Hexagram 22 for love
Hexagram 22 Adornment in love and relationships
Bi is fire at the foot of the mountain, lighting the shapes of things from below: the hexagram of grace, manners and the beauty of form. The Tuan says the yielding line comes to adorn the strong, and that is why the hexagram succeeds — in a relationship, the attention, the small courtesies and the care taken over appearance are what make strength lovable. But the judgment adds 'only small advantage in going forward': ornament is for the texture of a bond, not for settling its substance.
The lines are a course in the right amount. The feet walk rather than ride (line one); the beard moves with the chin (line two); the glistening third line keeps steady under its favours; the fourth sees a white horse and a suitor where it feared a rival; the fifth brings a modest gift and is right to; and at the top the only adornment left is white. The stance is to take trouble over how you treat each other while trusting the plain truth of the bond more than its decoration.
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
- Is hexagram 22, Adornment, a good sign for love?
- Bi is fire at the foot of the mountain, lighting the shapes of things from below: the hexagram of grace, manners and the beauty of form. The Tuan says the yielding line comes to adorn the strong, and that is why the hexagram succeeds — in a relationship, the attention, the small courtesies and the care taken over appearance are what make strength lovable. But the judgment adds 'only small advantage in going forward': ornament is for the texture of a bond, not for settling its substance.
- 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).