泰Tai · Peace
In one sentence
A good time when above and below are in touch and everything runs smoothly.
You put in little and get back much, and all sides work together in easy understanding. This is one of the smoothest situations there is. While things are going well, get done what needs doing, and work with others a lot. Also remember that good times do not last forever; while things are smooth, prepare for when they are not.
Asking about work, love or money
- Work
- Those above and those below are in touch, and everyone works together smoothly. This is the easiest time to get things done, when a small outlay brings a large return. Use it to push forward what needs pushing, work with others more, and talk more. Remember too that good times do not last forever; while things go well, prepare for when they do not.
- Love
- The two of you can really talk, your hearts are open to each other, and what you give is answered. If you have a partner, use this time to discuss and settle the important things. If you are single, go out and mix with people; this is a time when it is easy to meet someone you can talk to. Do not stop making an effort just because it is going well. Hearts stay open only if you keep opening them.
- Money
- The small goes out and the large comes in; income flows smoothly. It is a good time to do the business that needs doing and to negotiate the partnerships that need negotiating. But do not assume it will go on this smoothly forever. While you have plenty, put some aside, pay off what you owe, and lay down a reserve for the harder days later.
This is the hexagram as a whole. If your cast has changing lines, the line text governs; each line's page has its own reading for work, love and money.
The judgment
In plain wordsThe small has gone and the great has come. Good fortune; things go through.
The Tuan commentary
泰，小往大來，吉亨。則是天地交而萬物通也，上下交而其志同也。內陽而外陰，內健而外順，內君子而外小人，君子道長，小人道消也。
Tai: "The small goes, the great comes. Good fortune. Success." This means that heaven and earth meet and all things go through; above and below meet and their purposes are the same. Yang within and yin without; strength within and compliance without; the noble one within and petty people without. The way of the noble one grows; the way of petty people wanes.
The Tuan (“judgment”) commentary is one of the Ten Wings. It explains the hexagram name and the judgment from the two trigrams and the positions of the lines.
The image
天地交，泰。后以財成天地之道，輔相天地之宜，以左右民。
Heaven and earth in communion: Tai (Peace). The sovereign shapes and completes the way of heaven and earth, and assists what is fitting to heaven and earth, so as to support the people.
The lines
Nine at the beginning
Text拔茅茹，以其彙，征吉。Pulling up thatch grass: the roots come up joined, each with its kind. Setting forth brings good fortune.In plain wordsPull up one stalk of thatch grass and a whole string comes up joined at the roots. Go forward together with people who share your aims: good fortune. More on this line →
Nine in the second place
Text包荒，用馮河，不遐遺，朋亡，得尚于中行。Bearing with the wasteland, fording the river on foot, not leaving out the distant, letting factions fall away: so one comes to match the middle way.In plain wordsAble to bear with what is rough and foul, daring to wade across the river on foot, not forgetting those far away, and not forming little cliques — only so do you accord with the middle way. Generosity, decisiveness, thoroughness and selflessness: you need all four. More on this line →
Nine in the third place
Text无平不陂，无往不復。艱貞无咎。勿恤其孚，于食有福。No level ground without a slope, no going without a return. Staying true through hardship: no blame. Do not worry about whether it holds true. In what you eat there is blessing.In plain wordsThere is no road that is only level and never steep, and nothing that only goes and never returns. The good days are nearly over: keep to the right course through the hardship and there is no blame. No need to worry; the blessings due to you are still there. More on this line →
Six in the fourth place
Text翩翩，不富以其鄰，不戒以孚。Fluttering down. Without wealth, yet carrying the neighbors along. Without being called, yet trusting.In plain wordsThose few above come drifting lightly down together. The good times have gone too far, and the wrong people arrive in a group without needing to be called — be on your guard. More on this line →
Six in the fifth place
Text帝乙歸妹，以祉元吉。King Yi gives his younger sister in marriage. This brings blessing and supreme good fortune.In plain wordsKing Yi married his younger sister to a subject. Holding a high position yet able to set aside your pride and cooperate with a capable person below you: there is blessing, great good fortune. More on this line →
Six at the top
Text城復于隍，勿用師。自邑告命，貞吝。The city wall falls back into the moat. Do not use the army. Give orders only in your own town. Persisting brings humiliation.In plain wordsThe city wall has collapsed back into the moat — the good has run its course and turned bad. Don't try to contend by force anymore; you can only hold your own patch. Even if you do the right thing, some embarrassment is hard to avoid. More on this line →
Lines are counted from the bottom. “Nine” is a yang (solid) line, “six” a yin (broken) line. A line applies to your reading only when it is a changing line.
Related hexagrams
Primary, resulting, nuclear, opposite and inverted hexagrams explained →
In the hexagram calendar
In the Tang monk Yixing’s Dayan calendar, Tai belongs to the second pentad of Rain Water, “Wild geese fly north” (February 24 to February 28, 2027). It is also one of the twelve sovereign hexagrams, standing for the first month of the traditional calendar: three yang below and three yin above, heaven and earth in communion.
The twelve sovereign hexagrams → The 24 solar terms, 72 pentads and their hexagrams →