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I Ching · Hexagram 22 Grace

Hexagram 22 for decisions: Grace

賁 Bì · A decision

Fine for small choices of form and manner. For a large decision, strip away the presentation and decide on substance. The reading explicitly does not support deciding great matters by appearances.

Fire below, mountain above: fire lighting the mountain from beneath, making it beautiful. Grace is about form: manners, presentation, art, the way things look and are arranged. The tradition's judgement is favourable in small matters, and the qualification is the whole point. Beauty of form is right and good and it is not the same as substance. The reading says the situation calls for care in how things are presented, that this care is worth taking, and that it must not be mistaken for the thing itself. Grace clarifies small matters; it does not decide great ones.

Advice
Give form its due care, keep it in proportion, and decide large matters on substance.
Warning
Adornment mistaken for substance leads to decisions made on the surface of things.

The changing lines, read for decisions

If your cast of Hexagram 22 had changing lines, these are what each one adds to a decision question, and where each leads.

  1. Line 1 · changes into 52 Keeping Still

    Lending grace to one's toes, leaving the carriage and walking. Take the plain path rather than borrowed splendour.

  2. Line 2 · changes into 26 Great Taming

    Lends grace to the beard. If your role is to adorn, follow the substance you adorn.

  3. Line 3 · changes into 27 Nourishment

    Graceful and moist. Constant persistence brings good fortune. Enjoy the ease and keep your discipline inside it.

  4. Line 4 · changes into 30 The Clinging

    Grace or simplicity? A white horse comes as if on wings. Not a robber but a suitor. Choose simplicity; the approach that follows is sincere.

  5. Line 5 · changes into 37 The Family

    Grace in the hills and gardens. The bundle of silk is small. Humiliation, then good fortune. Offer what you have, modestly and sincerely; it is enough.

  6. Line 6 · changes into 36 Darkening of the Light

    Simple grace. No blame. Let the ornament go; plainness is the final elegance.

Hexagram 22 in fullLove & relationshipsCareerMoney

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