Hexagram 40 of 64
解 xiè
Deliverance
震 (zhèn, Thunder) above · 坎 (kǎn, Water) below
The Judgment 卦辞
The knot loosens — thunder and rain clear the air. Resolve what remains, forgive what deserves it, then return to everyday matters quickly. Do not carry it further.
The Image 大象
Thunder and rain: deliverance. The wise person pardons faults and forgives crimes.
The six lines 爻辞
Each line of 解 has its own classical text. If a line in your cast is changing, its text is the heart of your reading.
Line 1 · 初六
No blame. The loosening begins simply.
「无咎」
Line 2 · 九二
Hunting takes three foxes and a golden arrow. Getting to the root of the cunning — steady, good fortune.
「田获三狐，得黄矢，贞吉」
Line 3 · 六三
Riding a cart piled with loot you carried yourself — inviting the robber. Vulnerability flaunted.
「负且乘，致寇至，贞吝」
Line 4 · 九四
Untie the knot at your thumb — release your grip, and friends arrive with trust.
「解而拇，朋至斯孚」
Line 5 · 六五
The wise find release — good fortune — and even the small come to trust them.
「君子维有解，吉，有孚于小人」
Line 6 · 上六
The duke shoots the hawk from the high wall and takes it. The problem solved cleanly, at last — nothing amiss.
「公用射隼于高墉之上，获之，无不利」
If you drew this in a reading
A favorable pattern. Among the sixty-four patterns, this one belongs to the favorable family: its core movement supports what you would do with it. Favorable does not mean automatic — the hexagram still asks you to hold up your end with steadiness and good faith.
In yes/no questions this hexagram leans yes — the pattern supports proceeding.
The trigrams give the flavor: 震 (Thunder) above — arousing shock — movement, initiative, sudden change — over 坎 (Water) below — the abysmal — depth, danger, flow through difficulty. Where those two energies meet, 解 is born.
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