Transformation · lines 1, 3, and 6

Opposites becomes What Lasts

Starting hexagram
Resulting hexagram

What this change means

Lake becomes Wind below and Fire becomes Thunder above, as the first, third and sixth lines move: 32 What Lasts. The two judgments are weighed equally. Opposites describes a time when the people near you are different and achievements must stay small, while you hold on to your nature and work toward something common. The resulting hexagram asks for action rather than stillness: clear goals and steady conduct in line with them, so that achievements grow and endure. Together they suggest that the way through opposition is constancy. You won't change everyone around you, and you don't need to. Pick your direction and keep to it. Let your consistency speak. Over time, steady effort tends to earn respect, even from people unlike you, and the small achievements add up to something durable.

What to read, in order

Marked ● is what Zhu Xi's tradition puts at the center for this number of moving lines.

  1. The judgment of 38 Opposites

    You're in a situation of opposition: the people around you are different from you, yet you need to share with them. This means that what you can achieve for now is small. Even so, don't give in. It matters that both you and they keep your own nature and contribute from there to a shared project.

    In small matters, good fortune.

  2. 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.

  3. Line 1 of 38 Opposites

    Don't try to join with anyone by force; it's important to recognize differences, however large. Even if someone close to you pulls away for a while, let them go: they'll come back on their own.

    Regret vanishes. The horse is lost: do not chase it; it comes back by itself. Seeing wicked people: no fault.

  4. Line 3 of 38 Opposites

    Even if conditions turn against you and you're even attacked, staying true to yourself and to those you admire will lead you to success.

    Sees the cart dragged back, the ox held fast; the driver, branded on the forehead, nose cut off. No beginning, but an end.

  5. Line 6 of 38 Opposites

    Isolation leads you into a moment of confusion where you don't recognize friends or allies; you're even about to attack them. But little by little the confusion clears, and joining with like-minded people will bring you success.

    Alone in opposition: sees a pig covered in mud, a cart loaded with ghosts. First the bow is drawn; then it is set down. Not a raider: a wedding party. If on the way the rain comes, good fortune.

The trigrams

Below Lake Wind
Above Fire Thunder

The way back

32 What Lasts → 38 Opposites
lines 1, 3, and 6

Other transformations of Opposites

Make your own cast

The answer changes with the question. Toss the coins and see which lines move for you.

Toss the coins