I-Ching Hexagram 11
泰 Peace
Also known as Flourishing
Heaven beneath earth: the creative rises into the receptive. A time of prosperity, connection, and free exchange.
peace · harmony · flourishing
The Story
A village had known three good years. The irrigation worked, the magistrate was fair, the temple was full on festival days. An old man, walking the fields with his grandson, said: "See how the dikes hold?" "Yes, grandfather." "See how the young men tend them even when the water is low?" "Yes." "That is why we have peace. When the young men stop tending the dikes in the dry season, the peace will end before the flood arrives." Prosperity is not a gift kept by accident; it is an inheritance kept by the attentive.
The Judgment
The small departs, the great approaches. Good fortune. Success.
The Image
Heaven and earth unite: the image of peace. Thus the ruler divides and completes the course of heaven and earth, and furthers and regulates the gifts of heaven and earth, with a view to aiding the people.
Interpretation
Heaven beneath earth: the creative rises into the receptive. A time of prosperity, connection, and free exchange. The counsel is not to squander it — good times are maintained by attentive governance, not by drift.
Trigrams
The Six Lines
- First (Bottom) When one pulls out ribbon grass, the sod comes with it. Each according to his kind. Undertakings bring good fortune. One good move draws many more; cooperative momentum.
- Second Bearing with the uncultured in gentleness, fording the river with resolution, not neglecting what is distant, not regarding one's companions — thus one may manage to walk in the middle. Large-hearted leadership holds the peace together.
- Third No plain not followed by a slope. No going not followed by a return. He who remains persevering in danger is without blame. Do not complain about the necessity of misfortune; enjoy the blessings still granted. Prosperity always contains its reversal; preparing for it is prudence.
- Fourth He flutters down, not boasting of his wealth, together with his neighbour, guileless and sincere. Openhandedness from the fortunate; no posturing.
- Fifth The sovereign gives his daughter in marriage. This brings blessing and supreme good fortune. Alliance across difference; the mighty descend to meet the humble.
- Sixth (Top) The wall falls back into the moat. Use no army now. Make your commands known within your own town. Perseverance brings humiliation. Peace has crumbled at its foundations; do not launch new ventures, stabilise the centre.