Yi Jing · Chinese tarot
The Gentle
Hexagram 57 of the Yi Jing · 巽 Xùn
The figure
Wind doubled: the breath penetrating everywhere, gently and tirelessly. The image of subtle influence, of what works continuously.
What this figure illuminates
The Gentle lights up the strength of the soft and the constant: what works not by the spectacular blow but by a repeated influence, which seeps in and finally inclines. The wind doesn't break the oak, it shapes the landscape.
For a decision, the figure invites you to prefer discreet perseverance: “rather than a grand gesture, what gentle, repeated pressure could truly bend the situation?”.
The classical text
The Judgment
The gentle: a small but real progress. It furthers to have a direction to go, and to seek the great person.
The Image
Wind follows upon wind, one gust after another. Seeing this, the noble person spreads their word again and again, until it takes effect.
The Six Lines
- First line
Coming forward, then drawing back, unsure whether to yield or press. Meet the doubt with a soldier's firm resolve.
- Second line
Bowed low, seeking hidden causes with patient, humble inquiry. Persist in this searching, and good fortune, no error.
- Third line
Trying to get through by force, straining again and again. Such graceless pushing brings regret.
- Fourth line
Regret is gone. Gentle, well-placed effort brings a full reward — a hunt that provides in every way.
- Fifth line
Firm and correct: good fortune, regret gone, every move furthers. What began badly ends well — weigh the change carefully before and after, and good fortune.
- Sixth line
Bowed too low, and now you have lost the very means to decide and to cut. Submission carried this far is misfortune.
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 gentle, repeated influence would bend things better than a grand gesture?
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