Hexagram 63, line 2
六二Line 2 of Already Crossed
Six in the second place · 既濟 jì jì
爻辭 The line text
婦喪其茀，勿逐，七日得。The second line, divided, (shows its subject as) a wife who has lost her (carriage-)screen. There is no occasion to go in pursuit of it. In seven days she will find it.
七日得，以中道也。'In seven days she will find it:'—for the course pursued is that indicated by the central position (of the line).
In plain words
Line two is yin in the central and correct place of the fire, the line the Tuan credits for the Judgment's 'good fortune at the beginning'. It corresponds to the ruler at five, but in a finished order the ruler has no need of it, and the text pictures a wife who 'loses her carriage screen' — the fitting that lets her go out properly — so that for the moment she cannot be received. The instruction is 'do not pursue it'; 'in seven days she will get it', seven being the span of a full cycle of lines. The small Image says this is 'by way of the centre' (以中道也): a central line waits, and the time that took the screen brings it back.
If this line is changing
Something you need in order to be received has gone missing; do not chase after it or force your way in, the cycle that took it will return it on its own.
Where the line stands
- A broken line, yin — written 六 (six), the number of an old yin line that moves when cast.
- It is in its correct place (當位): a yang line in an odd position or a yin line in an even one, which the tradition reads as a line at ease where it stands.
- It is central (中): the middle line of its trigram, the position the commentaries read as balanced and most favourable.
- It belongs to the lower trigram 離 Li (the Clinging) (fire).
- It corresponds (應) with line 5: one yin and one yang, the two lines answer each other across the hexagram.
之卦 When this line moves
既濟 Already Crossed becomes ䷄ 5 需 Attending
Clouds rising to heaven: rain that will come in its time. Confident waiting — not idle, but nourishing yourself until the crossing is safe.
What it becomes5 · 需 AttendingxūThe six lines of 既濟 Already Crossed
- 初九Nine at the beginningbraking the wheel · wet tail · restraint at the start
- 六二Six in the second placelost carriage screen · do not chase · seven days
- 九三Nine in the third placethe long campaign · three years · exhaustion
- 六四Six in the fourth placerags for the leak · all-day vigilance · doubt
- 九五Nine in the fifth placeeast and west neighbours · the lavish and the sincere · timing
- 上六Six at the tophead under water · peril · cannot last
Read 既濟 Already Crossed for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Six in the second place of hexagram 63, Already Crossed, mean?
- Line two is yin in the central and correct place of the fire, the line the Tuan credits for the Judgment's 'good fortune at the beginning'. It corresponds to the ruler at five, but in a finished order the ruler has no need of it, and the text pictures a wife who 'loses her carriage screen' — the fitting that lets her go out properly — so that for the moment she cannot be received. The instruction is 'do not pursue it'; 'in seven days she will get it', seven being the span of a full cycle of lines. The small Image says this is 'by way of the centre' (以中道也): a central line waits, and the time that took the screen brings it back.
- What does hexagram 63 become when line 2 changes?
- Already Crossed becomes hexagram 5, 需 Attending: Clouds rising to heaven: rain that will come in its time. Confident waiting — not idle, but nourishing yourself until the crossing is safe.
- Is line 2 of Already Crossed in its correct place?
- It is in its correct place (當位): a yang line in an odd position or a yin line in an even one, which the tradition reads as a line at ease where it stands. It is central (中): the middle line of its trigram, the position the commentaries read as balanced and most favourable.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).