Hexagram 58 as yes or no
Hexagram 58 Pleasure (Lake) as a yes-or-no answer
As an answer to a yes-or-no question Dui is a friendly yes with a steadiness clause: 'success; steadiness is favourable.' What you ask about is agreeable, the people involved are inclined to be pleased, and the mood is on your side. What the hexagram cannot guarantee is that pleasantness equals soundness; its own structure, firm at the centre and soft outside, is the standard it wants you to apply. Ask whether the attractive option has something solid in the middle of it.
So: yes, if your own motives are sincere and the appeal of the thing is not the only reason for it. A changing line in the lower trigram turns the question inward — line one and two say go ahead, line three says you are chasing approval and the answer is no. A changing line in the upper trigram turns it toward others: line four says choose the sound option and proceed, line five says someone you trust is steering you and you should slow down, and line six says the attraction is being manufactured, so decline.
The hexagram in brief
Lake upon lake: joy. Success through correctness — inner firmness, outer gentleness; friends discussing and practising together, a joy that makes people forget their toil.
Share joy honestly; be open but not flattering, and don't buy pleasure at the cost of principle.
The judgment
兌：亨，利貞。Tui intimates that (under its conditions) there will be progress and attainment. (But) it will be advantageous to be firm and correct.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 兌 Pleasure (Lake) has its own page:
- 初九Nine at the beginningharmonious joy · nothing to doubt · self-contained
- 九二Nine in the second placesincere joy · trust · regret vanishes
- 六三Six in the third placeseeking pleasure · flattery · wrong place
- 九四Nine in the fourth placeweighing pleasures · unsettled · keeping away from harm
- 九五Nine in the fifth placetrusting the wrong one · danger · correct place
- 上六Six at the topdrawing others in · pleasure as lure · not yet bright
The same hexagram for
Questions
- Does hexagram 58, Pleasure (Lake), mean yes or no?
- As an answer to a yes-or-no question Dui is a friendly yes with a steadiness clause: 'success; steadiness is favourable.' What you ask about is agreeable, the people involved are inclined to be pleased, and the mood is on your side. What the hexagram cannot guarantee is that pleasantness equals soundness; its own structure, firm at the centre and soft outside, is the standard it wants you to apply. Ask whether the attractive option has something solid in the middle of it.
- What does Hexagram 58, 兌 Pleasure (Lake), mean?
- Lake upon lake: joy. Success through correctness — inner firmness, outer gentleness; friends discussing and practising together, a joy that makes people forget their toil.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).