Hexagram 56: Lü

Judgment

小亨，旅貞吉。

Lü intimates that (in the condition which it denotes) there may be some little attainment and progress. If the stranger or traveller be firm and correct as he ought to be, there will be good fortune.

Only a small success is possible, since a traveler has little ground of their own. Even so, steady and correct conduct is what carries a traveler through, which the judgment calls good.

Image

山上有火，旅；君子以明慎用刑，而不留獄。

(The trigram representing) a mountain and above it that for fire form Lü. The superior man, in accordance with this, exerts his wisdom and caution in the use of punishments and not allowing litigations to continue.

Line 1 · 初六

旅瑣瑣，斯其所取災。

The first line, divided, shows the stranger mean and meanly occupied. It is thus that he brings on himself (further) calamity.

You travel while fussing over petty details and small gains, and that is how you bring trouble on yourself.

Line 2 · 六二

旅即次，懷其資，得僮僕貞。

The second line, divided, shows the stranger, occupying his lodging-house, carrying with him his means of livelihood, and provided with good and trusty servants.

At a good lodging, with your money in hand, you find a young helper you can trust. This is about as secure as a traveler gets.

Line 3 · 九三

旅焚其次，喪其僮僕，貞厲。

The third line, undivided, shows the stranger, burning his lodging-house, and having lost his servants. However firm and correct he (try to) be, he will be in peril.

Your lodging burns down and you lose your helper, because you carried yourself too harshly as a guest. Even holding to what is right is dangerous now.

Line 4 · 九四

旅于處，得其資斧，我心不快。

The fourth line, undivided, shows the traveller in a resting-place, having (also) the means of livelihood and the axe, (but still saying), 'I am not at ease in my mind.'

Here is a place to settle, with money and an axe for protection, yet your heart is not at ease. A borrowed place never feels like home.

Line 5 · 六五

射雉一矢亡，終以譽命。

The fifth line, divided, shows its subject shooting a pheasant. He will lose his arrow, but in the end he will obtain praise and a (high) charge.

You shoot a pheasant and lose a single arrow, a small cost. In the end you earn praise and a position of trust.

Line 6 · 上九

鳥焚其巢，旅人先笑後號咷。喪牛于易，凶。

The sixth line, undivided, suggests the idea of a bird burning its nest. The stranger, (thus represented), first laughs and then cries out. He has lost his ox(-like docility) too readily and easily. There will be evil.

A bird's nest burns, and the traveler who started out laughing ends up wailing. Through pride and carelessness the traveler has thrown away a gentle, yielding nature, and the omen is poor.