EN (English)
☱
One of the eight trigrams
Lake
兌 · Duì
An open line above two solid ones, strength with a soft face. Duì is the lake: an open surface, standing water that gives back what it is shown, and the pleasure people take in each other's company.
pleasure
exchange
speech
openness
- Lines, bottom to top
- Solid · solid · broken
- Image
- Lake, marsh
- Attribute
- Joyous, open
- Family role
- The youngest daughter
- Element
- Metal
- Direction
- West (Later Heaven)
- Season
- Autumn
- Animal
- Sheep
- Body
- The mouth
What it means
Duì's open top line is a mouth, and most of the trigram's meanings follow from that. It is the trigram of speech, of conversation, of persuasion that works because people enjoy it, and of the good humour that makes hard work possible. The Image commentary attaches friends meeting to discuss and practise together to doubled Duì, which is as close as the classic comes to describing a seminar.
The lake matters as much as the mouth. Still water reflects, so Duì carries a mirroring quality: pleasure taken in exchange rather than in getting. It is also a reservoir, gathering what the mountain sheds, which is why hexagram 31 pairs it above Gèn to describe attraction between two people.
Its shadow is flattery and dissipation, joy that has become the point rather than the by-product. The trigram's element is Metal, its season autumn, the harvest that gets eaten. As the youngest daughter, Duì is Kūn's yielding line arrived at the surface, where it can be seen and spoken with.
In a reading
Duì points to what is exchanged: the conversation, the negotiation, the shared satisfaction. It generally reads well and asks one question in return, which is whether the pleasure is producing anything.
When Duì sits above, the outward face of the matter is agreeable. Whether the inside matches is the business of the trigram below it.
Where it appears
As the upper trigram: 17. Following, 28. Preponderance of the Great, 31. Influence, 43. Breakthrough, 45. Gathering Together, 47. Oppression, 49. Revolution, 58. The Joyous.
As the lower trigram: 10. Treading, 19. Approach, 38. Opposition, 41. Decrease, 54. The Marrying Maiden, 58. The Joyous, 60. Limitation, 61. Inner Truth.
Related figures
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