Hexagram 43
Break-through
夬Guài
☱ Lake above, ☰ Heaven below
The lake has climbed above heaven, higher than water can hold itself: out of that overfull tension, just before it bursts, arises the break-through that will suffer no more delay.
The JudgmentBreak-through: resolutely it must be made known at the court of the king; it must be proclaimed according to truth. Danger: it is necessary to alert one's own city. It is not worthwhile to take up arms; it is worthwhile to undertake something. The last evil yields not to violence but to openness.
The ImageThe lake has risen up to heaven: the image of break-through. Thus the noble one shares his wealth with those below and does not allow himself to rest on his virtue. Water gathered so high must fall: hoarding in times of break-through (possessions or moral self-satisfaction) calls the cloudburst down on your own head. Let it flow before it bursts.
InterpretationThe last evil must be cleared away: five strong lines press upward against one weak line at the top, the abuse everyone knows and no one names. It appears with the line that keeps being crossed, the wrong that is 'simply how things are', the habit that undermines your body, the last lie in an otherwise healthy whole. The method is as precise as the danger is great: make it public, truthfully, at the court of the king (where the authority sits) and in your own city (begin with your own part and your own circle). And do not reach for weapons: fighting evil with its own means makes you its successor. Break-through is not a battle but an announcement; darkness dies of light, not of violence.
Place in the sequenceGrowth that continues presses up against whatever still holds it back and then must break through. Therefore, after 42, Increase, comes Break-through. It forms a pair with 44 · Coming to Meet.
Nuclear hexagram
The nuclear hexagram of Break-through is 1 · The Creative: Primal power that wants to create: everything succeeds for those who persevere in what is right, for success here is not a matter of luck but of staying power. It is formed from the inner lines and shows the hidden core of the situation.
The six lines
These texts belong to changing lines in a reading, from the bottom up.
Nine at the beginning
Strength in the toes that stride forward:
going forth unequal to the task, one commits a mistake. The strength is already in the toes again: attack at once, now, hard. But in clearing away a great evil, a failed first strike is worse than a late one: it warns the opponent, burns your credit, and drags the doubters back. First measure honestly whether you can carry it: evidence, allies, stamina. The question is not whether you dare, but whether you can bear it.
Nine in the second place
A cry of alarm: weapons in the evening and at night; fear nothing. Vigilance is the best armor: staying armed and clear-headed even in the evening, you have nothing to fear, for you cannot be taken by surprise. Sound the alarm when it is needed, but have your own defenses in order before you declare the fight: backups, allies, a clean conscience of your own. Fear is a sign of unpreparedness; preparedness is the end of fear. Prepare so well that you can sleep calmly beside the storm.
Nine in the third place
Being mighty in the cheekbones brings misfortune.
The noble one is firmly resolved: he walks alone and is caught in the rain; he is splashed, and people murmur against him: no blame. Do not wear your resolve on your face: carrying your battle plan in your jaw warns the evil and invites the attack. Sometimes the break-through demands a lonely detour: seeming to go along with the wrong people, getting splashed, enduring the grumbling of your own, in order to turn the evil from within. It is a heavy role: everyone doubts you except yourself. Bear the misunderstanding; the dirt washes off again, and time explains everything.
Nine in the fourth place
No skin on the thighs, and walking comes hard.
If one let oneself be led like a sheep, remorse would vanish; but hearing these words, one does not believe them. Restless pushing on has worn you raw: no skin left on the thighs, and still you want to go on. There is a way out: letting yourself be led, going along like a sheep, not steering for a while. But precisely that is unbearable to you, and the oracle knows it: you hear these words and do not believe them. Stubbornness disguised as decisiveness is the real enemy here. Read this line twice.
Nine in the fifth placeruling line
Weeds call for firm resolve:
walking in the middle stays free of blame. The evil of this phase is no dragon but a weed: purslane, tough, low to the ground, growing back while you look away. It calls not for a campaign but for a gardener's work: weeding again and again, resolute and without grimness. Turning fanatical damages the garden; turning careless loses it. Keeping the middle between those two, season after season: that is the whole art here, and it is harder than a single heroic deed.
Six at the top
No cry: in the end comes misfortune. The break-through seems complete: the evil defeated, the relief general, the vigilance asleep. And exactly there, in the quiet after the victory, the remnant survives: the last scrap of wrong that no one watches anymore quietly grows back. The final ten percent of any cleanup decides whether the first ninety meant anything. Do not celebrate too early, check the corners, and see the ending through: unfinished break-throughs are the seeds of the next round.