Hexagram 57 of 64
巽 xùn
The Gentle · Wind
巽 (xùn, Wind) above · 巽 (xùn, Wind) below
The Judgment 卦辞
Wind follows wind — influence by gentle repetition, not force. Enter the situation quietly, again and again, like scent through a room.
The Image 大象
Wind doubled: the gentle. The wise person repeats the message, issuing commands among the people.
The six lines 爻辞
Each line of 巽 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
Advancing, retreating — wavering. The soldier's decisiveness is what furthers.
「进退,利武人之贞」
Line 2 · 九二
Beneath the bed in humility — messengers and shamans busy at the work. Good fortune, no blame.
「巽在床下,用史巫纷若,吉无咎」
Line 3 · 九三
Forced compliance, over and over. A cringing that limits.
「频巽,吝」
Line 4 · 六四
Regret gone: the hunt takes three kinds of game. Quiet persistence provides.
「悔亡,田获三品」
Line 5 · 九五
Steady — regret gone, nothing amiss. No beginning worth having, but an end: announce three days before, three days after. Good fortune.
「贞吉悔亡,无不利。无初有终,先庚三日,后庚三日,吉」
Line 6 · 上九
Submission beneath the bed — the traveler's money and tools lost. Yielding past all measure: misfortune.
「巽在床下,丧其资斧,贞凶」
If you drew this in a reading
A pattern of tension and craft. This hexagram belongs to the large middle family of mixed patterns: it works, but only along its own grain. Read the Judgment closely — mixed hexagrams usually name the exact condition on which their promise depends.
In yes/no questions this hexagram reads as “not yet clear” — the answer hinges on timing and execution.
The trigrams give the flavor: 巽 (Wind) above — gentle penetration — gradual influence, flexibility, patience — over 巽 (Wind) below — gentle penetration — gradual influence, flexibility, patience. Where those two energies meet, 巽 is born.
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