Transformation · lines 2 and 3
Gradual Progress becomes Release from Obstacles
What this change means
Here the second and third lines move together, and the Mountain dissolves into Water beneath the Wind. You've had a modest success, a place to rest; the third line, leading, warns that impatience can now undo it. The risk is reading a good meal as the end of the journey and rushing off across the high plain. The resulting hexagram, 59 Release from Obstacles, explains how to free yourself from what holds you back: act sincerely, bring opposing sides together around shared goals, and notice where selfishness has created tension. Humility helps here, and so does going with the current instead of against it. So enjoy the gain without clinging to it, refuse the urge to hurry, and protect what you've built from those who might raid it. Release tends to come when you stop forcing and start reconnecting with others.
What to read, in order
Marked ● is what Zhu Xi's tradition puts at the center for this number of moving lines.
- Line 3 of 53 Gradual Progress
If you don't let things unfold at their own pace and try to hurry them, your progress will fail.
The wild goose moves by degrees to the high plain. The husband marches off and does not return; the wife conceives and does not give birth. Misfortune. It is favorable to fend off raiders.
- Line 2 of 53 Gradual Progress
You'll have a first success as you move forward. Nothing spectacular, but it will let you rest and recharge to keep going.
The wild goose moves by degrees to the boulder. It eats and drinks with joy. Good fortune.
- The judgment of 53 Gradual Progress
You'll make progress, and it will come step by step, gradually, through stages that make it lasting and stable. Trying to speed things up will bring delays and obstacles. Keep at it, one rung at a time.
The woman goes to be married: good fortune. Constancy is favorable.
- The judgment of 59 Release from Obstacles
You can free yourself from the obstacles that hold you back if you're able to act sincerely and bring opposites together around shared goals. The tension has arisen because selfishness rules. To move forward, be humble and let the current carry you rather than going against it.
Success. The king goes to his temple. It is favorable to cross the great river. Constancy is favorable.
The trigrams
The way back
59 Release from Obstacles → 53 Gradual Progresslines 2 and 3
Other transformations of Gradual Progress
- 9Small Thingslines 1 and 2
- 42Increaselines 1 and 3
- 13Gathering with Equalslines 1 and 4
- 44Lack of Firmnesslines 2 and 4
- 12Declinelines 3 and 4
- 22Good Mannerslines 1 and 5
- 18Loss, Then Gainlines 2 and 5
- 23The Falllines 3 and 5
- 56The Travelerlines 4 and 5
- 63After the Endlines 1 and 6
- 48Right Actionlines 2 and 6
- 8Unionlines 3 and 6
- 31Attractionlines 4 and 6
- 15Simplicitylines 5 and 6
Make your own cast
The answer changes with the question. Toss the coins and see which lines move for you.