Hexagram 37: Jia Ren

Wind over Fire · 风火家人 · Tendency: Auspicious

Structure

• Number: 37 (King Wen sequence)
• Symbol: ䷤
• Upper trigram: Xun (Wind)
• Lower trigram: Li (Fire)
• Lines: yang yin yang yin yang yang (bottom to top)

The statement

利女贞。

——《周易》

What this hexagram indicates

This hexagram indicates that within the family, team, or close relationships, each must stay in their proper place. It is suitable to clarify responsibilities, speak honestly, and establish daily rules. Do not focus only on feelings without boundaries. Once internal stability is achieved, external matters will go smoothly.

A Buddhist reading

To heal the wounds of the world, Ouyi Zhixu says, turn back to the household. He reads Jia Ren (The Family) entirely as the household of the mind: mind-only is the home of the teaching, meditative stillness holds the mind and merges inwardly with reality, wisdom understands objects and functions outwardly, and merit and insight support each other, which is what it means for each member of a family to keep their place. He matches the lines to the three trainings: the first is precepts, the second concentration, the third wisdom. Speech with substance and conduct with constancy mean words that are not empty and behavior that is not performance. When one place becomes pure, all ten directions become pure with it.

After Ouyi Zhixu (1599-1655), whose Chan commentary on the Changes reads each hexagram as a stage of practice.

The statement is quoted from the Book of Changes, which is in the public domain. The English reading on this page was prepared for this library.

Related hexagrams

• Previous: Hexagram 36: Ming Yi
• Next / Inverted: Hexagram 38: Kuithe whole figure turned upside down
• Opposite: Hexagram 40: Xieevery line changed to its opposite
• Nuclear: Hexagram 64: Wei Jilines two to four below, three to five above

Related

• Liu Yao Divination ChartLiu Yao casts a hexagram about one specific matter and reads its structure. Unlike BaZi or Zi Wei, which describe a person, Liu Yao describes how a situation stands at a particular moment. This page walks through the full process from casting to attribution.
• Mei Hua Yi Shu CalculatorMei Hua Yi Shu is traditionally attributed to Shao Yong. What sets it apart is how freely it casts: a time, a spoken number, a direction or something noticed in passing will all serve. It attaches no stems and no relatives, reading the trigrams directly. This page covers casting through to the subject and object.