既濟
“Already Fording” — King Wen #63
After the crossing. Order is achieved — and everything can now slip. Watch the small beginnings of decay.
The Judgment 卦辞
亨小，利貞。初吉終亂。
Ji Ji intimates progress and success in small matters. There will be advantage in being firm and correct. There has been good fortune in the beginning; there may be disorder in the end.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
曳其輪，濡其尾，無咎。
The first NINE, undivided, (shows its subject as a driver) who drags back his wheel, (or as a fox) which has wet his tail. There will be no error.
婦喪其茀，勿逐，七日得。
The second SIX, divided, (shows its subject as) a wife who has lost her (carriage-)screen. There is no occasion to go in pursuit of it. In seven days she will find it.
高宗伐鬼方，三年克之；小人勿用。
The third NINE, undivided, (suggests the case of) K?o ?ung, who attacked the Demon region, but was three years in subduing it. Small men should not be employed (in such enterprises).
繻有衣袽，終日戒。
The fourth SIX, divided, shows its subject with rags provided against any leak (in his boat), and on his guard all day long.
東鄰殺牛，不如西鄰之禴祭，實受其福。
The fifth NINE, undivided, shows its subject (as) the neighbour in the east who slaughters an ox (for his sacrifice); but this is not equal to the (small) spring sacrifice of the neighbour in the west, whose sincerity receives the blessing.
濡其首，厲。
The topmost SIX, divided, shows its subject with (even) his head immersed. The position is perilous.
Reading the Picture
Hexagram 63 places fire (离) beneath water (坎) —light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates below, water finding its way through hard gaps above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Already Fording”:after the crossing. Order is achieved — and everything can now slip. Watch the small beginnings of decay Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
Questions About Hexagram 63
What does 既濟 (jì jì) mean?
Hexagram 63 of the I Ching is named 既濟 (jì jì), usually rendered "Already Fording" in English editions. Its figure pairs fire (离) below with water (坎) above.
Which trigrams form hexagram 63?
坎 (Water) sits above and 离 (Fire) sits below — the classical picture is light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates beneath water finding its way through hard gaps.
How is hexagram 63 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 63 gives hexagram 64 — 未濟 (Not Yet Fording). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 64 — 未濟 (Not Yet Fording). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 64 — 未濟 (Not Yet Fording).
Ask your own question
Reading about hexagram 63 is looking it up. Casting it — shaking the tube, watching your own coins fall — is how an answer becomes yours.
Cast this question yourselfNew to casting? How it works · All 64 hexagrams
Related Hexagrams 錯綜互
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.