The Joyous, Lake
兌Tui (Wade-Giles) · duì(pinyin)
兌 · Tui, Lake, over 兌 · Tui,Lake.
joy · encouragement · openness · communication · pleasure
In the constellation
Two lakes joined, each feeding the other so that neither dries up. The situation is joy — real joy, the kind that spreads on its own and wins people more surely than pressure ever does. The chapter takes it seriously as a power: people will carry hardships gladly for what force could never extract from them.
But this joy stands on an odd foundation. The figure is gentle on the outside and strong at the core, and the order matters. Gladness resting on firmness is cheerfulness; gladness resting on nothing is appetite. A person empty at the center does not have pleasures — pleasures have him, streaming in from outside to fill the vacancy, until the direction of his life passes to whatever amuses him next.
So the question hidden in a joyful time is where the gladness is anchored. The picture of it going well is friends in conversation: knowledge traded back and forth, each replenishing the other, learning kept light because it is shared. Joy of that kind does not evaporate. It has a spring under it.
A note in this site’s voice; the translation follows.
The two trigrams
above TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE · below TUI THE JOYOUS, LAKE
The chapter
The Judgment
THE JOYOUS. Success.
Perseverance is favorable.
The joyous mood is infectious and therefore brings success. But joy must be based on steadfastness if it is not to degenerate into uncontrolled mirth. Truth and strength must dwell in the heart, while gentleness reveals itself in social intercourse. In this way one assumes the right attitude toward God and man and achieves something. Under certain conditions, intimidation without gentleness may achieve something momentarily, but not for all time. When, on the other hand, the hearts of men are won by friendliness, they are led to take all hardships upon themselves willingly, and if need be will not shun death itself, so great is the power of joy over men.
The Image
Lakes resting one on the other:
The image of THE JOYOUS.
Thus the superior man joins with his friends
For discussion and practice.
A lake evaporates upward and thus gradually dries up; but when two lakes are joined they do not dry up so readily, for one replenishes the other. It is the same in the field of knowledge. Knowledge should be a refreshing and vitalizing force. It becomes so only through stimulating intercourse with congenial friends with whom one holds discussion and practices application of the truths of life. In this way learning becomes many-sided and takes on a cheerful lightness, whereas there is always something ponderous and one-sided about the learning of the self-taught.
The Lines
Nine at the beginning means:
Contented joyousness. Good fortune.
A quiet, wordless, self-contained joy, desiring nothing from without and resting content with everything, remains free of all egotistic likes and dislikes. In this freedom lies good fortune, because it harbors the quiet security of a heart fortified within itself.
This line moving leads to 47 Oppression
Nine in the second place means:
Sincere joyousness. Good fortune.
Remorse disappears.We often find ourselves associating with inferior people in whose company we are tempted by pleasures that are inappropriate for the superior man. To participate in such pleasures would certainly bring remorse, for a superior man can find no real satisfaction in low pleasures. When, recognizing this, a man does not permit his will to swerve, so that he does not find such ways agreeable, not even dubious companions will venture to proffer any base pleasures, because he would not enjoy them. Thus every cause for regret is removed.
This line moving leads to 17 Following
Six in the third place means:
Coming joyousness. Misfortune.
True joy must spring from within. But if one is empty within and wholly given over to the world, idle pleasures come streaming in from without. This is what many people welcome as diversion. Those who lack inner stability and therefore need amusement, will always find opportunity of indulgence. They attract external pleasures by the emptiness of their natures. Thus they lose themselves more and more, which of course has bad results.
This line moving leads to 43 Break-through
Nine in the fourth place means:
Joyousness that is weighed is not at peace.
After ridding himself of mistakes a man has joy.Often a man finds himself weighing the choice between various kinds of pleasures, and so long as he has not decided which kind he will choose, the higher or the lower, he has no inner peace. Only when he clearly recognizes that passion brings suffering, can he make up his mind to turn away from the lower pleasures and to strive for the higher. Once this decision is sealed, he finds true joy and peace, and inner conflict is overcome.
This line moving leads to 60 Limitation
Nine in the fifth place means:
Sincerity toward disintegrating influences is dangerous.
Dangerous elements approach even the far best of men. If a man permits himself to have anything to do with them, their disintegrating influence acts slowly but surely, and inevitable brings dangers in its train. But if he recognizes the situation and can comprehend the danger, he knows how to protect himself and remains unharmed.
This line moving leads to 54 The Marrying Maiden
Six at the top means:
Seductive joyousness.
A vain nature invites diverting pleasures and must suffer accordingly (cf. the six in the third place). If a man is unstable within, the pleasures of the world that he does not shun have so powerful an influence that he is swept along by them. Here it is no longer a question of danger, of good fortune or misfortune. He has given up direction of his own life, and what becomes of him depends upon chance and external influences.
This line moving leads to 10 Treading
Structural relatives
- King Wen pair57 The GentleThe other half of its couplet in the received sequence.
- Inverse · zong gua 綜卦57 The GentleThe same figure turned upside down — the situation seen from the other side.
- Opposite · cuo gua 錯卦52 Keeping Still, MountainEvery line exchanged for its contrary.
- Nuclear · hu gua 互卦37 The FamilyThe figure hidden in the four inner lines — the situation inside the situation.
This hexagram, like sun, is one of the eight formed by doubling of a trigram. The trigram Tui denotes the youngest daughter; it is symbolized by the smiling lake, and its attribute is joyousness. Contrary to appearances, it is not the yielding quality of the top line that accounts for joy here. The attribute of the yielding or dark principle is not joy but melancholy. However, joy is indicated by the fact that there are two strong lines within, expressing themselves through the medium of gentleness. True joy, therefore, rests on firmness and strength within, manifesting itself outwardly as yielding and gentle.