Hexagram 18 as yes or no
Hexagram 18 Corruption as a yes-or-no answer
As an answer to a 'should I' question, Gu says the situation is spoiled and asks whether you are willing to repair it. If the question is 'should I step in and fix this', the answer is yes: the judgment is 'great success' and 'favourable to cross the great river', and the Tuan says that 'the end is the beginning' — decay is where order starts. If the question is 'can I leave it as it is', the answer is no; the fourth line shows what tolerance costs.
A changing line in the lower trigram concerns how to begin: early and as a continuation (line one), gently where the other party is fragile (line two), firmly even at the cost of friction (line three). A changing line in the upper trigram concerns your position in the repair: indulgence will not do (line four), the best repair is through character and the right helper (line five), and if the top line moves the honest answer is that this is not yours to fix: keep your own house high instead.
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
- Does hexagram 18, Corruption, mean yes or no?
- As an answer to a 'should I' question, Gu says the situation is spoiled and asks whether you are willing to repair it. If the question is 'should I step in and fix this', the answer is yes: the judgment is 'great success' and 'favourable to cross the great river', and the Tuan says that 'the end is the beginning' — decay is where order starts. If the question is 'can I leave it as it is', the answer is no; the fourth line shows what tolerance costs.
- 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).