Hexagram 57: The Gentle
Xun · 巽
The Judgment
Success through what is small. It furthers one to have somewhere to go. It furthers one to see the great man. Penetration produces gradual and inconspicuous effects—not by an act of violation but by influence that never lapses. Results of this kind are less striking than those won by surprise attack, but more enduring and more complete. To produce such effects, you must have a clearly defined goal. Only when influence works always in the same direction can the object be attained. Small strength can achieve its purpose only by subordinating itself to an eminent person capable of creating order.
The Image
Winds following one upon another. Spread commands abroad and carry out undertakings. The penetrating quality of wind depends upon its ceaselessness—this is what makes it powerful; time is its instrument. In the same way, a ruler's thought should penetrate the soul of the people. This too requires lasting influence through enlightenment and command. Only when the command has been assimilated is action in accordance with it possible. Action without preparation only frightens and repels.
「隨風，巽。」風接著風，一陣又一陣。君子用這個道理來傳達命令、執行事務。但我想，重點不是命令本身，而是那種滲透——你說的話，要讓人吸收進去，才有意義。急躁的話語往往只會嚇跑人。
The Six Lines
In advancing and in retreating, the persistence of a warrior furthers. Inborn gentleness is often carried to the point of indecisiveness. A thousand doubts crop up. In such a situation, military decisiveness is proper—resolutely do what order demands. Resolute discipline is far better than irresolute license.
Penetration under the bed. Priests and magicians are used in great number. Good fortune. No blame. At times you must deal with hidden enemies, intangible influences that slink into dark corners and affect people by suggestion. Trace these things back to their most secret recesses. When such elusive influences are brought into the light and branded, they lose their power over people.
Repeated penetration. Humiliation. Penetrating reflection must not be pushed too far, lest it cripple the power of decision. After a matter has been thoroughly pondered, it is essential to form a decision and act. Repeated deliberation brings fresh doubts and scruples, and thereby humiliation, because one shows oneself unable to act.
Remorse vanishes. During the hunt three kinds of game are caught. When a responsible position and accumulated experience lead one to combine innate modesty with energetic action, great success is assured. When the catch serves all three purposes—offerings, feasting, and everyday consumption—the hunt was especially successful.
Persistence brings good fortune. Remorse vanishes. Nothing that does not further. No beginning, but an end. Before the change, three days. After the change, three days. Good fortune. The moment has been reached when a new direction can be taken. Change and improvement are called for. Such steps must be undertaken with steadfastness. Before a change is made, it must be pondered over again and again. After the change, note carefully how improvements bear the test of actuality.
Penetration under the bed. He loses his property and his ax. Persistence brings misfortune. Your understanding is sufficiently penetrating. You follow up injurious influences into the most secret corners. But you no longer have the strength to combat them decisively. Any attempt to penetrate into the personal domain of darkness would only bring harm.
Artwork & Treatise
Cloud Study, Hampstead, Tree at Right
John Constable, 1821
Clouds shift and reform across John Constable's Hampstead sky. The English painter made this oil sketch in 1821, part of a systematic study of atmospheric phenomena—dozens of cloud studies documenting how invisible air currents shape visible vapor. Wind moves through the composition without appearing in it, reshaping cumulus masses through continuous, patient pressure.
This captures what Zhou Dynasty diviners called Xun (巽), the doubled Wind trigram—gentle penetration. Wind above, wind below: subtle force working through the smallest openings. The ancient character 巽 shows a person kneeling in submission, suggesting influence through yielding rather than assertion. Where hexagram 51's doubled Thunder shocks with sudden power, Xun works gradually, the way Constable's wind sculpts clouds or air seeps through cracks stone cannot stop. Ancient practitioners saw this configuration when circumstances required tact, when transformation demanded patience, when forceful action would shatter what gentle persistence might shape.
{artwork_reasoning}
The Judgment speaks to Constable's scientific method: "Small success. It furthers one to have somewhere to go. It furthers one to see the great man." The painter returned to Hampstead Heath repeatedly, studying the same phenomena from different angles. Zhou court diviners associated Xun with wood and growth—not the thunder-crack of sprouting, but the slow work of roots finding pathways through soil. Wind bends trees without breaking them, enters buildings through gaps no eye can see.
The Image Text offers unexpected counsel: "Winds following one upon the other: the image of the Gently Penetrating. Thus the superior one spreads commands abroad and carries out undertakings." Constable's clouds demonstrate this principle—each gust builds on the previous one, cumulative pressure creating forms that individual gusts could never shape. In the I-Ching sequence, Xun follows hexagram 56's Wanderer: after displacement comes the work of gradually re-establishing influence, seeping back into spaces through persistent, humble attention to small openings.
Yilin Verse
溫山松柏，常茂不落。鸞鳳以庇，得其歡樂。
Jiao Yanshou's Forest of Changes (焦氏易林) — Unchanging verse for 巽 (Xun)
Character-by-Character Breakdown
Classical Chinese text with pinyin and English meanings