The name 名
Bì 賁 means to adorn or embellish. The Miscellaneous Notes say ‘Bi is colourless’: true adornment is not adding more colour but, in an almost colourless way, letting a thing’s own nature stand out. The Shuowen defines wén 文 as ‘crossed strokes’: lines must intersect to form a pattern, so wen is the trace of human design.
The image 象
Below is Lí, fire and refinement; above is Gèn, mountain and stillness. A fire at the foot of the mountain lights it up and makes it lovelier, but cannot change the mountain itself, much as floodlights show off a building. The Tuan calls this ‘refinement that knows where to stop’: shaping human conduct by cultured means, which is what culture is.
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 Lí, the middle daughter; above is Gèn, the youngest son. The sister’s brilliance below lights up the brother above, like firelight at the foot of a mountain making it more beautiful. Adornment comes from an inner light, but it cannot change the mountain itself: however fine the surface, a person is still who he is. Gèn also means stopping: beauty needs a limit, or it turns into show.
Line 1, “adorning his toes, he leaves the carriage and walks”: the bottom line is the toes. Lines 2–4 form a nuclear Kǎn, the carriage, and Line 1 is beneath it, so it gets down and goes on foot. Someone just starting out doesn’t rely on display; he would rather walk, with his own footing in good order.
Line 3, “adorned and moistened; lasting steadiness is auspicious”: Line 3 is in the nuclear Kǎn, water, the sense of being moistened, and the yin lines on either side (lines 2 and 4) both adorn it, the yielding decorating the firm. When one is nourished and flattered, lasting steadiness keeps the loveliness from drowning one.
Line 4, “adorned, all in white; a white horse as if winged; not a raider but a suitor”: the phrase “not a raider but a suitor” nearly always points to Kǎn, the thief; Kǎn is also the horse with a fine back. Line 4 corresponds with Line 1: the one approaching is no robber but someone coming to propose. Here adornment turns to plain white, white horse and white hair: the height of beauty is simplicity.
Bì inverted is Shì Kè: one is about adornment, the other about punishment. A society first shapes people through culture and courtesy, and only when that fails does it bite with the law. Drawing Bì is a reminder that what can be settled by good form need not be settled by force.
Change every line of Bì and you get Kùn, Exhaustion: the hidden side of adornment is hardship. A glossy surface without substance falls into difficulty the moment its support is gone. The top line’s “plain white adornment,” laying all decoration aside, is exactly how one avoids sliding into that hidden side.
In sequence 序
物不可以苟合而已，故受之以賁；賁者飾也。
The Sequence says: ‘Things cannot simply be joined anyhow; hence Bi follows. Bi means adornment.’ Shihe brought society together, but mere joining is crude; people living together need grace and refinement. Once food, clothing and order are secured, culture follows. Shihe and Bi are each other turned upside down.
The judgment 辭
賁：亨。小利有攸往。
‘Bi: success. There is small benefit in having somewhere to go.’ ‘Small’ can mean the yin lines, or modest undertakings. Ornament is embellishment; it has no strength to carry great affairs. So it suits small matters and supporting roles, and to pursue a great enterprise on the strength of decoration would be to mistake the trimming for the substance.
Commentary on the judgment 彖
彖曰：賁，亨；柔來而文剛，故亨。分剛上而文柔，故小利有攸往。剛柔交錯，天文也；文明以止，人文也。觀乎天文，以察時變；觀乎人文，以化成天下。
The Tuan explains by hexagram change: Bi comes from Tài 泰. ‘The yielding comes and adorns the firm’: Line 2 has come down to grace the yang lines, hence success. ‘The firm divides off and rises to adorn the yielding’: Line 6 has gone up to grace the yin lines, hence small benefit in going. ‘Firm and yielding interweave: the pattern of Heaven. Refinement that knows where to stop: the pattern of humankind. Observe the pattern of Heaven to discern the changing seasons; observe the pattern of humankind to transform and complete the world.’ The modern word for ‘culture’, wénhuà 文化, comes from this line, and it is in Bi, not in Guan.
The great image 象
象曰：山下有火，賁；君子以明庶政，无敢折獄。
‘Fire at the foot of the mountain: Bi. The noble person clarifies the many affairs of government but does not presume to decide lawsuits.’ Firelight beneath a mountain only illuminates; it has no power to act. Shihe had thunder, and so could judge cases; here the thunder is gone, and Gen above says stop. The noble person uses this light to bring order to routine affairs but dares not hand down verdicts by it, for beneath ornament the true facts are hard to see.
The six lines 爻
Ruling line Line 6 rules: per the Tuan, ‘the firm rises to adorn the yielding’; Line 6 has climbed up to grace the two yin lines, and its ‘plain white’ completes the spirit of Bi. Line 2, ‘the yielding comes to adorn the firm’, is the other key to the hexagram change and may be read alongside it.
The path of the six lines, bottom to top
Line 1 adorns only its own steps and would rather walk than ride, starting from the plainest place. Line 2 adorns the beard on the chin, moving along with Line 3 above it: ornament depends on what it adorns. Line 3, moistened from both sides, is at its most brilliant, and now most needs lasting steadiness. Line 4 enters the upper trigram, beauty begins to turn to plain white, and what approaches is not an enemy but a match. Line 5, in the hill gardens, offers only a small roll of silk; it looks meagre, yet it ends well. The top line, “plain white adornment,” returns all decoration to its natural colour, and there is no fault.
初九賁其趾，舍車而徒。
In plain words
Adorning the toes, leaving the carriage and going on foot.
Close reading
Line 1 is the lowest, like the toes. Lines 2 to 4 form a nuclear Kan, the carriage, and Line 1 lies beneath it, so it gets down and walks. Yang in a yang place, it is correct, and it corresponds with Line 4. With the feet dressed up, riding would hide them, so one walks. The Small Image: ‘by rights, one does not ride’. Read another way, this is the quiet dignity of keeping to one’s station and keeping one’s feet on the ground.
One level deeper
Line 1, “adorning his toes, he leaves the carriage and walks”: the bottom line is the toes. Lines 2–4 form a nuclear Kǎn, the carriage, and Line 1 is beneath it, so it gets down and goes on foot. Someone just starting out doesn’t rely on display; he would rather walk, with his own footing in good order.
If you drew this line
Start from the ground and walk on your own feet. Do without trappings that are not yours; solid footing matters more than appearances.
六二賁其須。
In plain words
Adorning the beard.
Close reading
The leap from toes to beard is explained by the figure: Lines 3 to 6 form a miniature Yí 頤, the mouth, and Line 2 lies just below it, where a beard grows. Line 2 is central and correct but has no correspondent in Line 5, so it can only attach itself to what is above. A beard is not substance; it can be shaved off and moves only with the face. ‘It rises together with the one above’: it came into place by exchange with Line 6 when the gua derived from Tai, and it moves with those above it.
If you drew this line
This is a supporting role. Help, voice your support, lend moral weight; but do not commit heavily or try to lead.
九三賁如濡如，永貞吉。
In plain words
Adorned and glistening; lasting steadfastness brings good fortune.
Close reading
Yang in a yang place, correct, flanked by the yin of Lines 2 and 4: ‘two yielding lines adorning one firm’. It sits at the top of Li’s fire and within the nuclear Kan’s water: fire gives lustre, water gives sheen, and adornment reaches its height. It has no correspondent in Line 6, yet needs none; above lies Gen, stillness, and no line beyond has its advantages, so the Small Image says ‘in the end none can override it’. As far as adornment goes, this is the best place in the gua; but it must be ‘lastingly steadfast’, splendid without losing its integrity.
One level deeper
Line 3, “adorned and moistened; lasting steadiness is auspicious”: Line 3 is in the nuclear Kǎn, water, the sense of being moistened, and the yin lines on either side (lines 2 and 4) both adorn it, the yielding decorating the firm. When one is nourished and flattered, lasting steadiness keeps the loveliness from drowning one.
If you drew this line
You are well placed and well supported, and things look bright. Persist and stay upright, and it will last; do not let the lustre replace the substance.
At ease in a supporting role
Someone invited into a business partnership asked how it would go and drew Line 3 of Bi. Fire below a mountain lights it but does not change it. He was told that in this partnership he would likely be the one who adds lustre rather than the one with the final say, and that if he kept to his part the arrangement would work well. Only then did he explain: the other party was the chairman and had asked him to serve as general manager, making clear from the start that decisions rested with the chairman while he ran operations. ‘Lasting steadfastness brings good fortune’: the value lies in keeping to one’s role over time.
六四賁如皤如，白馬翰如，匪寇婚媾。
In plain words
Adorned yet white; a white horse comes galloping. Not a robber: a suitor.
Close reading
‘Not a robber but a suitor’ always points to Kan, the thief; the same nuclear Kan that meant moisture for Line 3 here looks like a bandit. Kan is also a horse with a fine back, and since Bi prizes white, the horse is white; pó 皤 is the white of an old man’s hair. Line 4, yin in a yin place, is correct and corresponds with Line 1, but Line 3 stands between them, and so it is full of doubt. ‘Correctly placed, yet doubtful’: the one approaching is in fact its true partner, Line 1, so ‘in the end there is no reproach’. From this line on, adornment begins to turn from show back toward plainness.
One level deeper
Line 4, “adorned, all in white; a white horse as if winged; not a raider but a suitor”: the phrase “not a raider but a suitor” nearly always points to Kǎn, the thief; Kǎn is also the horse with a fine back. Line 4 corresponds with Line 1: the one approaching is no robber but someone coming to propose. Here adornment turns to plain white, white horse and white hair: the height of beauty is simplicity.
If you drew this line
What looks like a threat may not be one. Set aside suspicion, see what the other party truly intends, and respond in good faith.
The girl on the white horse
A mother learned that her son had met a girl online whose family was far less well-off than theirs. Inclined to discourage it, she asked for a reading and drew Line 4 of Bi. Having studied the Changes herself, she saw ‘not a robber but a suitor’ and her misgivings fell away: the girl was at university, and though her background was modest she was clearly striving to better herself. The girl, she said, had come to their house on a white horse, and was more than welcome. A single line averted what might have become a family quarrel; what really did the work was her willingness to see the girl differently.
六五賁於丘園，束帛戔戔，吝，終吉。
In plain words
Adorning hills and gardens; the roll of silk is meagre. Humiliation, but good fortune in the end.
Close reading
Gen above is the mountain, the ‘hill’; and since the gua derives from Tai, whose upper trigram Kun was earth, field and cloth, there are ‘gardens’ and a ‘roll of silk’; jiān jiān 戔戔 means scant. Line 5, yin on the throne, is central but not correct and has no correspondent in Line 2. A ruler tending to hills and gardens shows a narrow scope, hence ‘humiliation’; yet choosing thrift over extravagance accords with Confucius: ‘in ritual, better frugal than lavish’. Directly beneath Line 6, yin supported by yang, it finds something to rely on. ‘There is joy’, and in the end good fortune.
If you drew this line
Prefer plainness and restraint to display; but do not let your attention shrink to small things, and keep a wider view. With someone reliable to lean on, things come right in the end.
上九白賁，无咎。
In plain words
Plain white adornment: no blame.
Close reading
Line 6 is the ruling line. In the Tuan’s words, ‘the firm rises to adorn the yielding’: it came up from the lower trigram to grace the yin lines, and its task is complete, so the Small Image says ‘above, its aim is achieved’. Yang in a yin place, not correct and without a correspondent in Line 3, it has nonetheless reached the highest stage of adornment: white as ornament, a return to simplicity, what Confucius meant by ‘in painting, white comes last’. Here ornament no longer covers substance; it lets substance shine of itself.
If you drew this line
Strip away the excess packaging and return to sincerity and your own true colours. Simplicity is what best fulfils your aim.
Stories 典
In painting, white comes last
Zixia, among the disciples noted for learning in the texts, asked Confucius about three lines of the Odes: ‘Her artful smile so charming, her lovely eyes so clear, plain white making it all resplendent.’ How could white, a colourless thing, make someone more beautiful? Confucius replied: ‘In painting, white comes last.’ On Zheng Xuan’s reading, the colours are laid down first and white is applied at the end to set them off; Zhu Xi instead read it as ‘after the white ground’, painting on a white base, which reverses the sense. Zixia grasped it at once: ‘Does ritual, then, come last?’ Ritual is like that final white: colourless in itself, it lets sincere feeling show. Confucius was delighted: ‘It is Shang who has drawn me out! Now I can discuss the Odes with him.’ Without real feeling, ritual is mere performance; with it, ritual becomes beautiful. This is the ‘plain white’ of Bi’s top line.
Pattern and substance in balance
Confucius said: ‘When substance exceeds pattern, one is rustic; when pattern exceeds substance, one is like a scribe. Only when pattern and substance are well balanced is one a noble person.’ Too much substance and too little refinement is blunt and careless of the courtesies; too much refinement and too little substance resembles the court scribe, polished in phrasing but not necessarily truthful or sincere. Only when inner sincerity and outer cultivation are rightly matched does one become the noble person. From the first line to the last, Bi seeks the right proportion between these poles, and adornment presupposes something real worth bringing out.
Confucius draws Bi
The Lüshi chunqiu records that Confucius divined and drew Bi, and pronounced it ‘not auspicious’. Zigong was puzzled: was Bi not a good hexagram? Confucius said that white should simply be white and black simply black; what was so good about Bi? The Kongzi jiayu tells a similar story, adding that red lacquer is not painted over and white jade is not carved, because what has ample substance needs no ornament. To Confucius, Bi was embellishment rather than true colour, and for someone who meant to stand on genuine virtue, being treated as decoration was no welcome sign. It echoes the top line’s ‘plain white’: the best adornment leaves one’s true colour unobscured.
Insight 悟
Bi is about culture and refinement. Adornment can make life graceful and relationships smooth, but it cannot replace substance. Fire beneath the mountain can light things up but cannot judge them; neither people nor situations should be judged by their wrapping. Bi moves from splendour toward plainness, and its summit is ‘plain white’: sincerity is the true colour, and ritual is the white that lets it show. Without real strength, take on small things and play the supporting role well; with real substance, there is little need for embellishment.