Hexagram 18 for work
Hexagram 18 Corruption for work and career
At work Gu is the inherited problem: the project left half-finished, the process that has quietly rotted, the department someone else ran into the ground. The Great Image has the superior person 'rousing the people and nourishing virtue' — the repair is public, and it begins with the repairer's own standards. The judgment promises great success and favours crossing the great river, so the hexagram wants action, not an audit that ends in a report; its caution is about timing, the three days before and after the turning point, which the commentators read as understanding what caused the decay and following through once it is cut out.
The lines grade the ways of taking it on. Early and quiet (line one) is best; gentle where the people responsible are vulnerable (line two); better too firm (line three) than indulgent (line four). The ruler's way is to repair through virtue and a capable deputy (line five). If the top line moves, your part is to set an example rather than hold the office.
The hexagram in brief
Wind below the mountain: stagnation that has bred corruption, like a bowl of worms. Great success for the one who steps in to repair what earlier generations spoiled.
Diagnose carefully, act, then follow up; mending the inherited mess is honourable work.
The judgment
蠱：元亨，利涉大川。先甲三日，後甲三日。Kû indicates great progress and success (to him who deals properly with the condition represented by it). There will be advantage in (efforts like that of) crossing the great stream. (He should weigh well, however, the events of) three days before the turning point, and those (to be done) three days after it.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 蠱 Corruption has its own page:
- 初六Six at the beginningthe father's decay · taking over · danger then good
- 九二Nine in the second placethe mother's decay · not too rigid · the middle way
- 九三Nine in the third placetoo forceful · small regret · no great blame
- 六四Six in the fourth placeindulgence · letting it slide · regret ahead
- 六五Six in the fifth placepraise · virtue and a helper · the ruler's repair
- 上九Nine at the topnot serving · higher business · a model aim
The same hexagram for
Questions
- What does hexagram 18, Corruption, mean for a career question?
- At work Gu is the inherited problem: the project left half-finished, the process that has quietly rotted, the department someone else ran into the ground. The Great Image has the superior person 'rousing the people and nourishing virtue' — the repair is public, and it begins with the repairer's own standards. The judgment promises great success and favours crossing the great river, so the hexagram wants action, not an audit that ends in a report; its caution is about timing, the three days before and after the turning point, which the commentators read as understanding what caused the decay and following through once it is cut out.
- What does Hexagram 18, 蠱 Corruption, mean?
- Wind below the mountain: stagnation that has bred corruption, like a bowl of worms. Great success for the one who steps in to repair what earlier generations spoiled.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).