After Completion

The classical text

The Judgment

After completion: everything is in its place, and small things still succeed. Hold firm and correct — for good fortune at the outset can slip into disorder at the last.

The Image

Water sits above fire, each holding the other in balance — an order achieved. Seeing this, the noble person thinks of what could go wrong and guards against it in advance.

The Six Lines

1. First line

   You brake the wheel, and the fox wets its tail — checking your own eagerness just past the crossing. Holding back now: no error.

2. Second line

   Something is lost that shielded you — do not chase it. Let it be, and in due time it returns of itself.

3. Third line

   Like the king who took three hard years to subdue the far country. Great efforts drain you slowly — and do not entrust them to small hands.

4. Fourth line

   Keeping rags ready to plug a leak, watchful the whole day long. In the settled time, stay wary — small cracks appear.

5. Fifth line

   A great offering from the east wins less than a small, sincere one from the west. In the fullness of things, a true heart counts for more than display.

6. Sixth line

   You have waded so far that even your head goes under — lingering past the crossing already made. To dwell in completion is dangerous.

Daoa's wording, written after the classical reference translations, now in the public domain: James Legge (1882) and Charles de Harlez (1889).