Hexagram 31
Influence
咸
Upper
Lake · 兌
the joyous, open
Lower
Mountain · 艮
keeping still
Contemporary judgment
Influence: a stirring of connection. Two come into relation, drawn by a mutual response. This is how real communication begins. Receive the stirring without grasping at it; be open without losing your own center. The attraction deepens into something lasting when sincerity, not manipulation, guides it.
Image
Lake above, mountain below. The superior person receives others in emptiness and so stays open to them.
Counsel
Allow yourself to be genuinely moved. Do not rush to define, possess, or control what is stirring between you and another (or between you and an opportunity). Respond honestly to what arises; stay grounded in yourself. Real connection survives the tests that pretend ones fail.
The six lines
Numbered from the bottom upward; displayed here from first to sixth.
Line 1
A six at the beginning means: The influence expresses itself in the big toe.
Line 2
A six in the second place means: The influence expresses itself in the calves. Misfortune! Tarrying brings good fortune!
Line 3
A nine in the third place means: The influence expresses itself in the thighs. It holds to what follows it. To continue is humiliating.
Line 4
A nine in the fourth place means: Perseverance brings good fortune! Remorse vanishes. If one thinks back and forth in agitation, only the friends follow on whom one consciously directs one's thoughts.
Line 5
A nine in the fifth place means: The influence expresses itself in the neck. No remorse.
Line 6
A six at the top means: The influence expresses itself in the jaws, cheeks, and tongue.
Contemporary sections are original app interpretations. Line text comes from the CC0 translation in jesshewitt/i-ching.