Jiji :: Already Across

Offering: favorable :: Auspicious at the beginning : disorder in the end

既濟

䷾

6 :: first

Wheels bogged down in mud. Tailgates get wet. No misfortune.

You encounter some expected problems at the beginning of a journey. Resolving these problems now is easy and stops them from developing into obstacles.

9 :: second

A hair ornament is lost. Not chasing after it; it is recovered in seven days.

Small losses at the beginning of a journey should not distract you or halt your progress. Stay focused. What is lost is returned or recovered "further down stream."

6 :: third

Gaozong quelled Guifang.¹ It took three years. Small people cannot succeed.

Do not overestimate yourself. When you are in a disadvantaged position, stay centered. Do not promote or make alliances with inferior or unreliable people. Such bad judgment makes things worse.

9 :: fourth

The boat leak is caulked with wadded silk. Stay alert all day long.

Your temporary solution is useful. The problem will, however, require careful and constant attention. Stopgap measures suffice for now.

9 :: fifth

Easterners offer oxen.
Westerners offer simple sacrifices,² but receive a full blessing.

When you assume power, practice sincerity not extravagance. Simplicity and frugality can express power. An appropriate offering, made with humility and sincerity, is the key to success. Showing gratitude is an act of power.

6 :: top

Getting the head wet. Danger.

You are in over your head. Going forward is full of danger.

Image

Juji is about the continuity of change and questions the notion that it is possible to be truly finished or complete. When we start out, the goal is to cross a river, when we get to the other side of the river we realize that there is still more to do. The obvious end of efforts and the accomplishment of a goal, are, more often than not, the beginning of what must be done next.

Jiji is change but, like a dynasty, is a series of reigns that create a continuity of leadership.

Auspices

Everything is ending well but decline and disorder is inevitable. Do not hurry or press for completion.

Good for stepping down, inheritance, traveling in familiar places, and marriage.

Bad for new plans, innovation, and taking things for granted.

Comment

Jiji and Weiji (64) paradoxically conclude the Zhouyi. Paradoxically because these two hexagrams say that things do not end. "End" is merely one of many phases of change and, in this case, one that indicates a new "beginning."

For that reason the wisdom of Jiji is cautionary. Do not imagine that change ever stops. Things do not come to an end. When you succeed, do not assume things are complete or finished. To maintain success is no easy matter. When we are triumphant, we are fated to have the same decline and loss as our predecessor.

The Zhouyi concludes by saying, "Life goes on, new directions open up, and others take charge, in the great continuity of change."

Other Correspondences

Business: Liquidating assets, retirement, collecting receivables on long-term investment.

Disharmonies: Premature aging, senility, yin and yang deficiency, and stress-related trauma.

Prognosis: Fair. The patient improves, but relapses.