兌Dui · Joy
In one sentence
When people are amiable and enjoy each other's company, things go smoothly.
The hexagram of joy: two lakes connected, each replenishing the other. Sincerely make others glad, and yourself as well. Talk and learn with friends often. Pleasure bought with flattery does not count.
Asking about work, love or money
- Work
- When the atmosphere is friendly, things go smoothly. Talk and trade ideas more with colleagues and peers; explaining and practicing together helps both sides grow, like two lakes feeding each other. But don't buy smoothness by flattering your boss or pleasing clients; that kind of pleasantness can't be relied on, and it isn't right.
- Love
- Two people happy in each other's company is this hexagram at its best: easy to talk to, nourishing each other. Sincerely make the other person happy, and yourself too. But saying only what sounds nice, always trying to please, or chasing a moment's pleasure does not count. Joy has to be built on honest words.
- Money
- Dealing with people warmly and doing business in a pleasant spirit is good. But don't hand over money because someone's words made you feel good, and don't use improper favors to make others happy. Keep track of what you spend for a moment's thrill. Enjoy yourself by all means, but keep to the right path.
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 wordsThings go through, and it is favorable to stay true. Making people glad is a good thing, but you must not use improper means to please them.
The Tuan commentary
兌，說也。剛中而柔外，說以利貞，是以順乎天，而應乎人。說以先民，民忘其勞；說以犯難，民忘其死；說之大，民勸矣哉！
Dui means joy. The firm is in the center and the yielding is on the outside. Joyful, and with that "it is favorable to stay true"; in this way one follows heaven and answers to the people. Go before the people with joy, and they forget their toil. Face hardship with joy, and the people forget their death. Great is joy: how it spurs the people on!
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
麗澤，兌。君子以朋友講習。
Lakes joined: Dui (Joy). The noble one discusses and practices together with friends.
The lines
Nine at the beginning
Text和兌，吉。Harmonious joy. Good fortune.In plain wordsGetting along with people peacefully and making them glad, without leaning toward anyone or fawning on anyone. Good fortune. More on this line →
Nine in the second place
Text孚兌，吉，悔亡。Sincere joy. Good fortune. Regret vanishes.In plain wordsMaking people glad through sincerity. Good fortune; regret vanishes. More on this line →
Six in the third place
Text來兌，凶。Coming forward for joy. Misfortune.In plain wordsPushing yourself forward to win people's liking. Misfortune. More on this line →
Nine in the fourth place
Text商兌未寧，介疾有喜。Deliberating over joy, not yet at peace. Holding firm against the sickness, there is happiness.In plain wordsYou weigh two kinds of pleasure back and forth and your heart cannot settle. If you can cleanly hold to the right one and turn away from the wrong one, there will be happiness. More on this line →
Nine in the fifth place
Text孚于剝，有厲。Trusting in what strips away. There is danger.In plain wordsYou trust the very person who has come to wear you away. There is danger. The higher your position, the more you must guard against those around you who flatter you. More on this line →
Six at the top
Text引兌。Joy that draws others along.In plain wordsPulling others along to have a good time with you. Whether they follow, and whether it ends well, cannot be said. 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
Dui is one of the four cardinal hexagrams (Kan, Zhen, Li, Dui). It has no pentad of its own; instead its six lines govern six solar terms in turn: Autumn Equinox, Cold Dew, Frost Falls, Start of Winter, Minor Snow, Major Snow.