Hexagram 43 · 泽天夬

Breakthrough

Metal · Kun palace

Decisive removal of what has gone wrong; resolve, openly.

Meaning

The lake risen to the sky: water about to overflow. Breakthrough describes a resolution that has become unavoidable.

Decision Framework

Resolve it decisively and openly.

Decision Guidance

Breakthrough concerns the removal of something that has clearly turned harmful—a failing arrangement, a bad actor, a practice that has become untenable. The accumulation has reached the point where it has to be ended.

The emphasis is on doing it openly and cleanly. The classical text warns against covert manoeuvring even when your cause is sound, because a decisive move made in the dark damages your position and invites the same treatment later. State the case, act directly, and do not prolong it into a vendetta once the matter is settled.

Judgment — Classical Text

扬于王庭，孚号有厉。

EN Proclaimed in the king's court, with cries of sincerity there is danger. One must report to one's own town; it is not favourable to take up arms; it is favourable to set out.

The Six Lines — Classical Text

初九：壮于前趾，往不胜，为咎。
EN Initial nine: strength in the front toes — going and not prevailing is a fault.
九二：惕号，莫夜有戎，勿恤。
EN Nine in the second: alarmed and crying out; arms in the night — do not worry.
九三：壮于頄，有凶。
EN Nine in the third: strength in the cheekbones — misfortune; the noble one resolves and departs, walking alone and meeting the rain; dampened and resentful, no blame.
九四：臀无肤，其行次且。
EN Nine in the fourth: the seat has no skin and the walk is halting — if you follow the sheep's guidance, regret vanishes; hearing the words you do not believe them.
九五：苋陆夬夬，中行无咎。
EN Nine in the fifth: resolving decisively like the purslane — walking the middle path, no blame.
上六：无号，终有凶。
EN Topmost six: no cry of warning — in the end there is misfortune.

Keywords

I Ching hexagram 43, Breakthrough hexagram, Guai hexagram meaning, hexagram for decisive change