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Hexagram 57: The Gentle
巽 · Xùn
The Gentle. Success through what is small. It furthers one to have somewhere to go. It furthers one to see the great man.Judgment 卦辭
Winds following one another: the image of the Gently Penetrating. The superior man spreads his commands and carries out his undertakings.Image 象辭
Core Meaning of Hexagram 57
Hexagram 57 is wind doubled — penetration. Wind enters everywhere: through cracks, corners, the whole field at once. So does gentle, consistent influence work into situations that force cannot touch — culture, diplomacy, quiet repetition, the softly stated truth told again and again. Its method is the small: small words, small acts, relentlessly applied.
Hexagram 57 in a Reading
In a reading, influence by indirection. Stop pushing the door; come through the window like air. Define exactly where you need to penetrate (have somewhere to go), then work in small, repeated, gentle strokes — the memo, the example, the kind word at the right moment. See the great man: even wind needs a weather system. What enters gently is already changing everything.
Common Questions
What does hexagram 57 mean?
Hexagram 57 is wind doubled — penetration. Read the full meaning above, or cast your own reading with our free online I Ching coins.
What is the structure of hexagram 57?
Hexagram 57 is built from the trigram Wind above and Wind below — binary 011011 read from the bottom line to the top. The Gentle is King Wen number 57 of the 64 hexagrams.
Related Hexagrams
Other Hexagrams with Trigram Wind Above
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