Scene Description
Image Symbolism
Reading the Picture
Gou is a sudden meeting: something appealing leaps into view, and the picture asks what you will be tied to if you reach for it.
Start with the deer bounding above the hills and the official drawing his bow at it. The deer is a familiar pun: 鹿 lù sounds like 禄 lù, reward or income. The Image Symbolism reads the shot as reaching for gain out in the open, beyond one’s usual sphere: an encounter you did not plan.
Next, the scroll hangs from a single cord. The description says it bears 喜, joy, and reads it as joy that could fall at any moment because it hangs by one thread. The cord runs from the man holding the scroll to the man beside him, so the two are tied together: mutual entanglement. The figure raising a finger on the right matches the guide the text calls green-robed, though the drawing has no colour. The hills behind stand for obstacles.
The trigrams are Heaven ☰ above Wind ☴: wind travelling everywhere under the sky, touching everything it meets. One soft line has slipped in beneath five firm ones, a small start that can grow. The rope recalls the first line, tied to a metal brake: check what is unwanted while it is still small.
- Work
- If a tempting opportunity appears suddenly, consider what strings come with it and who else would be bound to the result. Gain from outside your usual field deserves a second look.
- Relationships
- If an attraction arrives quickly, ask what it rests on. In the picture, joy hangs by one cord; consider whether the bond has more than a single thread holding it.
- Timing
- Gou is about beginnings that grow. If something small is starting that you would not want at full size, the first line suggests applying the brake now, while it is easy.
Line Statements
Listed from the bottom line to the top line.
- First six: Tied to a metal brake. Steadfastness brings good fortune; going anywhere brings misfortune. A lean pig is sure to pace restlessly.
- Nine in the second place: Fish in the wrapping. No blame. Unfavorable for guests.
- Nine in the third place: No skin on the buttocks; walking haltingly. Danger, no great blame.
- Nine in the fourth place: No fish in the wrapping. Misfortune arises.
- Nine in the fifth place: Wrapping a melon with willow; containing brilliance. It falls from Heaven.
- Top nine: Encounter with the horns. Regret, no blame.
Meaning of the Hexagram
Translated from the Chinese 人间道 commentary with AI assistance; translator notes appear in brackets.
“Gou: the woman is strong. Do not take such a woman in marriage.”
The way of Gou (Coming to Meet) lies in guarding against the beginning of yin’s strength. One marries a woman wishing her to be gentle and compliant; but here yin first enters and then gradually grows strong and flourishing, until it is even stronger than yang. Since ancient times, when the woman is strong the proper way between man and woman is lost, and the household is sure to decline. The warning applies at the very beginning.
“Gou means meeting: the yielding meets the firm. ‘Do not take such a woman in marriage’: one cannot stay long with her.”
Gou is the yielding meeting the firm: the way of the petty person first meeting the yang firmness of the noble person. One must guard against it at the beginning, not take such a woman, and not allow the way of the petty person to grow.
“Heaven and earth meet, and all kinds of things become manifest. The firm meets the central and correct, and its way prevails greatly throughout the world. Great indeed is the meaning of the time of Gou!”
The birth of all things begins with the meeting of heaven’s yang and earth’s yin; without meeting, nothing is born. But the firm must meet with the way of centrality and correctness, just as a ruler meets a worthy minister. When firmness and centrality-and-correctness unite in virtue, their way is sure to reach the whole world. The way of Gou lies in the beginning of meeting: if the meeting is correct, there is good fortune; if it is not correct, one must guard against it from the start.
“Beneath heaven there is wind: Coming to Meet. The sovereign accordingly issues his commands and proclaims them to the four quarters.”
The way of the ruler is such that only when it can reach all things, as the wind does, can he issue government decrees that reach the four quarters. So when the way of meeting can be carried out, the world, through meetings that are central and correct, will have those above and those below working together, and decrees will reach everywhere, as the wind reaches all things.
“Tied to a metal brake. Steadfastness brings good fortune; going anywhere brings misfortune. A lean pig is certain to pace restlessly.”
The brake (柅) is the thing that stops a cart; metal means solid and firm. Gou is the hexagram in which yin begins at the first line and is about to grow strong. The way of the petty person should therefore, at its very start, be like the brake that stops a cart, and be tied fast so that it cannot advance. This is good fortune. If it is allowed to grow gradually, and one does not know to guard against it at the start, there is misfortune.
It is like a lean and weak pig: although it is not strong, it is a yin creature, so one knows that a time will come when it can leap about, and it must be removed before then. Thus if the way of the petty person is removed at the start, it can never become great and will achieve nothing.
“Tied to a metal brake: the way of the yielding is held in check.”
When the way of the yin-soft petty person first advances, it is like a cart stopped by a metal brake: it is not allowed to go forward. The correct way is then sure to survive, and there is good fortune.
“Fish in the wrapping. No blame. Unfavorable for guests.”
The way of meeting in Gou lies in single-mindedness. The person of yang firmness in the general’s position corresponds with the ruler in the fifth place, so his will must be single. If he meets in this way, there is no disaster. If he also meets with others and his will changes, there is regret; what is unfavorable lies in failing to be single-minded. People of yin softness change their minds easily and can never be single-minded.
“Fish in the wrapping: by rights it does not extend to the guests.”
The second place is the time of first meeting with someone of like mind. Because one does not serve two masters, it is like a fish wrapped as a gift: it can go only to the host and cannot reach the guests.
“No skin on the buttocks; walking haltingly. Danger, no great blame.”
The meaning of the time is that the newly advancing person meets someone in a higher position and they happen to suit each other. At this point the person in the higher position shares the aims of the newcomer. If, seeking the newcomer’s help, he becomes intimate with those below, this is misfortune: his walking is difficult and he cannot rest easy where he is, like buttocks with no skin. If at such a time he keeps a sense of danger in his heart and does not act rashly, there can be no blame.
“Walking haltingly: the walking is not yet drawn along.”
The person in the minister’s position seeks a meeting with the newcomer, but the person in the general’s position stands between them, so the walking is halting and hard. If he recognises the danger and changes course at once, he will surely not come to great disaster.
“No fish in the wrapping. Misfortune arises.”
The person at the ruler’s side was to have met his like-minded counterpart, the newly advancing first line, but because that one has already met the person in the second place, this meeting is lost. It means that the one in the minister’s position is not central and correct and is sure to lose his people; hence misfortune. So the way of meeting requires that those below do not scatter. If those below scatter, those above are sure to lose their way.
“The misfortune of having no fish: he is distant from the people.”
The people below draw away. This arises from one’s own lack of centrality and correctness; or else one is central and correct, but the people below do not respond.
“Wrapping a melon with willow; containing brilliance. Something falls from heaven.”
The fifth nine is the most honoured position: the one above seeks worthy talent below. The melon is a fine fruit, but it lies low. Now the person above is able to bend down and seek those below; this is the beautiful virtue of embracing and containing. If a ruler can do this, he is sure to meet the talent he seeks. So when he can lower his dignity to seek those below, with complete sincerity in his heart, it is as if a meteorite fell from heaven. This is the good way of meeting.
“The fifth nine contains brilliance: it is central and correct. Something falls from heaven: the will does not set aside the mandate.”
The fifth nine is most honoured. It can hold the virtue of centrality and correctness, seeking the worthy and bending down to them. This aim accords with the principle of heaven, so, as surely as a meteorite falls, heaven will help it obtain good talent. This is the great way of meeting.
“Encounter with the horns. Regret, no blame.”
Of things that are utterly firm and sit at the top, nothing surpasses horns. Meetings between people come about through lowering oneself to seek each other and responding with gentle compliance; that is how union arises. If one sits high and is firm to the extreme, proud of one’s talent, who will join with him? When people draw away from such a person, the cause is his own excessive haughtiness, not anyone else’s fault.
“Encounter with the horns: at the top, exhausted; regret.”
To meet others as horns do, at the extreme of haughtiness, meeting them with firmness, is sure to lead to the end of the road, and people will scatter from him.
Show the Chinese original (人间道)
姤 姤 姤 姤：女壮，勿用取女。 姤之道在戒阴壮之始，娶女本欲其柔且顺从，但初进为阴，而渐进长盛，且有壮于阳者， 古来女壮必失男女之道，家道必败。戒之在初始。
姤 姤 姤 姤，遇也，柔遇刚也。勿用取女，不可与长也。 姤，乃柔之遇刚，小人之道始遇君子之阳刚，须戒之在始，勿取如是之女，不可使小人之 道长。 天地相遇，品物咸章也。刚遇中正，天下大行也。姤 姤 姤 姤之时义大矣哉。 万物之生始于天阳地阴之交遇，不遇则不生。但须刚遇中正之道，犹人君之遇贤臣，刚与 中正合德，其道必及于天下，姤之道即在遇之始，遇之正则吉，遇之不正须始戒。
天下有风，姤 姤 姤 姤，后以施命诰四方。 君之道，能如风之及于万物，方可施政令而及于四方，故遇之道能行，天下必因中正之遇， 上下配合，而政令能如风之遍及万物。
系于金柅 柅 柅 柅，贞吉，有攸往， 见凶，羸豕孚蹢 蹢 蹢 蹢躅。 柅，止车之物，金，坚固意，因姤乃阴始 于初而将长盛之卦，小人之道，于始初即应如 止车之柅，且系之，使不进也。此吉。如令其 渐盛，不知始戒，有凶，犹羸弱之豕其虽不强， 然为阴物，故知其能跳跃之时，必消之，故小 人之道于始即消除，则必不能成大，而无有作 为矣。
系于金柅 柅 柅 柅，柔道牵也。
阴柔小人之道，始进则如车之受金柅而 止，不使其进，正道必存，吉也。
包有鱼，无咎，不利宾。 姤相遇之道在于专一，阳刚将位之人与五 君位应，其志必专一，遇则无灾，如又遇于旁 人，变其志，则有悔，其不利在不能专一。阴
柔之人志易变，必不能专。
包有鱼，义不及宾也。 二位乃初遇志同之时，因不事二主，当如 苞苴之鱼，只能及于主人，无法及于客宾一样。
臀无肤，其行次且，厉，无 大咎。 时义乃谓初进之人与上位相遇而恰合，此 时居上位之人同志于初始进之人，如为求其 助，而亲密于下，此凶，乃行且困难，必令居 不安也，如臀之无肤状，居此时如怀危惧不妄
动，可无咎也。
其行次且，行未牵也。
相位之人求姤遇于初进之人，中有将位阻 隔，故行次且困顿，知危立改，必可未至大殃 也。
包无鱼，起凶。 君侧之人始遇初进同志之相应，但因其已 先遇九二位之人，此遇已失，此意味臣位之人 不中正，必失其民，故凶。故遇之道，必下不 离散，今如下位之人散，上必失道也。
无鱼之凶，远民也。 下民远离，乃起因于已之不中正，或已中 正，而下民不相应也。
以杞包瓜，含章，有损自天。
九五乃至尊之位，上位下求贤才，瓜乃美 实但居于下，今上位之人能屈而求下，此乃包 含之美德，人君能如此，则必有遇所求之人才， 故能屈尊求下内心至诚，如有陨石自天而下， 此遇之善道也。
九五含章，中正也。有陨自 天，志不合，命也。 九五至尊，能含有中正之德，求贤而屈下， 此存志乃合于天理，必如陨石般，天助而得良 才，遇之大道。
姤 姤 姤 姤其角，吝，无咎。 至刚而居上，莫过于角，人之遇，必由降 屈相求，巽顺相应，此合之由来，如居高而刚 极，持才自傲，人何将与之，此人之远离，乃 肇因于己之过亢，非他人之罪也。
姤 姤 姤 姤其角，上穷吝也。 遇之如角之亢极，以刚而遇，必致穷极末 路，人必散之。