What this change means
Making one's virtue last, with constancy: the fifth line of What Lasts is the center of everything here, and it comes with a twist. It brings good fortune to the wife and misfortune to the husband, a reminder that the same steadiness can suit one role and fail another. As it moves, the Thunder above becomes Lake. The practical counsel is that your achievements now depend on being bold and opening yourself to new paths. The resulting hexagram, 28 Excesses, explains the urgency: something you've built is under more strain than it was made for, and extraordinary measures may be needed to keep it standing. Check the foundations and strengthen them. Step out of your comfort zone. Persistence still matters, but here it means staying true to your aims while changing how you pursue them.
What to read, in order
Marked ● is what Zhu Xi's tradition puts at the center for this number of moving lines.
- Line 5 of 32 What Lasts
Right now your achievements will depend on your ability to be bold and open yourself to new paths.
Making one's virtue last, with constancy. For the wife, good fortune; for the husband, misfortune.
- The judgment of 32 What Lasts
This moment asks you for action, not stillness. It asks you to have clear goals to head toward and to act in line with them. That way you'll achieve things, and your achievements will keep growing and will last.
Success. No fault. Constancy is favorable. It is favorable to have somewhere to go.
- The judgment of 28 Excesses
You're in a situation that calls for extraordinary measures to keep what you've achieved from collapsing. Check and strengthen the foundations that hold up your projects, take innovative action and step out of your comfort zone. That way your success is assured; otherwise, loss can't be avoided.
The ridgepole sags. It is favorable to have somewhere to go. Success.
The trigrams
The way back
28 Excesses → 32 What Lastsline 5
Other transformations of What Lasts
Make your own cast
The answer changes with the question. Toss the coins and see which lines move for you.