What this change means
The fourth line leads, with the second beneath it. The fourth calls for a rethink: line the well, focus on the opportunities, and use your talents, and success can follow. The second explains why the rethink is needed: you have good qualities but you've grown slack, and what you achieve keeps leaking away. Below, Wind becomes Mountain; above, Water becomes Lake, so the image is a lake resting on a mountaintop. The resulting hexagram, 31 Attraction, says good results come as far as you stay open and receptive, letting people come close who'll support you without self-interest. The bridge between the two is renewed effort that leaves room for others. Shake off the slackness, rebuild your discipline, and open yourself to the help that comes when you're clearly at work. Receptiveness and effort aren't opposites; here they need each other.
What to read, in order
Marked ● is what Zhu Xi's tradition puts at the center for this number of moving lines.
- Line 4 of 48 Right Action
It's time to rethink and focus on the opportunities. If you focus on action and use your talents, you'll succeed.
The well is lined with brick. No fault.
- Line 2 of 48 Right Action
You have good qualities for success, but you've grown slack and stopped pushing yourself; this makes it hard to hold on to what you achieve.
Down in the well, shooting at minnows. The jar is broken and leaks.
- The judgment of 48 Right Action
You're at a moment when opportunities are on your side. But if you don't know how to use them because you keep putting off decisions and actions, being in the right place at the right time won't do you any good. It's not about looking for new things but about making use of what you have, or there will be loss.
The town is changed, the well is not. Nothing lost, nothing gained. They come and go, and draw from the well. Nearly there, the rope does not yet reach the well; if the jar breaks, misfortune.
- The judgment of 31 Attraction
You'll get good results to the extent that you stay open and receptive, which lets people come close who will support you and help you get there, generously and without self-interest.
Success. Constancy is favorable. Taking a wife brings good fortune.
The trigrams
The way back
31 Attraction → 48 Right Actionlines 2 and 4
Other transformations of Right Action
- 63After the Endlines 1 and 2
- 60Thriftlines 1 and 3
- 8Unionlines 2 and 3
- 43Overflowinglines 1 and 4
- 47Overwhelmedlines 3 and 4
- 11Well-Beinglines 1 and 5
- 15Simplicitylines 2 and 5
- 7The Armylines 3 and 5
- 32What Lastslines 4 and 5
- 9Small Thingslines 1 and 6
- 53Gradual Progresslines 2 and 6
- 59Release from Obstacleslines 3 and 6
- 44Lack of Firmnesslines 4 and 6
- 18Loss, Then Gainlines 5 and 6
Make your own cast
The answer changes with the question. Toss the coins and see which lines move for you.