Resoluteness

The Judgment

Resoluteness is needed when a remaining harmful influence must be openly addressed. Bring the matter before the proper assembly, speak truthfully, and acknowledge the danger without concealing it beneath confidence. Begin by making your own community understand the necessity of the action. Weapons and anger are not the fitting instruments here; they can reproduce the disorder being opposed. Advance with firmness, but let justice, public clarity, and disciplined restraint determine both the means and the end.

The Image

The lake stands above heaven, holding waters that cannot remain gathered indefinitely. The noble one therefore lets benefits flow downward instead of hoarding them. Virtue likewise must not become a possession on which one complacently rests; its worth is renewed through generous distribution and responsible action.

The two trigrams

The six lines

Read from the bottom up. A line speaks only when it moves — when the cast gives it as 6 or 9.

1. First line · the beginning · yang, nine

   The impulse to advance is concentrated at the very beginning, before the strength and position required for success are present. If you rush into a contest you cannot sustain, fault follows. Resolve must first become preparation; eagerness in the feet is not yet command.

2. Second line · the inner centre · yang, nine

   Raise the warning and remain watchful, especially when ordinary attention begins to slacken. Even if danger comes in the evening or during the night, there is no need for panic. Readiness, clear communication, and inward composure do more than a display of bravado.

3. Third line · the threshold · yang, nine

   If determination hardens into an angry countenance, danger follows. The noble one must nevertheless remain inwardly resolved, even when standing alone and encountering an uncomfortable, compromising association. Others may misunderstand and resent the appearance; fidelity to the necessary separation keeps the conduct without fault.

4. Fourth line · the minister · yang, nine

   You cannot sit comfortably, yet movement is also troubled; stubborn self-direction has brought you to an awkward place. Let yourself be guided, as one follows a creature that knows the path, and regret can fade. The difficulty is that sound counsel meets your disbelief.

5. Fifth line · the ruler · yang, nine

   The harmful growth is close at hand and easy to tolerate because of its familiarity. Remove it with repeated, sober determination, neither indulging it nor becoming consumed by hostility. Keeping your action centered and proportionate allows a necessary separation to be made without fault.

6. Top line · the end · yin, six

   The last obstructing influence remains exposed, with no effective cry for help and no secure refuge. Its end is unfortunate because it has outlasted the conditions that sustained it. When this line moves, recognize that concealment and silence cannot indefinitely protect what must depart.