Hexagram 43: Breakthrough

夬 (Guài)

Decisive breakthrough and the resolution of long-standing issues.

Overview

You have built up creative strength for the move forward, and that puts you on the road of real action. Now you need to turn the knowledge and experience you have gathered toward something new. Why?

No one can go on improving their inner self forever and give nothing back to the world. Knowledge that only flows in and never flows out will flood you in the end, and a flood like that helps no one.

You are already prepared to carry out your plans and intentions. It is time to move toward the goals you set earlier. First, though, check that you are going in the right direction. Do that now, so that you do not get lost in your own plans later.

People around you

Look first at which connections among your friends and colleagues you actually need. Once you are moving along the chosen path, you will not be able to turn aside. So try not to make a mistake in choosing the people who travel with you.

Work

Do not push against other people's interests in your work. Aggression of any kind will work against you now. If someone attacks you, defend yourself, but keep ill will out of it. Hold back your sharp words. If you do not, your own angry tongue will hurt you badly.

Your wish

Right now it may look as if your wish has not moved a step closer. Do not go by how it looks. Your wish is probably much nearer than that, and close to knocking at your door.

This Overview is one traditional reading of the figure, offered as a prompt for reflection and perspective rather than a prediction of a fixed future. Where this material comes from.

New to the sequence? See how lines, trigrams and changing lines work, or cast your own reading with the three-coin method.

Structure

Read from the bottom upward, hexagram 43 is Lake over Heaven. Its two inner, or nuclear, trigrams are Heaven over Heaven. What the eight trigrams mean.

Upper trigram (lines 4–6): Duì · Lake Joyous and open
Lower trigram (lines 1–3): Qián · Heaven Creative and strong
Upper nuclear (lines 3–5): Qián · Heaven Creative and strong
Lower nuclear (lines 2–4): Qián · Heaven Creative and strong