Hexagram 58 for love
Hexagram 58 Pleasure (Lake) in love and relationships
Dui is lake over lake: two bodies of still water side by side, each feeding the other, the youngest daughter doubled. It is the hexagram of shared pleasure — talk, laughter, friends who 'discuss and practise together', as the Great Image puts it — and in a relationship it describes a bond whose life is in enjoyment of each other's company. The Judgment attaches one condition, 'steadiness is favourable', and the Tuan explains the shape: strong lines at the centre, soft lines on the outside. Joy that lasts has firmness inside it.
The lines sort pleasure into kinds. Lines one and two are joy that is harmonious and sincere; line three seeks it from others and line six lures others with it; line four has to choose between the two; line five trusts someone who is working it. For a question about love the hexagram is warm but asks where the pleasure comes from. A changing line in the lower trigram concerns your own sincerity; one in the upper trigram concerns whom you are letting close.
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
- Is hexagram 58, Pleasure (Lake), a good sign for love?
- Dui is lake over lake: two bodies of still water side by side, each feeding the other, the youngest daughter doubled. It is the hexagram of shared pleasure — talk, laughter, friends who 'discuss and practise together', as the Great Image puts it — and in a relationship it describes a bond whose life is in enjoyment of each other's company. The Judgment attaches one condition, 'steadiness is favourable', and the Tuan explains the shape: strong lines at the centre, soft lines on the outside. Joy that lasts has firmness inside 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).