Hexagram 22 as yes or no
Hexagram 22 Adornment as a yes-or-no answer
As an answer to a 'should I' question, Bi distinguishes between the form of the matter and its substance. If you are asking about presentation — how to say it, how to dress it, whether to add polish — the answer is yes, 'free course'. If you are asking about a weighty commitment and hoping that style will carry it, the answer is the judgment's 'only small advantage in going forward' and the Great Image's refusal to decide serious cases by ornament: settle it on the substance or do not settle it yet.
A changing line in the lower trigram, Li, is about adding grace rightly: decline what is borrowed (line one), move with the substance rather than ahead of it (line two), keep steady under favour (line three). A changing line in the upper trigram, Gen, is about stripping grace away: trust the plain dealer (line four), prefer the modest offer (line five), and at the top (line six) take the decoration off entirely before deciding — what remains in white is the real answer.
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
- Does hexagram 22, Adornment, mean yes or no?
- As an answer to a 'should I' question, Bi distinguishes between the form of the matter and its substance. If you are asking about presentation — how to say it, how to dress it, whether to add polish — the answer is yes, 'free course'. If you are asking about a weighty commitment and hoping that style will carry it, the answer is the judgment's 'only small advantage in going forward' and the Great Image's refusal to decide serious cases by ornament: settle it on the substance or do not settle it yet.
- 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).