Hexagram 57: Xun

Wind over Wind · 巽为风 · Tendency: Auspicious

Structure

• Number: 57 (King Wen sequence)
• Symbol: ䷸
• Upper trigram: Xun (Wind)
• Lower trigram: Xun (Wind)
• Lines: yin yang yang yin yang yang (bottom to top)

The statement

小亨。利有攸往。利见大人。

——《周易》

What this hexagram indicates

This hexagram indicates gentle penetration and slow progress, more effective than forceful charging. Suitable for communication, coordination, persuasion, and executing details. Note that compliance must have direction; you cannot just cater to others. Without your own opinion, things can easily drift away.

A Buddhist reading

Xun (Penetration) means entering and yielding. Zhixu continues from the traveller: whoever travels well is at ease wherever he enters, and without the capacity to yield there is nowhere to be received. In contemplative terms Xun is the training in concentration, which must yield to real wisdom before principle is seen. On the wavering of the first line he cuts straight through: affairs in themselves hold nothing doubtful, it is the will that doubts first, and one firm decision settles it. He also reads the six lines as stages of practice, ending with a warning that yielding without correctness turns wisdom crooked and burns up merit.

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 56: Lv
• Next / Inverted: Hexagram 58: Duithe whole figure turned upside down
• Opposite: Hexagram 51: Zhenevery line changed to its opposite
• Nuclear: Hexagram 38: Kuilines 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.