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Hexagram 54 — Xun, The Gentle, Wind
Chronological no. 54 (binary-weight order) · King Wen no. (traditional) 57 · 巽
By Anibal Edelberto Amiot — Updated October 1, 2026
the eldest daughter
the eldest daughter
Winds that follow one another: the image of the gentle doubled. Wind blows, then blows again, insisting without ever striking — an influence that penetrates through repetition rather than force. Thus the noble one spreads his orders abroad and carries his affairs into effect: what cannot be imposed all at once often ends up settling in through the gentle constancy of patient insistence.
The wind penetrates everywhere without a sound, like the weft. The most discreet force is sometimes the most effective: it meets no head-on resistance because it never announces itself as force. This line teaches the power of continuous, silent influence.
The six lines
At the base of the earth, emptiness closes over: what was still an opening begins to fill.
The steadied earth reaches its limit: the solidity that upheld the structure is about to change its nature.
At the threshold between earth and man, force wavers: what acted through firmness hesitates before turning.
In the listening of man, the hollow fills: the openness that received is about to assert itself.
At the sage's seat, fullness hollows out: the force that governed the figure from its center is about to invert.
At the summit, fullness completes its course and breaks: what had culminated cannot go further without turning back.
Source: La Livrée d'Hermès, Anibal Amiot — chapter 7.1 (pp. 63–68). French version of this page.
For the notions used here — magic square, layer and casting, the Yi Jing — see the project lexicon.
The patterns of this hexagram
This hexagram is the binary complement of hexagram 9 — Zhen, The Arousing (63 − 54 = 9): its patterns have exactly the same shape, only their colours are permuted. Here are the eight patterns of hexagram 9, one for each admissible family.
Bases — YANG mutant
Bases — YANG
Pair of two — YANG + YIN mutant
Pair of two — YIN mutant + YANG mutant
Pair of two — YIN + YANG
Pair of two — YIN + YANG mutant
Triple — without YANG
Triple — without YANG mutant
Neighbouring hexagrams
53 — Jia Ren, The Family · 55 — Xiao Chu, The Taming Power of the Small
Hexagrams sharing a trigram
Same upper trigram (☴ Xun): 48 — Guan, Contemplation · 49 — Yi, Increase · 50 — Huan, Dispersion · 51 — Zhong Fu, Inner Truth · 52 — Jian, Development · 53 — Jia Ren, The Family · 55 — Xiao Chu, The Taming Power of the Small
Same lower trigram (☴ Xun): 6 — Sheng, Pushing Upward · 14 — Heng, Duration · 22 — Jing, The Well · 30 — Da Guo, Preponderance of the Great · 38 — Gu, Work on What Has Been Spoiled · 46 — Ding, The Cauldron · 62 — Gou, Coming to Meet
