賁
“Adorning” — King Wen #22
Form and grace. Beauty and ceremony succeed in small matters, not in weighty ones.
The Judgment 卦辞
亨，小利有攸往。
Bi indicates that there should be free course (in what it denotes). There will be little advantage (however) if it be allowed to advance (and take the lead).— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
賁其趾，舍車而徒。
The first NINE, undivided, shows one adorning (the way of) his feet. He can discard a carriage and walk on foot.
賁其須。
The second SIX, divided, shows one adorning his beard.
賁如，濡如，永貞吉。
The third NINE, undivided, shows its subject with the appearance of being adorned and bedewed (with rich favours). But let him ever maintain his firm correctness, and there will be good fortune.
賁如，皤如，白馬翰如，匪寇，婚媾。
The fourth SIX, divided, shows one looking as if adorned, but only in white. As if (mounted on) a white horse, and furnished with wings, (he seeks union with the subject of the first line), while (the intervening third pursues), not as a robber, but intent on a matrimonial alliance.
賁于丘園，束帛戔戔；吝，終吉。
The fifth SIX, divided, shows its subject adorned by (the occupants of) the heights and gardens. He bears his roll of silk, small and slight. He may appear stingy; but there will be good fortune in the end.
白賁，無咎。
The sixth NINE, undivided, shows one with white as his (only) ornament. There will be no error.
Reading the Picture
Hexagram 22 places fire (离) beneath mountain (艮) —light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates below, stillness holding its ground above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Adorning”:form and grace. Beauty and ceremony succeed in small matters, not in weighty ones Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
Questions About Hexagram 22
What does 賁 (bì) mean?
Hexagram 22 of the I Ching is named 賁 (bì), usually rendered "Adorning" in English editions. Its figure pairs fire (离) below with mountain (艮) above.
Which trigrams form hexagram 22?
艮 (Mountain) sits above and 离 (Fire) sits below — the classical picture is light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates beneath stillness holding its ground.
How is hexagram 22 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 22 gives hexagram 47 — 困 (Confining). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 21 — 噬嗑 (Gnawing Bite). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 40 — 解 (Taking-Apart).
Ask your own question
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1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1899), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text. · For reflection and entertainment — not financial, medical, or life advice.