Feng · Abundance

Judgment and Plain-Language Notes

Feng: Success. The king attains it. Do not worry; be like the sun at noon.

The Tuan commentary glosses Feng as greatness, arising from clarity that can act. The king reaches it because greatness is honoured, and the counsel not to worry but to be like the sun at noon means shining on all below. Then the warning: the sun at noon declines, the full moon is eaten, and heaven and earth themselves wax and wane with the seasons, let alone people. The Xiang image is thunder and lightning arriving together, and the noble person decides cases and applies penalties.

Zhen above, Li below. Thunder and lightning arrive together: this is fullness at its height. Feng means great, means full. The judgement speaks of success, of the king reaching this state, of having no cause for worry and standing like the sun at noon. Yet the lines keep returning to thick screens and to seeing stars at midday: the more splendid the arrangement, the more of your own light it blocks. A broken right arm, a vast house with an empty hall, three years with nobody seen. When the light is brightest, the shadow is deepest.

The judgment begins with success and gives positive guidance in not worrying and being like the midday sun. The second six, fourth nine, and fifth six explicitly have good fortune; the first nine's blameless equal meeting and worthwhile proceeding are feasible, and the third has no blame. Negativity is concentrated in the top six's three years unseen and misfortune, attributed by its Image to self-concealment. The Judgment's sun declining after noon and moon eclipsing after fullness are timing reminders rather than verdicts. Abundance is clear but must be used promptly, 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: make your decisions while the information is clear, and plan for how things hold once the peak passes. Avoid: treating the high point as the normal state, or letting an excess of options delay the handling.

Understand This Hexagram Through Its Structure

Zhen above, Li below: brightness underneath, movement above — the fullest moment.

• Name the upper and lower trigram of Feng.
• Explain why the caution in Feng runs against its name.
• Work out that Abundance with its halves swapped is Biting Through.

The lower trigram of Feng is Li: solid, broken, solid. The upper is Zhen: a solid fourth line with two broken above. The first, third and fourth lines are solid.

Li is brightness and Zhen is movement: seeing clearly and being able to act reads as abundance, the fullest stage. The caution is in the structure too: the top two lines are broken, so the summit has no support. That is easy to ignore precisely when things are at their fullest, which is why tradition speaks here of the sun past noon rather than of celebration.

A teaching example, not a prediction: a department is at its peak with more work than it can take, and nobody is watching the limit on its people. Feng describes that structure.

The Six Lines: Original Text and Reflection

Nine at the beginning: Meeting a matching partner. Though equal, no blame. Proceeding has merit.

The Xiang commentary says that ten days brings no fault, and that going beyond that span brings calamity. The time limit is stated with unusual precision.

You meet the partner who matches you, and within a set span there is no fault in the dealing; going forward even earns praise. The commentary adds the other half: past that span, trouble follows.

When you meet the right person, settle the matter inside the right window. Opportunities have a length, and once you run past it the favourable terms turn into a burden.

What deadline have you given yourself for the opening in front of you?

Six in the second place: Abundant screening; the Dipper is visible at noon. Going brings suspicion and distress. Sincerity opens the way. Good fortune.

The Xiang commentary says that meeting it with good faith means trust awakens the other's intent. Sincerity is what opens the screen.

The screen is so thick that the Dipper is visible at midday. Going forward now draws suspicion, yet approaching with good faith that awakens the other person still reads well.

When you are misread and guarded against, rushing to explain or forcing your way in only deepens the suspicion. Steady sincerity and concrete action let the other person see for themselves, which works better than persuasion.

Is someone doubting you while you try to fix it with words alone?

Nine in the third place: Abundant covering; small stars are visible at noon. Breaking the right arm. No blame.

The Xiang commentary says the heavy curtain means great undertakings are not possible, and a broken right arm cannot be used again. This is acknowledging a limit and stopping.

The covering is heavier still and only a faint star shows at midday. It is as though your right arm were broken and great work were out of reach, and because you recognise that and stop, there is no fault.

When your main strength is injured or a key person is absent, admitting you cannot take the big project is not weakness. Taking it anyway is what produces the real fault.

Which right arm are you missing while the work stays scheduled at full size?

Nine in the fourth place: Abundant screening; the Dipper is visible at noon. Meeting an equal lord. Good fortune.

The Xiang commentary attributes the thick screen to an unsuitable position and the stars at midday to obscurity, and says meeting an equal counterpart is favourable because it involves actually going.

The screen is still heavy and the Dipper still visible at noon, so the situation is far from clear. Yet you meet someone of comparable standing who can deal with you as an equal, and the line reads well; the commentary puts the weight on acting.

The environment has not brightened, but a partner has appeared who can speak with you on level terms. Go to them yourself. Waiting for the other side to open dims the light another notch.

Who should you be approaching while you wait for them to come to you?

Six in the fifth place: Brilliance arrives, with celebration and praise. Good fortune.

The Xiang commentary says the good fortune here lies in there being real cause for celebration. Bringing in people of talent produces something genuinely worth marking, not merely a good name.

You draw in people of ability and refinement to help, and blessing and a good reputation follow, so the line reads well.

The right move at the height of your strength is to bring better people in rather than keeping all the credit. Making room for them returns both standing and substance.

Who is better than you at this, and should you be inviting them in?

Six at the top: Enlarging the house, screening the household. Peering through the door, silent and empty of people. Unseen for three years. Misfortune.

The Xiang commentary says the vast house soars to the edge of heaven, and that peering in and finding nobody is a matter of self-concealment. The isolation is chosen, not imposed.

The house is built enormous and its door is screened tight. Peer inside and it is silent and empty; three years pass without anyone seen, and the outcome is poor. The commentary calls it hiding yourself away.

As the display gets grander, the people leave one by one until only the shell remains. At the height of your strength, leave a door open, and do not use your own elevation to close yourself off.

How long has it been since you let anyone genuinely in?

Try It Yourself

Swap the halves so Zhen moves down and Li moves up, and see what the name becomes.

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

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