Hexagram 61: Zhong Fu

Wind over Lake · 风泽中孚 · Tendency: Auspicious

Structure

• Number: 61 (King Wen sequence)
• Symbol: ䷼
• Upper trigram: Xun (Wind)
• Lower trigram: Dui (Lake)
• Lines: yang yang yin yin yang yang (bottom to top)

The statement

豚鱼，吉。利涉大川，利贞。

——《周易》

What this hexagram indicates

This hexagram indicates that sincerity and trust are key. It is suitable for discussing cooperation, repairing relationships, and seeking support. As long as the heart is genuine and expression is clear, it is easier to move others. Note that integrity cannot be just lip service; actions must match words.

A Buddhist reading

Zhixu glosses fu as resonance that matches, and zhong, the centre, as the source of that resonance, like river creatures leaping before the wind with no calculation whatever, whereas human cleverness grows so practised that it falls short of that mindless response. He then points straight at the present thought and its nature: sought for, it cannot be found, which is utter emptiness; present in everything without remainder, which is utter reality, and emptiness and reality were never two things. The first line asks that the work begin before a thought arises, since the moment one stirs there is already an elsewhere.

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 60: Jie
• Next / Opposite: Hexagram 62: Xiao Guoevery line changed to its opposite
• Nuclear: Hexagram 27: Yilines 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.