Yi Jing · Chinese tarot
Influence
Hexagram 31 of the Yi Jing · 咸 Xián
The figure
The Lake above the Mountain: joy resting on the immovable, water answering the hollow. The image of attraction, of what comes into resonance.
What this figure illuminates
Influence lights up the beginnings of a bond, the still-subtle pull between two beings or two possibilities. What truly moves us passes through availability, not pressure.
For a decision, the figure questions the rightness of an attraction: “does what draws me right now put me in resonance with something true, or only in motion?”.
The classical text
The Judgment
Influence: it moves freely and succeeds. Held upright, like the courting of a bride, it brings good fortune.
The Image
The lake rests on the mountain, drawing near. Seeing this, the noble person keeps their mind empty of prejudice, open to receive others.
The Six Lines
- First line
The influence is felt only in the big toe — a first stirring, not yet enough to move you. Wait.
- Second line
The pull reaches the calves, urging you forward too soon. To rush is misfortune; to stay quietly in place, good fortune.
- Third line
Moved in the thighs, you follow wherever you are drawn, without will of your own. To go on so brings regret.
- Fourth line
Let the influence rise from a firm and honest heart — good fortune, no regret. But if you waver, swaying others by calculation, only a few will follow.
- Fifth line
The influence touches the nape, above the heart — beyond willful feeling. No warmth, but no regret.
- Sixth line
The influence moves only jaws and tongue — mere talk, all words and no substance.
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
Does what draws you put you in resonance with something true?
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