety, perseverance brings good fortune and no regret. Without a beginning yet with an end: though holding the right makes one lose at first, the end is good and the blessing runs on for generations, as with Confucius and Mencius. Three days before and after the change is to warn beforehand and to foresee after: before the event the conscience tells one three times what is right and wrong, and afterwards it proves true. The place being right and central, the heart is a mirror that knows good and evil before it comes.
Line 6 · YangLine 6
The Gentle beneath the bed. He loses his axe and goods. Perseverance brings misfortune.
Small ImageThe Gentle beneath the bed: at the top, exhausted. He loses his axe and goods: it is truly misfortune.
ExplainedHere the bed is not the seat of the god but the seat of desire. Once wealth makes one proud, one obeys food and drink and the passions, and the money and reward are all lost. Perseverance brings misfortune because virtue is gone: the cup has a hole in its base and the water of blessing runs out at once. There are two obediences in a life - to the heavenly mandate or to desire - and to obey desire is to obey the devil. Many of the wealthy end exactly here.
Key takeaway
The wind is obedience, and the obedience that matters is obedience to the heavenly mandate, with clear sight of what should and should not be obeyed.
Frequently asked questions
What does Hexagram 57 (Xun) mean in the I Ching?
Wind above and below: the wind passes and the grass lies down before it, the emblem of yielding and obedience. The wanderer is a guest, and a guest follows the host, so the Wanderer is followed by the Gentle. The hexagram teaches obedience, above all obedience to the heavenly mandate, and how to tell what should be obeyed from what should not.
What is the judgment of Hexagram 57?
The Gentle. Small success. Favorable to have somewhere to go. Favorable to see the great man. The gentle is obedience, and obedience is itself a virtue. Small success means making oneself small rather than inflated, taking the heavenly mandate as great and putting aside one's own opinion, and so succeeding everywhere and finding every way open. To see the great man is not to go and look at someone: it is to…
What do the six lines of Hexagram 57 say?
Line 1: Advancing and retreating. Favorable is the perseverance of the warrior. Line 2: The Gentle beneath the bed. He employs the priests and magicians in great number. Good fortune. No blame. Line 3: Repeated gentleness. Distress. Line 4: Regret vanishes. The hunt brings three kinds of game. Line 5: Perseverance brings good fortune. Regret vanishes. Nothing is unfavorable. Without a beginning, yet with an end. Three days before the change, three days after the change. Good fortune. Line 6: The Gentle beneath the bed. He loses his axe and goods. Perseverance brings misfortune.
What is the main lesson of Hexagram 57 (The Gentle Wind)?
The wind is obedience, and the obedience that matters is obedience to the heavenly mandate, with clear sight of what should and should not be obeyed.
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