What Does the Hexagram Trạch Hỏa Cách (No. 49, 革) Say About Replacing the Old, and Why Must Change Wait for the Right Moment to Be Trusted?

What does the Trạch Hỏa Cách hexagram (number 49, 革) say about changing the old, and why must a change wait for the right moment before it is trusted?

What is the Trạch Hỏa Cách hexagram, and where does it sit among the 64 hexagrams?

Trạch Hỏa Cách (澤火革) is the 49th hexagram among the 64 hexagrams of the Kinh Dịch (the I Ching) in the traditional order. The hexagram consists of the upper trigram Đoài ☱ (the marsh) and the lower trigram Ly ☲ (fire), so its full name is Trạch Hỏa Cách, also shortened to Cách. The character 革 means animal hide, and from the meaning of hide it opens out into the meaning of change, reform, renewal: replacing the old with the new. In the table of 64 hexagrams, this hexagram carries the Unicode symbol ䷰, standing immediately before the Đỉnh hexagram, number 50.

In terms of attributes, the Cách hexagram has four yang lines and two yin lines. The image of the hexagram is fire rising up beneath the water of the marsh; these two things cannot remain at rest with each other, and one of the two must change. Many traditional commentaries also record this hexagram as belonging to the Metal element when judged by the five elements of the trigrams, and take its opposite hexagram to be Sơn Thủy Mông (hexagram number 4). These conventions differ between schools, so when you look it up you will find tables that do not entirely agree with one another.

Why does the Cách hexagram come after the Tỉnh hexagram in the Tự Quái?

According to the Tự Quái truyện, the commentary from later ages that discusses the order of the hexagrams, after Tỉnh (hexagram 48, the well of water) comes Cách. The reason given is that the way of the well cannot but be renewed: a well used for a long time silts up, its water grows muddy, and it must be dredged and repaired before it can be used further. From talking about the well, the Tự Quái truyện opens out to a larger matter: every institution and every way of doing things has a time when it must be changed. It is important to distinguish clearly: this is the word of the Tự Quái truyện, a commentary chapter, not the word of the classic. The classic's word for the hexagram consists only of the hexagram text and the six line texts.

Cách goes in a pair with Đỉnh (hexagram 50). Cách is discarding the old, Đỉnh is casting the new: change the old, then establish the new. Only reading the two hexagrams side by side reveals the full meaning, because the change itself is not the goal, but the step that opens the way for a new order to be built.

The hexagram text of Cách: what does "Tị nhật nãi phu" mean?

The hexagram text reads: 革：巳日乃孚，元亨。利貞。悔亡。 Read in Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation: Cách: Tị nhật nãi phu, nguyên hanh, lợi trinh, hối vong. Close to the letter: change, only on the right day is one trusted, greatly successful, holding firm is beneficial, regret dissolves.

Wang Bi comments on this passage: "In general, what makes a change of affairs win people's trust is that it relies on civilization and joyful compliance. To be civilized and joyfully compliant, to tread the upright way and act, and to take that as the change of affairs, is to respond to heaven and accord with the people, greatly successful and correct. If a change is greatly successful and correct, how could it be so without matching the principle?" Chu Hsi (Chu Dịch bản nghĩa) comments: "Cách means change. The Đoài marsh is above, the Ly fire below; when fire blazes the water dries, when the water bursts the fire goes out; two women, one central and one young, combine into one hexagram, and with the young above and the central below, their wills do not agree, so the hexagram is Cách. At the beginning of a change, people do not yet trust, so it must reach the day when it is done before they trust. Again, because within there is the virtue of civilization and without there is the temper of harmonious joy, its divination text is: whenever there is a change it is greatly successful and correct, the change is always fitting, and regret over the change dissolves. If for a single moment it is not correct, then the change is not trusted and does not succeed, and on the contrary there is regret."

The character 巳 in this sentence is where the editions and commentators do not agree. One common reading understands 巳 as the earthly branch Tị, that is, a Tị day in the cycle of stems and branches, and the sentence says that only on a Tị day is one trusted by people. A second reading understands 巳 in the sense of "already, done", so it translates as "the day it is done", that is, the moment when the work has reached ripeness, when everything is already settled and people's hearts are then won over. Both readings lead to the same large point: a change must wait for the ripening moment. The only difference is whether the marker of time is taken by the Tị branch or by the meaning "already done".

The Tượng truyện: fire within the marsh and the setting of the calendar

The Tượng truyện (Đại Tượng) reads: 澤中有火，革；君子以治歷明時。 Read as: Trạch trung hữu hỏa, Cách; quân tử dĩ trị lịch minh thì. Meaning: within the marsh there is fire, that is the image of the Cách hexagram; the noble person accordingly sets the calendar in order and makes clear the seasons of the four seasons.

This image is very concrete: water and fire in the same place cannot keep their former state. The noble person looks at it and understands that the order must be rearranged and the markers of time made clear. Setting the calendar in order was one of the great reforms of antiquity, because the calendar was tied directly to farming, to sacrifices, and to the power of the state as well.

The six line texts of the Cách hexagram and the commentaries of Wang Bi and Chu Hsi

The six line texts below are transcribed from the Chinese text, with the common Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation and the commentaries of Wang Bi and Chu Hsi. Read from line one (the bottom) up to line six (the top).

Line 1: when the time has not come, bind yourself

The line text reads: 初九：鞏用黃牛之革。 Wang Bi comments: "At the head of a change, the way of change is not yet complete, and one who firmly keeps the constant way in the middle is not yet able to respond to circumstances. That is one who can preserve what is complete, not one who can act. Củng means to bind fast. Yellow is the center. Hide of ox, firm and solid, does not change. What is used to bind, constantly kept in the middle, firm and solid, will not submit to change." Chu Hsi (Chu Dịch bản nghĩa) comments: "Though one is in the time of change, one is at the beginning, without a response, and cannot yet act, so there is this image. Củng means to bind fast. Yellow is the color of the center. The ox is a compliant creature. Hide is what binds a thing fast, and here too the name of the hexagram is taken while the meaning is different. Its divination text is: one should be firm and hold fast, and cannot act; the sage was this cautious about the matter of change."

Line 2: on the right day, then change

The line text reads: 六二：已日乃革之，征吉，无咎。 Wang Bi comments: "Yin is a thing that does not lead the way, it is the compliant follower. It cannot change of itself, but once the change is done it can follow, so it says 'on the day it is done, then change'. Though two and five differ as the natures of water and fire, they are both in the middle, yin and yang respond to each other, and when they go they surely join in will, with no fear of fault, so advancing is auspicious and without fault." Chu Hsi comments: "Six two is soft, compliant, central and correct, and is master of civilization, with a response above; thus it can change. But it must reach the day when it is done before it changes, and only then does advancing bring good fortune and no fault; the reader is warned not to change in haste."

Line 3: discuss three times until it is consistent

The line text reads: 九三：征凶，貞厲，革言三就，有孚。 Wang Bi comments: "Already at the extreme of fire, the three lines of the upper hexagram, though of the nature of water, are all 'followers of the change'. From four to the top, they change according to the command, not daring to oppose it of themselves, so it says 'the words of change come to agreement three times'. Those words are genuine and sincere, so it says 'there is trust'. The words of change come to agreement three times, there is trust, and if one still advances, then misfortune is fitting." Chu Hsi comments: "Excessively hard and not central, at the extreme of Ly, it is one rash and restless about the matter of change, so its divination text warns that advancing brings misfortune and holding firm is also dangerous. But in that time, when change is due, when the words of change have come to agreement three times, then there is also trust and the change can be made."

Line 4: change the mandate through sincerity

The line text reads: 九四：悔亡，有孚改命，吉。 Wang Bi comments: "Sơ cửu is at the bottom of the lower hexagram, Cửu tứ at the bottom of the upper hexagram, so it is able to change. Without a response, there is regret. Matched with water and fire, it is one able to change, so 'regret dissolves'. In the interval of water and fire, at the head of the meeting and transformation, it can avoid being bound and stingy, does not doubt those below, trusts the will to change the mandate, and does not lose the wish of the time, so 'auspicious'. Having trust, it wins trust. Winning trust and changing the mandate, things are at peace and do not oppose, so it says 'regret dissolves, with trust change the mandate, auspicious'. Being at the bottom of the upper hexagram, it begins to proclaim the mandate." Chu Hsi comments: "Taking yang in a yin place, there is regret. But the hexagram has passed the middle, in the interval of water and fire, it is the time of change, and hard and soft are not skewed, and it is moreover the function of change, so regret dissolves. But again one must have trust before changing, and only then is it auspicious; clearly the reader who has the virtue and matches the time, and again surely has trust, only then does regret dissolve and auspiciousness come."

Line 5: the tiger changes its stripes

The line text reads: 九五：大人虎變，未占有孚。 Wang Bi comments: "Trusted before divination, it accords with the will of the time." Chu Hsi comments: "The tiger is the image of the great person. To transform is to change to new plumage. At the rank of the great person, it is the extreme of renewing oneself and renewing the people, the time of according with heaven and responding to people. Nine five takes yang, hard, central and correct, and is master of the matter of change, so there is this image. If divination obtains it, then there is that response; but also it must be that from before divination people already trusted in this way, and only then is one fit to bear it."

Line 6: when the change is done, hold it

The line text reads: 上六：君子豹變，小人革面，征凶，居貞吉。 Wang Bi comments: "At the end of the change, the way of change is already complete, and the noble person there can complete his own pattern. The petty person is pleased when it is complete, and so changes his face to follow those above." He also comments: "Changing the mandate and making brilliant institutions, the way of change is already complete, and when the work is complete affairs diminish, and when affairs diminish there is non-action. So to stay is to obtain correctness and good fortune, to advance is to be rash and troubled and misfortunate." Chu Hsi comments: "The way of change is already complete, the noble person is like the leopard that changes, and the petty person too changes his face to obey. One cannot advance, and to stay correct is auspicious; the matter of change is a matter of no alternative, it cannot be overdone, and the ability of Thượng lục also cannot act, so the reader should be like this."

It must be said clearly: the words "noble person" and "petty person" in this line are social standards of antiquity, used to distinguish the person who changes thoroughly from the person who changes only in form, not a moral admonition imposed on the present day.

What does the Thoán truyện say about the changing of the mandate by Thang and Vũ?

The Thoán truyện reads: 革，水火相息，二女同居，其志不相得，曰革。已日乃孚；革而信也。文明以說，大亨以正，革而當，其悔乃亡。天地革而四時成，湯武革命，順乎天而應乎人，革之時義大矣哉！ Close to the letter: Cách, water and fire quench each other, two women dwell together, their wills do not agree, and it is called Cách. Only on the day it is done is there trust; to change and be trusted. Civilized and joyful, greatly successful and correct, to change and be fitting, and regret then dissolves. Heaven and earth change and the four seasons are complete, Thang and Vũ changed the mandate, according with heaven and responding to people, the meaning of the time of change is great indeed!

Wang Bi comments on the passage "only on the day it is done is there trust, to change and be trusted": "In general, what makes a change of affairs win people's trust is that it relies on civilization and joyful compliance. To be civilized and joyfully compliant, to tread the upright way and act, and to take that as the change of affairs, is to respond to heaven and accord with the people, greatly successful and correct. If a change is greatly successful and correct, how could it be so without matching the principle?" Chu Hsi comments on the passage "heaven and earth change and the four seasons are complete...": "This speaks at the utmost and praises its greatness."

This sentence must be read in its ancient sense within the text: it is how the ancients took two figures of ancient history as examples of a legitimate reform, one with sufficient timing and sufficient popular support. This is a matter within the book, belonging to ancient history, and this article does not connect it to any event or figure of the present day.

Tradition attributes the composition of the Thoán truyện and the Tượng truyện (part of the Thập Dực) to Confucius; modern scholarship places these chapters between roughly the 5th and 2nd centuries BCE and does not treat that attribution as proven. The layers of the text must also be clearly distinguished: the hexagram text and the line texts are the word of the classic; the Thoán truyện, Tượng truyện, Hệ từ truyện and Tự Quái truyện are all commentary chapters from later ages, each with its own name.

When you meet the Cách hexagram asking about work, how should you understand it?

In the understanding of Nhật Nguyệt, the Cách hexagram places its emphasis on the timing and the consistency of the one who changes, not on changing at any cost. The hexagram text has the word "nãi" (only then), showing that there is a condition that must first be passed, and only then does trust come. When asking about work, Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion: review whether the conditions are sufficient yet and whether things are consistent yet, rather than deciding on behalf of the querent.

Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion: at work, if you find yourself in a stage of transition such as changing your way of doing things, changing your model, changing the person at the head, check again whether the old thing has finished its role and whether the new plan has been discussed consistently. In relationships, if the present state seems no longer stable, the hexagram does not say which direction to change in; the choice of direction still belongs to the querent. About money, if the old source of income shows signs of running dry, the Sơ line suggests that when the conditions are not yet sufficient, a large change should not yet be made. About health, the image of fire beneath the marsh suggests reviewing daily habits; this is not medical advice, and every health matter should be asked of a professional. For a leader, the images of the tiger and the leopard in the last two lines suggest that changing in the right way makes one's identity clearer, not that it loses identity.

These are reference directions for reading, not an absolute verdict of fortune or misfortune for anyone. The same hexagram, a person at line 2 and a person at line 3 will act differently, and the books too may judge the same line differently.

The place of Cách in the pair Cách, Đỉnh and among the schools

Cách (49) and Đỉnh (50) are a pair: change the old, then establish the new. Đỉnh is the cauldron used to cook food, that is, the symbol of nourishing and stabilizing the new order. Without Cách, Đỉnh has nothing to hold; without Đỉnh, Cách is only tearing down without building anything.

Among the schools there are a few points of disagreement. On the element of the hexagram, some tables record Metal, some take the element of the trigrams and judge differently. On the character 巳 in the hexagram text, as said, some editions understand it as the Tị branch, some as "already done". On method of use, some schools read the hexagram only by image and the word of the classic, some schools additionally use the six relations, the nạp giáp, the Thế line and the Ứng line to judge a concrete matter. This article follows the convention of transcribing the hexagram text, line texts and Tượng truyện according to the common editions, cross-checking the hexagram names and symbols against the list of 64 hexagrams, and cross-checking the order against general reference sources.

Places easily confused when looking up the Cách hexagram

One easily confused point is the verse cards in the book Khổng Minh Thần Toán. This book has cards bearing the names of hexagrams and lines, but those are the words of a card in a separate divination system, not the line texts of the Chu Dịch. For example, in the version of the Khổng Minh Thần Toán now circulating, there is a card reading "Trạch Hỏa Cách động hào Ngũ" with four lines of verse and a discussion of a scene of solitude and sorrow, advising the temporary suspension of a hundred affairs. That is the text of a book of divine reckoning, and should not be mixed into the line texts of the Kinh Dịch.

Another point is the names of the lines. The six lines of the Cách hexagram are in order Sơ cửu, Lục nhị, Cửu tam, Cửu tứ, Cửu ngũ, Thượng lục. Each line corresponds to a position in the hexagram, and when a line is moving the hexagram transforms into another hexagram. The lookup table connected at the end of the article will list the exact line names, the position of each line and the corresponding transformed hexagram, so the line text section above only calls the lines by those names and does not repeat the table.

The structure of the Trạch Hỏa Cách hexagram in one table

Where do the six lines of the Trạch Hỏa Cách hexagram stand, and which hexagram does each moving line transform into?

The table reads from the first line (the bottom) up to the top line. The line name is composed from the position and the nature: yang is called Cửu, yin is called Lục. The last column is the transformed hexagram when THAT line alone is moving, calculated by the same method that the Nhật Nguyệt casting tool uses.

Overview article on the topic: What the Kinh Dịch is and the 64 hexagrams