Hexagram 22 for work
Hexagram 22 Adornment for work and career
At work Bi is presentation: the pitch, the polish, the way a plan or a product is dressed before it meets the world. The Great Image draws the limit precisely — the superior person 'makes the ordinary business of government bright, but dares not decide weighty cases by it': style for the everyday, substance for anything that matters. The judgment allows free course to grace and only small gains from letting it lead: refine the form, but do not mistake a well-dressed proposal for a sound one.
The lines sort the roles. Line one is the junior who declines borrowed status; line two the supporting player who moves with the principal; line three the well-regarded figure who must stay steady under favour; line four the plain dealer whose apparent rival is an ally; line five the leader who prefers modest substance to display; line six the point where the dressing comes off. A changing line in the lower trigram concerns how much ornament to add; in the upper trigram, how much to take away.
The hexagram in brief
Fire at the foot of the mountain: beauty lighting the forms of things. Success in small matters through grace and style; ornament should serve substance, not replace it.
Refine presentation and manners, but settle big questions on substance; in the end plain white is the highest adornment.
The judgment
賁：亨。小利有攸往。Pî indicates that there should be free course (in what it denotes). There will be little advantage (however) if it be allowed to advance (and take the lead).
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 賁 Adornment has its own page:
- 初九Nine at the beginningadorning the feet · walking not riding · integrity first
- 六二Six in the second placeadorning the beard · moving with the chin · ornament follows
- 九三Nine in the third placeglossy and bedewed · lasting steadiness · never overrun
- 六四Six in the fourth placewhite adornment · the white horse · a suitor not a robber
- 六五Six in the fifth placehills and gardens · a modest bundle of silk · stingy but good
- 上九Nine at the topwhite adornment · plain at the end · aim attained
The same hexagram for
Questions
- What does hexagram 22, Adornment, mean for a career question?
- At work Bi is presentation: the pitch, the polish, the way a plan or a product is dressed before it meets the world. The Great Image draws the limit precisely — the superior person 'makes the ordinary business of government bright, but dares not decide weighty cases by it': style for the everyday, substance for anything that matters. The judgment allows free course to grace and only small gains from letting it lead: refine the form, but do not mistake a well-dressed proposal for a sound one.
- What does Hexagram 22, 賁 Adornment, mean?
- Fire at the foot of the mountain: beauty lighting the forms of things. Success in small matters through grace and style; ornament should serve substance, not replace it.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).