Hexagram 64
Before Completion
未濟
Upper
Fire · 離
the clinging, clarity
Lower
Water · 坎
the abysmal, danger
Contemporary judgment
Before completion. You are close to the goal but not yet arrived. The final steps are where many efforts fail: through fatigue, overconfidence, or carelessness. The same attention that carried you this far must carry you through the last passage. Do not slacken now.
Image
Fire above water, not yet joined. The superior person carefully discriminates things and keeps each in its place.
Counsel
Attend to the final details with full care. Do not congratulate yourself prematurely or coast on momentum. Discriminate clearly what still needs to be done from what has already been accomplished, and finish each remaining step cleanly. The completion, when it comes, will come because you refused to stop early.
The six lines
Numbered from the bottom upward; displayed here from first to sixth.
Line 1
A six at the beginning means: He comes with his tail into the water. Humiliating.
Line 2
A nine in the second place means: He brakes his wheels. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Line 3
A six in the third place means: Before completion, attack brings misfortune. It is favorable to cross the great water.
Line 4
A nine in the fourth place means: Perseverance brings good fortune. Remorse vanishes. Shock in order to chastise the devil's land. For three years there are rewards with great realms.
Line 5
A six in the fifth place means: Perseverance brings good fortune. No remorse. The light of the noble one is truthful. Good fortune!
Line 6
A nine at the top means: In true confidence one drinks wine. No blame. But if one wets one's head, one loses it in truth.
Contemporary sections are original app interpretations. Line text comes from the CC0 translation in jesshewitt/i-ching.