Hexagram 35: Progress
Jin · 晉
The Judgment
The powerful lord is honored with horses in great numbers. In a single day he is granted audience three times. The sun rises over the earth—rapid, easy progress with widening expansion and clarity. A twofold condition: the leader has clarity not to abuse influence but uses it for the benefit of the ruler. The ruler is free of jealousy and showers rewards. Enlightened ruler, obedient servant—this is how great progress happens.
The Image
The sun rises over the earth, emerging from dark mists into pristine clarity. Brighten your own virtue. Human nature is originally good but becomes clouded by earthly things. Purification allows the native clarity to shine forth.
「明出地上，晉。君子以自昭明德。」太陽升起，穿過濃霧，越升越高，光芒越發清澈。人的本性大概也是這樣——原本明亮，被塵世遮蔽了，需要淨化才能再次發光。這話說來容易。
The Six Lines
Progressing but turned back. If met with no confidence, remain calm. Persistence in what's right brings good fortune. Don't try to force trust. Refuse to be roused to anger. Freedom from mistakes comes through steady composure.
Progressing but in sorrow. Blocked from the authority you're connected to. Remain persistent through the grief; with maternal gentleness, happiness will come. Mutual attraction based on correct principles, not selfish motives.
All are in accord. Remorse disappears. Moving forward with others whose support encourages you. No regret about lacking independence—collective progress works.
Progress like a hamster. Persistence brings danger. In times of progress, it's easy to amass possessions through dubious means. But such conduct shuns light. Times of progress are also when shady dealings get exposed.
Remorse disappears. Don't take gain or loss to heart. Gentle and reserved in an influential position, you might reproach yourself for not maximizing advantage. Let that regret go—what matters is securing opportunities for beneficial influence.
Advancing with horns—permissible only when disciplining your own people. Offensive action is always dangerous. Avoid the mistakes that threaten; succeed in what you set out to do. Persistence in aggressive behavior toward outsiders brings humiliation.
Artwork & Treatise
The Fighting Temeraire
J.M.W. Turner, 1839
An aging warship glides toward its final berth, towed by a steam tugboat across glowing water in J.M.W. Turner's 1839 masterpiece. The HMS Temeraire—veteran of Trafalgar, Nelson's great sea battle—moves as a ghost of white sails against the setting sun. Behind the old ship, a small steam tug churns forward, black smokestack asserting the new industrial power that renders sailing vessels obsolete. Turner positions the viewer at the moment of transition, when one era yields to another, when the old gives way not through catastrophe but through the inexorable advance of what comes next.
This is Jìn (晉), Progress. The character depicts the sun rising above the horizon, advancement becoming visible. Ancient diviners saw this configuration when Fire (Lí) sits above Earth (Kūn)—clarity and illumination rising from receptive foundation, light emerging into visibility. Turner's painting captures this structure: the old warship represents what has served its time, while the steam tug embodies the rising clarity of new methods, new powers advancing not through combat but through superior capability.
{artwork_reasoning}
The Judgment text addresses the psychology of advancement: "Progress. The powerful prince is honored with horses in large numbers. In a single day he is granted audience three times." Zhou Dynasty practitioners understood that genuine progress brings recognition without self-promotion. When Fire rises above Earth, advancement occurs through merit becoming visible rather than through ambition pushing forward. Song Dynasty commentators noted this hexagram appeared when worthy officials received promotion, when beneficial innovations gained adoption, when ideas whose time had arrived spread through receptive acceptance rather than forceful advocacy.
The Image Text reveals the method: "The sun rises over the earth: the image of Progress. Thus the superior man himself brightens his bright virtue." Turner's sunset paradoxically illustrates this principle—the old warship moves toward darkness while embodying past glory, but the image captures how light itself demonstrates progress through its natural rising and setting. In the I-Ching's sequence, Jìn follows Dà Zhuàng (Great Power): after power reaches fullness, progress manifests through that power's proper application. The Temeraire advances toward its end with dignity, making way for what must rise next. Progress serves not the advancement of self but the unfolding of what naturally succeeds.
Yilin Verse
銷鋒鑄耜，休牛放馬，甲兵解散，夫婦相保。
Jiao Yanshou's Forest of Changes (焦氏易林) — Unchanging verse for 晉 (Jìn)
Character-by-Character Breakdown
Classical Chinese text with pinyin and English meanings