Is line 1 of Dispersing 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.

Hexagram 59, line 1

初六Line 1 of Dispersing

Six at the beginning · 渙 huàn

early rescuestrong horsegoing along

爻辭 The line text

用拯馬壯，吉。

The first line, divided, shows its subject engaged in rescuing (from the impending evil) and having (the assistance of) a strong horse. There will be good fortune.

Its symbolism

初六之吉，順也。

'The good fortune attached to the first line, divided,' is due to the natural course (pursued by its subject).

In plain words

At the bottom of Huan the dispersal has only just begun, and the first line is a weak line that cannot act alone: it 'uses a strong horse to rescue' — the strong horse being line two above it, the yang line at the centre of the water. Help is near and the drifting apart has not yet gone far, so the text says good fortune without qualification. The small Image gives the reason as compliance (順): the weak line does not resist the current or strike out by itself but goes along with the strong one next to it. In the story of the hexagram this is the moment when a split can still be mended by accepting the right support.

If this line is changing

Things have only just started to come apart; take hold of the strong help nearest you now, rather than trying to fix it alone later.

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 坎 Kan (the Abysmal) (water).
It has no correspondence (無應) with line 4: both lines are yin, so this line must find its support in its neighbours or in itself.

之卦 When this line moves

渙 Dispersing becomes ䷼ 61 中孚 Inner Sincerity

Wind over the lake: inner truth that moves even pigs and fishes. Good fortune, favourable to cross the great river — sincerity at the centre reaches what force cannot.

What it becomes61 · 中孚 Inner Sincerityzhōng fú

The six lines of 渙 Dispersing

Read 渙 Dispersing for a question about

Love and relationships Work and career A yes-or-no decision

Questions about this line

What does Six at the beginning of hexagram 59, Dispersing, mean?: At the bottom of Huan the dispersal has only just begun, and the first line is a weak line that cannot act alone: it 'uses a strong horse to rescue' — the strong horse being line two above it, the yang line at the centre of the water. Help is near and the drifting apart has not yet gone far, so the text says good fortune without qualification. The small Image gives the reason as compliance (順): the weak line does not resist the current or strike out by itself but goes along with the strong one next to it. In the story of the hexagram this is the moment when a split can still be mended by accepting the right support.
What does hexagram 59 become when line 1 changes?: Dispersing becomes hexagram 61, 中孚 Inner Sincerity: Wind over the lake: inner truth that moves even pigs and fishes. Good fortune, favourable to cross the great river — sincerity at the centre reaches what force cannot.
Is line 1 of Dispersing 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.

Cast a reading Hexagram 59 in full Changing lines explained

Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).