Gu · Work on the Spoiled

The meaning

What the name means Gu was originally worms in a vessel: faults that have piled up.

The picture Wind under a mountain, blocked by it and unable to blow through, so what is stale gathers in one place.

The sense of the whole The whole hexagram is about putting right an old fault. A problem put off for a long time now has to be faced. Find the root first, then act: think for three days before and check for three days after, and see it through from start to end.

In plain words: what this hexagram says

Something old has piled up for a long time and now needs sorting out. Admit it is broken and it can be mended.

The upper trigram is Mountain and the lower is Wind: Mountain above, Wind below. When you read it, first picture the two together as a scene, then set it against the original below. The plain words speak only of stance and do not foretell.

The judgement

元亨，利涉大川。先甲三日，後甲三日。

The image

山下有風，蠱；君子以振民育德。

The six lines

From the bottom up, the first line is the lowest. When you cast this hexagram and a line is changing, read the matching one. The original is classical Chinese.

1. 初六幹父之蠱，有子，考無咎，厲終吉。
2. 九二幹母之蠱，不可貞。
3. 九三幹父之蠱，小有悔，無大咎。
4. 六四裕父之蠱，往見吝。
5. 六五幹父之蠱，用譽。
6. 上九不事王侯，高尚其事。

To learn how to read a hexagram, see "How to read a hexagram"; for changing lines, see "Changing lines and the resulting hexagram".