Hexagram 45, line 3
六三Line 3 of Assembly
Six in the third place · 萃 cuì
爻辭 The line text
萃如，嗟如，无攸利，往无咎，小吝。The third line, divided, shows its subject striving after union and seeming to sigh, yet nowhere finding any advantage. If he go forward, he will not err, though there may be some small cause for regret.
往无咎，上巽也。'If he go forward, he will not err:'—in the subject of the topmost line there is humility and condescension.
In plain words
Line three 'gathers, then sighs — nothing is favourable; going forward is without blame, a small regret' (萃如，嗟如，無攸利，往無咎，小吝). Yin in a yang place at the top of Kun, it has no correlate: the top line is yin like itself. It wants to join the two strong lines above it, but the fourth is claimed by the first line and the fifth by the second. So it sighs. The small Image finds the way out: going forward is without blame because the top line is yielding (上巽也) — the one place that will receive it is the top, another outsider. A small regret, but a place.
If this line is changing
The circle you want to join is already paired off, and sighing about it changes nothing; go toward the one who will actually receive you, even if it is not the place you first wanted.
Where the line stands
- A broken line, yin — written 六 (six), the number of an old yin line that moves when cast.
- It is not in its correct place (不當位): a yang line in an even position or a yin line in an odd one, which the tradition reads as a line under some strain — often the reason a text sounds a warning.
- It belongs to the lower trigram 坤 Kun (the Receptive) (earth).
- It has no correspondence (無應) with line 6: both lines are yin, so this line must find its support in its neighbours or in itself.
之卦 When this line moves
萃 Assembly becomes ䷞ 31 咸 Sensing
Lake on the mountain: the mountain yields and the lake moistens it — mutual attraction. Success; taking a wife brings good fortune; influence that comes from genuine, emptied-out receptiveness.
What it becomes31 · 咸 SensingxiánThe six lines of 萃 Assembly
- 初六Six at the beginningsincerity that falters · confusion in the crowd · cry and it turns to laughter
- 六二Six in the second placedrawn forward · unchanged centre · small offering accepted
- 六三Six in the third placesighing to gather · nowhere to belong · small regret
- 九四Nine in the fourth placegreat fortune required · wrong place · gathering below the ruler
- 九五Nine in the fifth placegathering in office · not yet trusted · lasting steadiness
- 上六Six at the topsighs and tears · no rest at the top · left out of the gathering
Read 萃 Assembly for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Six in the third place of hexagram 45, Assembly, mean?
- Line three 'gathers, then sighs — nothing is favourable; going forward is without blame, a small regret' (萃如，嗟如，無攸利，往無咎，小吝). Yin in a yang place at the top of Kun, it has no correlate: the top line is yin like itself. It wants to join the two strong lines above it, but the fourth is claimed by the first line and the fifth by the second. So it sighs. The small Image finds the way out: going forward is without blame because the top line is yielding (上巽也) — the one place that will receive it is the top, another outsider. A small regret, but a place.
- What does hexagram 45 become when line 3 changes?
- Assembly becomes hexagram 31, 咸 Sensing: Lake on the mountain: the mountain yields and the lake moistens it — mutual attraction. Success; taking a wife brings good fortune; influence that comes from genuine, emptied-out receptiveness.
- Is line 3 of Assembly in its correct place?
- It is not in its correct place (不當位): a yang line in an even position or a yin line in an odd one, which the tradition reads as a line under some strain — often the reason a text sounds a warning.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).