# Hexagram 57: The Gentle

Canonical page: https://thefreeiching.com/library/57
Last updated: 2026-10-07

```
━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━
━━━  ━━━
```

- **Upper trigram:** [Xun 巽](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/xun), Wind, the gentle, penetrating
- **Lower trigram:** [Xun 巽](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/xun), Wind, the gentle, penetrating
- **Lines, bottom to top:** 011011 (1 = solid yang, 0 = broken yin)

## Contemporary judgment

The gentle, the penetrating. Wind finds its way into every corner without effort. Small, consistent influence accomplishes what force cannot. Be patient; be consistent; be unassuming. The cumulative effect is far larger than any single gesture.

## Image

Wind following wind. The superior person promulgates their instructions and carries them into effect.

## Counsel

Work steadily in the same direction. Do not make dramatic moves; they reset the quiet progress you have been making. Influence here comes from sustained presence, not from occasional force. Trust the accumulation of small, consistent rightnesses.

## The six lines

*Numbered from the bottom upward. These line texts are read when that line is changing in a cast.*

### Line 1

> A six at the beginning means:
> In advancing and retreating,
> the perseverance of a warrior is favorable.

### Line 2

> A nine in the second place means:
> Penetration under the bed.
> One uses priests and magicians in great numbers.
> Good fortune! No blame.

### Line 3

> A nine in the third place means:
> Repeated penetration. Humiliation.

### Line 4

> A six in the fourth place means:
> Remorse vanishes.
> On the hunt one catches three kinds of game.

### Line 5

> A nine in the fifth place means:
> Perseverance brings good fortune. Remorse vanishes.
> Nothing that is not furthering.
> No beginning, but an end.
> Before the change, three days,
> after the change, three days. Good fortune!

### Line 6

> A nine at the top means:
> Penetration under the bed.
> He loses his possessions and his axe.
> Perseverance brings misfortune.

## Related hexagrams

- **Nuclear (lines 2 to 5):** [38 Opposition](https://thefreeiching.com/library/38)
- **Inverse (turned upside down):** [58 The Joyous](https://thefreeiching.com/library/58)
- **Opposite (every line flipped):** [51 The Arousing](https://thefreeiching.com/library/51)

## If one line changes

| Changing line | Relating hexagram |
| --- | --- |
| Line 1 | [9 Small Taming](https://thefreeiching.com/library/9) |
| Line 2 | [53 Development](https://thefreeiching.com/library/53) |
| Line 3 | [59 Dispersion](https://thefreeiching.com/library/59) |
| Line 4 | [44 Coming to Meet](https://thefreeiching.com/library/44) |
| Line 5 | [18 Work on the Decayed](https://thefreeiching.com/library/18) |
| Line 6 | [48 The Well](https://thefreeiching.com/library/48) |

Previous: [56 The Wanderer](https://thefreeiching.com/library/56). Next: [58 The Joyous](https://thefreeiching.com/library/58). [All sixty-four hexagrams](https://thefreeiching.com/library).

*The judgment, image and counsel are original contemporary paraphrases written for The Free I Ching. The line text is the CC0 translation from [jesshewitt/i-ching](https://github.com/jesshewitt/i-ching), derived from Richard Wilhelm's 1924 German edition.*

## Cite this page

The Free I Ching. "Hexagram 57: The Gentle." https://thefreeiching.com/library/57 (updated 2026-10-07).

*The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice. Short quotations with a link back are welcome. Please do not republish a page in full. The open data files at [/data](https://thefreeiching.com/data) are licensed CC BY 4.0.*

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Source: The Free I Ching (https://thefreeiching.com/library/57). The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice.