Yi Jing · Chinese tarot
Duration
Hexagram 32 of the Yi Jing · 恒 Héng
The figure
Thunder above Wind: movement and penetration attuned through time. The image of what lasts because it renews itself.
What this figure illuminates
Duration lights up what holds over time: not immobility, but a living constancy that renews itself without changing course. To last is to stay faithful to a direction, not to a fixed form.
For a decision, the figure questions endurance: “what I'm committing to — am I ready to hold it over time, and what will have to evolve for it to last?”.
The classical text
The Judgment
Duration: what endures moves on without error. It furthers to stay firm and upright, and to have a settled direction to go.
The Image
Thunder and wind, each renewing the other yet keeping its nature. Seeing this, the noble person stands firm and does not change their course.
The Six Lines
- First line
Demanding lasting constancy too soon, digging in too deep at the start. Even upright, this is misfortune; nothing furthers.
- Second line
Held steady in the center, all cause for regret dissolves.
- Third line
You do not hold your course steadily, and others count it against you. However firm at moments, this wavering brings regret.
- Fourth line
Hunting in a field where there is no game — persistence in the wrong place yields nothing.
- Fifth line
Holding faithfully to one fixed course: fitting for one who should follow, but wrong for one who must lead and decide.
- Sixth line
Restless striving after constancy, agitation in the name of endurance. Misfortune — true duration is calm.
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
Are you ready to hold this over time, and what will have to evolve?
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