Cui · Gathering

Judgment and Plain-Language Notes

Cui: Success. The king approaches his temple. It is beneficial to meet a great person. Success. Steadfast correctness is beneficial. Using a great sacrificial animal brings good fortune; proceeding is beneficial.

The Tuan commentary glosses Cui as gathering, made possible by compliance that stays glad, firmness in the centre with a response above and below. The gathering has to be correct before it can succeed, and it follows the mandate of the season; observe what gathers, it says, and you can see the disposition of all things. The Xiang image is the marsh risen above the earth, where too much water threatens to break its banks, so the noble person repairs the weapons and guards against the unforeseen.

Dui above, Kun below. A marsh lies on the earth and many waters converge, which is the sense of Cui: people, resources and strength collecting in one place. The judgement asks for a sincere centre, a person others will follow, correctness, and a willingness to commit something substantial. The lines move from a wavering heart that scatters and gathers by turns, through being drawn in by a steady hand, a strained attempt from outside, a plainly strong position, a rank held without every heart won, and finally tears at the very top.

Two declarations of success, plus a beneficial meeting with a great person, beneficial steadfastness, good fortune in the great offering, and beneficial proceeding form a rare concentration of positive statements. The fourth nine has great good fortune without blame and the second six fortune in being drawn together. Adverse elements concern purpose: the first's unlasting sincerity and disorder, the third's sighing without benefit, and the top's tears. Their Images identify confused purpose, incomplete illumination, and unease above. External conditions are favorable but hearts still need uniting, hence the rating: Rather Good, rather than the best. This is the app's interpretation of the text, not a guarantee of outcomes.

Worth doing: let people gather around a clearly stated aim, and prepare for trouble in advance. Avoid: chasing numbers and momentum alone, or leaving responsibility inside the group undivided.

Understand This Hexagram Through Its Structure

Dui above, Kun below: a lake over the earth — a structure of gathering.

• Name the upper and lower trigram of Cui.
• Say why it is the resulting hexagram in the lesson-eight example.
• Say that swapping the halves turns Gathering into Approaching.

The lower trigram of Cui is Kun, all broken; the upper is Dui, solid at the fourth and fifth and broken at the sixth. Only the fourth and fifth lines are solid. In the lesson-eight example the first line of Sui moves, its lower trigram becomes Kun, and the result is Cui.

Kun is the earth and the many; Dui is a lake, a place where water collects. Water gathered on the ground reads as gathering. What is worth noting structurally is that both solid lines are above: many have gathered, but the real points of leverage are only those two upper lines. Gathering is not itself an achievement; what is done next is another matter.

A teaching example, not a prediction: many people attend a briefing, and only the two on stage can actually decide anything. Cui describes that structure of gathering; it does not say agreement follows.

The Six Lines: Original Text and Reflection

Six at the beginning: Sincerity does not last; disorder, then gathering. Crying out, a handclasp turns it to laughter. Do not worry; proceeding brings no blame.

The Xiang commentary says the alternating scatter and gathering comes from a will that is itself disordered, not from external conditions. Sincerity is present but does not last to the end.

The sincerity is real but does not hold, so as the heart wavers the joining and parting waver with it. Even if calling out brings laughter rather than help, there is no need to dwell on it, and going forward still carries no fault.

Joining a group before you have settled your own mind naturally runs hot and cold. Rather than worrying how your hesitation looks, work out how far in you intend to be, then take the next step.

How far into this do you actually intend to commit?

Six in the second place: Being drawn together brings good fortune and no blame. With sincerity, a simple spring offering is beneficial.

The Xiang commentary says that being drawn in favourably and without fault comes from a centre that has not changed. The simple yue offering values sincerity over abundant provisions.

Someone introduces you and draws you into the gathering, and it reads well. As long as your sincerity is intact, even the plainest offering is appropriate: the intent matters, not the display.

Being shown in by someone willing to vouch for you is rare, so accept it simply. You do not need expensive gestures or an outsized performance in return; doing the work properly is more convincing.

Is someone giving you a lift right now that you have not properly answered?

Six in the third place: Gathering with sighs. Nothing beneficial. Going brings no blame, with small regret.

The Xiang commentary says that going forward is free of fault because the attitude towards those above is deferential. The wish to gather does not succeed and only sighing remains.

You want to join and cannot get in, so only a sigh is left and no advantage is visible. Yet if you are willing to set your pride aside and seek a way upward, there is no fault, only some awkwardness along the way.

Getting into a circle from outside usually involves being passed over a few times. Lowering your guard and asking directly costs a little face and works far better than sighing from the sidelines.

Are you protecting your pride at the cost of asking the question?

Nine in the fourth place: Great good fortune. No blame.

The line text is extremely short: great good fortune, no fault. The Xiang commentary adds that the position is not the fitting one, meaning that only reaching that level of excellence just avoids fault.

The plainest line in the hexagram says only that this reads very well and carries no fault. But the commentary warns that because the position itself does not fit, nothing less than excellence quite clears the bar.

When the resource or influence in your hands exceeds your formal role, the standard applied to you rises, and eighty per cent can still draw criticism. Rather than resenting it, hold your conduct tighter.

Is the standard being applied to you rising because your reach exceeds your title?

Nine in the fifth place: Gathering in a position. No blame. Without trust, fundamental and lasting steadfastness makes regret vanish.

The Xiang commentary says that gathering while holding the position shows a will not yet fully radiant, which is to say that having the rank is not the same as having people's trust.

You hold the proper place within the gathering and for now there is no fault. Some are still unconvinced, so what clears the regret is a long, steady, correct accumulation.

Taking on a role that leads people does not hand you their trust with the title. Instead of hurrying to prove yourself, keep doing the right things for long enough that trust grows on its own.

Is there someone you assume respects you who is only going along with you?

Six at the top: Sighing, tears and a running nose. No blame.

The Xiang commentary says that the sighing and weeping come from being unsettled at the top: the unease is an accurate reading of the position.

At the highest point of the gathering there are sighs and tears, because the height is not a settled place. The apprehension is clear-eyed, which is why there is no fault.

Feeling lonely and afraid at the top is a normal response. Use the unease as a prompt to shore up your relationships rather than performing an ease you do not feel.

In the most visible position you currently hold, what unsettles you most?

Try It Yourself

Swap the halves so Dui moves down and Kun moves up, and see where the two solid lines land.

This page has a hands-on exercise. It is built into the Traditional Chinese page: open the interactive exercise.

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