I Ching hexagram 22
Hexagram 22: Bi
Adornment · 山火賁 · Mountain above, Fire below
Adornment makes things pleasant to see, and the text ends by returning to plain white.
What this hexagram is about
Polish and presentation are on your mind, such as a pitch or a first impression. Bi (Adornment) has fire at the foot of a mountain, and the image text says polish suits routine matters and has no place in serious judgments.
A way to think about it
How does something of yours look from the outside, such as a profile or a plan, and does the surface fairly match what is underneath?
The text, with Legge's translation
Judgment
亨。小利有攸往。
Pî indicates that there should be free course (in what it denotes). There will be little advantage (however) if it be allowed to advance (and take the lead).
Presentation helps things go through, the judgment says, with only a small gain from setting out. Polish takes you partway and no further.
Image
山下有火，賁；君子以明庶政，无敢折獄。
(The trigram representing) a mountain and that for fire under it form Pî. The superior man, in accordance with this, throws a brilliancy around his various processes of government, but does not dare (in a similar way) to decide cases of criminal litigation.
Line 1 · 初九
賁其趾，舍車而徒。
The first line, undivided, shows one adorning (the way of) his feet. He can discard a carriage and walk on foot.
You polish how you go about things and give up the carriage to walk, since you would feel wrong riding in comfort you did not earn.
Line 2 · 六二
賁其須。
The second line, divided, shows one adorning his beard.
A beard is decoration that moves only when the face moves. The line pictures polish that follows someone stronger and has no independent source.
Line 3 · 九三
賁如濡如，永貞吉。
The third line, undivided, shows its subject with the appearance of being adorned and bedewed (with rich favours). But let him ever maintain his firm correctness, and there will be good fortune.
You are bathed in glamour and attention, glossy as if dewed, and only a long, steady course keeps this a good sign.
Line 4 · 六四
賁如皤如，白馬翰如，匪寇婚媾。
The fourth line, divided, shows one looking as if adorned, but only in white. As if (mounted on) a white horse, and furnished with wings, (he seeks union with the subject of the first line), while (the intervening third pursues), not as a robber, but intent on a matrimonial alliance.
A white horse races toward you in plain colors, and the rider comes with an honest proposal. Plain dress signals good faith here.
Line 5 · 六五
賁於丘園，束帛戔戔，吝，終吉。
The fifth line, divided, shows its subject adorned by (the occupants of) the heights and gardens. He bears his roll of silk, small and slight. He may appear stingy; but there will be good fortune in the end.
Your adornment is out in the hills and gardens, simple and unfussy, and the gift you bring is a small bundle of silk. It may look stingy, and it ends well.
Line 6 · 上九
白賁，无咎。
The sixth line, undivided, shows one with white as his (only) ornament. There will be no error.
The highest form of decoration is plain white, with nothing added. After all the polish you come back to what is simple, and that draws no fault.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi, public domain. English: James Legge, The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. 16 (1882), public domain. Plain notes written by this site.
Questions
I cast hexagram 22. Which text do I read?
With no changing lines, read the judgment: "Pî indicates that there should be free course (in what it denotes). There will be little advantage (however) if it be allowed to advance (and take the lead)." With changing lines, read the lines that changed. When several change at once, Zhu Xi's rules decide which text leads, and the casting page marks it for you.
What are the nuclear, opposite and inverted hexagrams of Bi?
The nuclear hexagram is 40. Jie (Release). The opposite is 47. Kun (Exhaustion). The inverted hexagram is 21. Shi He (Biting Through).