The name 名
Lín 臨 means to draw near from above, to arrive and face something in person, as a ruler oversees his people. The Sequence glosses it as ‘great’: two yang lines have climbed side by side from below, and a force is taking shape. The name holds both senses: strength arriving, and those above going out to meet it.
The image 象
Below is Duì, the marsh; above is Kūn, the earth. The land overlooks the water, as one who stands above attends to those below. A marsh lies lower than the ground, and so long as the ground holds, the water keeps to its bed. Joy below and yielding above: two yang lines gather strength at the base, and the whole situation is one of growing accord.
Layers of images 層
A gua can be read on several levels at once: the trigrams as members of a family (father, mother, eldest to youngest sons and daughters), the six lines as ranks in an organisation (from newcomer to ruler), and as forces of nature and animals. Each extra level adds meaning to the line texts.
Read as a family
Below is Duì, the youngest daughter; above is Kūn, the mother. The mother bends down from above to watch over her, and the little daughter grows up happily below: the earth looks over the lake, the closeness and care of those above for those below. Two yang lines are rising steadily from the bottom, like a child growing taller each day, and the adults must learn how to “approach”: close enough to care, with room enough to grow.
Line 4, “arriving in person; no blame”: Line 4 sits in the nuclear Zhèn of lines 3–5, the foot, movement, so it can walk down and meet those rising from below face to face. It also corresponds with Line 1: the one above shows up in person and deals sincerely, and nothing goes wrong.
Line 5, “wise approach, fitting for a great ruler”: a yin line on the throne does not show off its own strength but corresponds with the firm, central Line 2 below. A leader’s wisdom lies not in doing everything himself but in knowing whom to trust: the capable person far down the line, given room to act.
The judgment, “by the eighth month there will be misfortune”: Lín is the twelfth-month hexagram in the cycle of waxing and waning, with two yang lines growing. But every peak turns, and by the eighth month comes its inverse, Guān, as yang recedes. In human terms, the time to think about succession and a way out is precisely when power is rising, or a few years on, the same old faces will still be in charge.
Lín inverted is Guān: in Lín the one above comes down to look after those below; in Guān those below look up at the one above. The same relationship is Lín from the manager’s side and Guān from the staff’s side. Drawing Lín, it helps to ask: how are they looking at you right now?
Flip every line of Lín and you get Dùn, Retreat: in Lín two yang lines advance from below; in Dùn two yin lines advance from below while four yang lines withdraw. On the hidden side of Lín sits Dùn’s reminder: today you are the one rising, and one day it will be your turn to leave the stage, so leave well.
In sequence 序
有事而后可大，故受之以臨；臨者大也。
The Sequence says: ‘Only after there are affairs can there be greatness; hence Lin follows. Lin means great.’ Gǔ 蠱 dealt with accumulated decay; once that work is done, there is room to grow. Trouble is not to be feared: great undertakings are often made at the critical moment.
The judgment 辭
臨：元亨。利貞。至于八月有凶。
‘Lin: origin, success; it is fitting to be steadfast. In the eighth month there will be misfortune.’ All four virtues are present, which is rare. Among the twelve hexagrams of waxing and waning, Lin is the twelfth lunar month, yang on the rise; turned upside down it becomes Guān 觀, the eighth month, when the two remaining yang are about to be pushed out. The warning does not condemn Lin. It is spoken at the moment things go best: every tide turns, so in prosperity think of decline, and prepare successors and an exit in good time.
Commentary on the judgment 彖
彖曰：臨，剛浸而長。說而順，剛中而應，大亨以正，天之道也。至于八月有凶，消不久也。
The Tuan: the firm ‘gradually grows’; there is joy and compliance; the firm line is central (Line 2) and answered by Line 5. Great success through correctness is ‘the way of Heaven’. As for the eighth month, ‘the waning will not be long in coming’: see the ebb while you are still growing.
The great image 象
象曰：澤上有地，臨；君子以教思无窮，容保民无疆。
‘Earth above the marsh: Lin. The noble person teaches and ponders without end, and embraces and protects the people without limit.’ Kun is earth, and the ‘Great Plan’ of the Shàngshū pairs earth with thought; hence teaching people to think, tirelessly. And as the land holds the marsh, so the noble person shelters the people without boundary. That no line of Lin is ill-omened may be traced to this.
The six lines 爻
Ruling line Line 2 rules the gua: firm and central within the joyful Dui, answered by Line 5, it leads Line 1 upward. The Tuan’s ‘the firm is central and answered’ points to it.
The path of the six lines, bottom to top
Lines 1 and 2 are two new forces rising from below, meeting those above through mutual response: one steady and auspicious, the other firm and central, with nothing unfavourable. Line 3, at the top of the lower trigram, approaches others with sweet talk alone (Duì is the mouth) and nothing solid behind it, though it can still worry and correct itself in time. Line 4 enters the upper trigram and comes down in person to meet the newcomers, sincere and blameless. Line 5 uses the wisdom of the throne to know and trust the right person, the distant Line 2. The top line is the elder on the outer edge, approaching others with generous warmth; though it has no partner below, it is auspicious and blameless.
初九咸臨，貞吉。
In plain words
Arriving together; steadfastness brings good fortune.
Close reading
Xián 咸 means ‘all, together’: Lines 1 and 2 arrive side by side, and both are called ‘arriving together’. A yang line in a yang place, Line 1 is correctly positioned and corresponds with Line 4. As the first step of rising yang, it must stand straight to bear what follows; the Small Image says its ‘intent and conduct are correct’.
If you drew this line
A beginning, with companions alongside. Getting the foundation right matters more than expanding quickly.
九二咸臨，吉无不利。
In plain words
Arriving together: good fortune, and nothing that is not favourable.
Close reading
A yang line in a yin place, it is not formally correct, yet it is firm and central, sits within Dui’s joy, and corresponds perfectly with Line 5: joy below, compliance above, everything flows. The Small Image, ‘not by obeying orders’, is often misread as disobedience. It means the good fortune comes from its own qualities, not from submitting to someone else’s command.
If you drew this line
One of the finest lines to draw. Act on your own merit and from your proper place, without courting favour; but keep the Judgment’s eighth-month warning in mind.
六三甘臨，无攸利。既憂之，无咎。
In plain words
Meeting the arrival with sweetness brings no benefit; once one has grown anxious about it, there is no blame.
Close reading
A yin line in a yang place, ill-positioned, riding on the firm Line 2 and first in the path of the two rising yang, with no correspondent in Line 6. It sits at the top of Dui, the mouth, beneath Kun, the earth, whose ‘crops yield sweetness’: sweet words in the mouth, soft speech as its only resource. Yet earth also governs thought, and thought brings concern. ‘The blame will not last long’: once alert, the fault does not persist.
If you drew this line
Do not handle the situation with flattery and pleasant words. Recognise how shaky your position is; worry enough to prepare, and things will not go wrong.
六四至臨，无咎。
In plain words
Meeting the arrival in person: no blame.
Close reading
Now in the upper trigram, Line 4 faces the rising yang directly. A yin line in a yin place, it is correct, and it corresponds with Line 1; with Lines 2 and 3 it forms a nuclear Zhèn, the foot, so it can go out to meet what comes. The Small Image says only ‘the position is proper’. ‘No blame’ means all is well, and that is something to be content with.
One level deeper
Line 4, “arriving in person; no blame”: Line 4 sits in the nuclear Zhèn of lines 3–5, the foot, movement, so it can walk down and meet those rising from below face to face. It also corresponds with Line 1: the one above shows up in person and deals sincerely, and nothing goes wrong.
If you drew this line
Go forward and meet what is coming openly; doing your part is enough. Peace is good news in itself; do not ask for more.
六五知臨，大君之宜，吉。
In plain words
Approaching with wisdom: fitting for a great ruler. Good fortune.
Close reading
Line 5 sits at the centre of Kun and also within a nuclear Kun; earth governs thought, and ‘thought should be penetrating’, hence ‘wisdom’. A yin line in the ruler’s place, not formally correct but central, it is answered by the firm, central Line 2, like a gentle ruler served by a strong, clear-sighted minister. ‘It walks the middle way’: wisdom here lies not in doing everything oneself but in holding the centre and knowing whom to trust.
One level deeper
Line 5, “wise approach, fitting for a great ruler”: a yin line on the throne does not show off its own strength but corresponds with the firm, central Line 2 below. A leader’s wisdom lies not in doing everything himself but in knowing whom to trust: the capable person far down the line, given room to act.
If you drew this line
In a position to lead, succeed by judgement and by knowing people: put the right person in the right place, and keep your own balance.
Liu Bang’s three men
After unifying the realm, the founder of the Han held a banquet in the Southern Palace at Luoyang and asked his ministers why he had won the empire and Xiang Yu had lost it. He answered himself: in laying plans within the tent that decide battles a thousand miles away, he was not the equal of Zhang Liang; in governing the state, caring for the people and keeping supplies flowing, not the equal of Xiao He; in leading a host of a million to certain victory, not the equal of Han Xin. All three were outstanding men, and he could use them; Xiang Yu had one Fan Zeng and could not. ‘Approaching with wisdom, fitting for a great ruler’ means exactly this discernment about people.
上六敦臨，吉无咎。
In plain words
Approaching with generous solidity: good fortune, no blame.
Close reading
At the summit of Kun, whose nature is thickness, Line 6 reaches ‘generosity’ in its fullest form. Yin in a yin place, it is correct; it has no correspondent in Line 3, yet it yields downward with weight and calm rather than contending. ‘Its intent is turned inward’: towards the inner trigram and the yang lines rising from below. As yang pushes upward, the top line makes way; what leaves the top will begin again from the bottom.
If you drew this line
When it is time to step back, be generous to those who come after. Turn your attention to the people taking over; a graceful exit is itself good fortune.
Stories 典
The Five Phases and the Five Faculties
The ‘Great Plan’ in the Shàngshū lists the Five Phases: water soaks downward, fire flames upward, wood bends and straightens, metal yields to change, and earth ‘thereupon’ bears sowing and harvest. Each has its taste: salt, bitter, sour, pungent, and for the crops of earth, sweet. The first four are introduced with ‘is called’; earth alone with ‘thereupon’, for the ground does not grow grain unless people till it. The same chapter lists five human faculties: demeanour, speech, sight, hearing and thought, and ‘thought should be penetrating; penetration makes the sage’. Set side by side, earth pairs with thought: only on steady ground does the mind grow quiet enough to reflect. Lin has Kun, earth, above, so the Great Image speaks of ‘teaching and pondering without end’, and the ‘sweetness’ of Line 3 and the ‘wisdom’ of Line 5 can both be read in this light.
Yan Hui, who seemed slow
Confucius said: ‘I talked with Hui all day and he never once disagreed, as if he were slow. But when I watched him in private afterwards, he was able to develop what I had said. Hui is not slow at all.’ There are two ways of never disagreeing: accepting everything because one does not understand, or grasping it at once and agreeing. The character for ‘sage’ contains the ear: to understand on hearing is the height of wisdom. When the noble person ‘teaches and ponders without end’, the aim is not only knowledge but to teach people to think for themselves.
Reading the eighth-month warning
Someone casting about an important decision in the seventh lunar month drew Lin with no moving lines, saw ‘in the eighth month there will be misfortune’, and grew alarmed. Read closely, the Tuan explains the phrase only as ‘the waning will not be long in coming’: a reminder that rise and fall succeed each other, not a prophecy of disaster. Every line of Lin is either auspicious or blameless, which makes it one of the rare thoroughly good hexagrams, and its yang is still growing. The warning is meant to keep one clear-headed in good times, not to frighten. A reading must take in the whole; one phrase taken literally should not unsettle it.
Insight 悟
Lin places us at our most fortunate moment: the trend is upward, above and below are in accord, and nearly every line is good. That is exactly why the Judgment adds its eighth-month warning. Heaven’s way is neither lucky nor unlucky; rise and fall are simply time moving. Fortune turns on whether we stay clear-headed and restrained when things go well. From the steadiness of Line 1, through the saving worry of Line 3, to the generous withdrawal of Line 6, the lesson is the same: while rising, cultivate character and successors, and when it is time to go, go with grace.