Hexagram 49
Revolution
革 · 혁
Lake over Fire
The Judgment
Revolution becomes rightful when the old order can no longer nourish the people, yet even necessary change does not win trust at its first announcement. Let the appointed season arrive, and let conduct make the purpose credible. Then renewal may prosper through steadfast adherence to what is just. Regret falls away when private resentment yields to public necessity. The worthy reformer changes institutions to restore their living purpose, not merely to display the power to overthrow.
The Image
Fire burns beneath the lake, and the two powers press against one another: heat transforms water, while water restrains flame. The noble one studies these changes, orders the calendar, and distinguishes the seasons. Thus reform follows intelligible rhythms rather than the fever of personal impatience.
In the light of the Dao
The Dao renews without clinging to the forms it has produced. When a vessel of custom has become a prison, yielding to the deeper movement may require decisive alteration. Yet forced novelty is another bondage. True revolution releases life into a simpler, more fitting course.
The two trigrams
Upper · outer
☱Lake
Joyous, open · Youngest daughter
Lower · inner
☲Fire
Clinging, clarity · Middle daughter
The six lines
Read from the bottom up. A line speaks only when it moves — when the cast gives it as 6 or 9.
First line · the beginning · yang, nine
At the beginning, bind the impulse to change as securely as something fastened with tough yellow hide. Central purpose and patient restraint are needed. The time has not opened; movement born only of excitement would sacrifice the very trust that later reform requires.
Second line · the inner centre · yin, six
The proper day has come, and inward preparation may now become outward action. Undertake the change with clarity rather than apology. Because necessity and timing agree, advance can bring benefit without fault; hesitation would now serve the exhausted order rather than the common good.
Third line · the threshold · yang, nine
A hasty advance invites harm, but rigid insistence is also dangerous. Let the proposed reform be examined and discussed repeatedly until its necessity is understood. When consideration has ripened into shared conviction, trust becomes sufficient for action; mere repetition of slogans cannot provide it.
Fourth line · the minister · yang, nine
The grounds for regret disappear when the change rests upon genuine confidence. Authority may now be redirected, and the governing purpose renewed. Success comes not from seizing permission but from making the necessity plain, so that conviction sustains what force alone could never establish.
Fifth line · the ruler · yang, nine
The great person renews the order with the unmistakable beauty and strength of a tiger's changing coat. The pattern is evident in conduct before any oracle is consulted. Such transformation persuades through its visible coherence, leaving little need for proclamation or anxious self-justification.
Top line · the end · yin, six
The noble person completes the change with the finer pattern of a leopard, while lesser people may alter only their outward manner. Do not demand endless transformations or pursue further conquest. Preserve the achieved order through constancy, allowing deeper acceptance to mature in peace.