Hexagram 50 as yes or no
Hexagram 50 Cauldron as a yes-or-no answer
As an answer to a yes-or-no question Ding says yes, with the fullest judgment in the book: 'great good fortune, success'. The matter asked about is a vessel that can hold and transform what is put into it, and the hexagram's whole image is of raw things becoming nourishing through patience and fire. What it does not promise is that every position in the process is sound; the fourth line's broken leg is the sharpest warning in the hexagram.
If the changing line is in the lower trigram, the answer is yes but the work is preparatory: empty the old out (one), guard what you have against envy (two), or wait for the way to reopen (three). If it is the fourth line, the answer is no — the support is too weak for the load. If it is the fifth or the sixth, the answer is a clear yes: hold the centre and let the able carry, or act with tempered strength.
The hexagram in brief
Fire over wood: the cauldron that cooks the offering. Supreme success — the vessel that turns raw into cooked, nourishing the wise and settling the new order after a revolution.
Put things in their proper place, cultivate talent, and let the new arrangement mature slowly on the fire.
The judgment
鼎：元吉，亨。Ting gives the intimation of great progress and success.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 鼎 Cauldron has its own page:
- 初六Six at the beginningoverturned · clearing out · humble beginnings
- 九二Nine in the second placesubstance within · envy at a distance · guard your steps
- 九三Nine in the third placehandles changed · blocked · rain at last
- 九四Nine in the fourth placebroken leg · spilled offering · beyond one's strength
- 六五Six in the fifth placeyellow ears · the centre · firmness
- 上九Nine at the topjade bar · tempered strength · great fortune
The same hexagram for
Questions
- Does hexagram 50, Cauldron, mean yes or no?
- As an answer to a yes-or-no question Ding says yes, with the fullest judgment in the book: 'great good fortune, success'. The matter asked about is a vessel that can hold and transform what is put into it, and the hexagram's whole image is of raw things becoming nourishing through patience and fire. What it does not promise is that every position in the process is sound; the fourth line's broken leg is the sharpest warning in the hexagram.
- What does Hexagram 50, 鼎 Cauldron, mean?
- Fire over wood: the cauldron that cooks the offering. Supreme success — the vessel that turns raw into cooked, nourishing the wise and settling the new order after a revolution.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).