The Gentle (Wind)

進退，利武人之貞。

Advancing and withdrawing. The constancy of a warrior is beneficial.

Advance and withdrawal alternate at Line 1, which favors a warrior’s constancy. Its change makes Heaven below Wind, Hexagram 9. Firmness now fills the lower trigram, offering a structural contrast with the wavering described by the line.

巽在床下，用史巫紛若，吉，无咎。

Submission beneath the bed. Scribes and ritual specialists are employed in great number. Favorable. No fault.

The low position beneath a bed accompanies a profusion of scribes and ritual specialists in Line 2. Traditional readings understand this as earnest submission and inquiry. Its change makes Mountain below Wind, Hexagram 53, placing the scene beside gradual development.

頻巽，吝。

Repeated submission. Cause for regret.

Repeated submission receives a troubled verdict in Line 3. Its change makes Water below Wind, Hexagram 59. Dispersion offers a contrasting image to repeated yielding.

悔亡，田獲三品。

Regret disappears. The hunt yields game for three uses.

The hunt supplies game for three uses: sacrifice, guests, and the household kitchen in the traditional explanation. Changing Line 4 makes Heaven above Wind, Hexagram 44. The comparison places the hunt’s provision beside an encounter.

貞吉，悔亡，无不利。无初有終，先庚三日，後庚三日，吉。

Constancy is favorable; regret disappears, and nothing is without benefit. A poor beginning, but a good ending. Three days before the day Geng and three days after it. Favorable.

Line 5 contrasts a poor beginning with a good ending and names three days on each side of Geng. Its change makes Mountain above Wind, Hexagram 18. The two texts share attention to the work surrounding a turning point; Hexagram 18 uses the day Jia.

巽在床下，喪其資斧，貞凶。

Submission beneath the bed; resources and the axe are lost. Constancy brings misfortune.

Submission has become excessive in Line 6, where resources and the axe are lost and constancy is adverse. Its change makes Water above Wind, Hexagram 48. The well’s shared source offers a contrast with depleted means.