Yi Jing · Chinese tarot
Breakthrough
Hexagram 43 of the Yi Jing · 夬 Guài
The figure
The Lake above Heaven: five solid lines pushing the last broken one toward the outside. The image of breakthrough, of what must finally be said or cut.
What this figure illuminates
Breakthrough lights up the moment of resolution, when something long ripened must be named or cut. But decisive force calls for uprightness: you carry it by clarity, not by violence.
For a decision, the figure questions the move to act: “what I must finally face — how do I carry it plainly, without lowering myself to the means I reproach?”.
The classical text
The Judgment
Resolution: name the wrong openly, at court, with sincerity and a full sense of the danger. Do not resolve it by force of arms — but do have a clear direction to go.
The Image
The lake has risen to the very sky, ready to burst. Seeing this, the noble person spreads their bounty to those below, never hoarding what should flow out.
The Six Lines
- First line
Charging ahead on the strength of your toes alone. You go, but you will not carry it through.
- Second line
Alert and crying the alarm. Though an attack may come in the dead of night, you are ready — no need to fear.
- Third line
Resolve written hard on your face invites misfortune. Better to go on alone, misjudged and rained on, keeping your purpose clean — then no real fault.
- Fourth line
Sore and stumbling, unable to sit still or move well. Let yourself be led gently, and regret would pass — but you will not listen.
- Fifth line
The last stubborn weed must be pulled out with steady resolve. Hold the middle way, and no blame.
- Sixth line
No one left to call on, the last of the wrong still clinging. In the end, misfortune — resolution left unfinished undoes itself.
Daoa's wording, written after the classical reference translations, now in the public domain: James Legge (1882) and Charles de Harlez (1889).
A question to keep
What you must finally face — how do you carry it with uprightness?
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