Good Fortune, Misfortune, Regret, Humiliation, Danger, No Blame: How to Read the I Ching's Verdict Words
The Great Commentary's own explanation
Good fortune and misfortune speak of loss and gain. Regret and humiliation speak of small flaws. No blame means being good at mending one's faults.
This is from the first part of the Xici (the "Great Commentary"). Good fortune (吉) and misfortune (凶) are about gaining and losing. Regret (悔) and humiliation (吝) are about small flaws. No blame (无咎) does not mean "nothing is wrong"; it means "good at mending faults, and therefore without fault".
How much weight each one carries
| Verdict | Meaning | Tendency |
|---|---|---|
| Supreme good fortune (元吉), great good fortune (大吉) | Good fortune at the root | Best |
| Good fortune (吉) | Gain; the matter can succeed | Good |
| No blame (无咎) | Able to mend the fault, so there is no fault | Neutral |
| Regret vanishes (悔亡), no regret (无悔) | A regret that was there is cleared away | Neutral |
| Regret (悔) | A small flaw, and you know to regret it | Moving from misfortune toward good fortune |
| Humiliation (吝) | A small flaw, and you refuse to correct it | Moving from good fortune toward misfortune |
| Danger (厉) | There is danger; stay alert and wary | Be on guard |
| Misfortune (凶) | Loss; better avoided | Bad |
Zhu Xi said that good fortune, misfortune, regret and humiliation run in a cycle: good fortune that lasts long breeds humiliation; humiliation left uncorrected becomes misfortune; in misfortune one learns regret; and regret followed by correction comes back to good fortune. So although both are small flaws, regret is better than humiliation.
Places to be careful when reading
- "Favorable" (利) is not the same as good fortune. "It is favorable to stay true" (利贞), "it is favorable to see the great person" (利见大人) and "it is favorable to cross the great river" (利涉大川) say "it is fitting to act this way". They state a condition.
- "Success" (亨) means things go through. But in "makes an offering on the Western Mountain" (亨于西山) and "it is favorable to make offering and sacrifice" (利用亨祀), the character 亨 stands for 享 (xiang), a sacrificial offering, and has nothing to do with good fortune or misfortune.
- Misfortune and no blame can appear together, as in the Nine in the second place of Kun (Exhaustion): "To set forth brings misfortune. No blame." The misfortune lies in acting rashly and pushing ahead; by staying true and mending your faults you can escape it.
- The judgments of difficult hexagrams often contain success and good fortune too, as in Kun (Exhaustion): "Success. Staying true: for the great person, good fortune." That is said to the person who stays true and knows how to conduct themselves in hardship; it does not mean the hexagram is a good one.
The red seal on this site's result page (吉 "Favorable", 慎 "Proceed with care", 止 "Hold back", 平 "Neutral") is set according to these weights: for a judgment, by the overall situation of the hexagram; for a line statement, by the verdict words in the statement. For the four characters yuan heng li zhen, see How to understand yuan heng li zhen.