K'uei / Opposition
above: Li The Clinging, Flame
below: Tui The Joyous, Lake
This hexagram is composed of the trigram Li above, i.e., flame, which burns upward, and Tui below, i.e., the lake, which seeps downward. These two movements are in direct contrast. Furthermore, Li is the second daughter and Tui the youngest daughter, and although they live in the same house they belong to different men; hence their wills are not the same but are divergently directed.
The Judgement
OPPOSITION. In small matters, good fortune.
When people live in opposition and estrangement they cannot carry out a
great undertaking in common; their points of view diverge too widely.
In such circumstances one should above all not proceed brusquely, for
that would only increase the existing opposition; instead, one should
limit oneself to producing gradual effects in small matters. Here
success can still be expected, because the situation is such that the
opposition does not preclude all agreement.
In general, opposition appears as an obstruction, but when it
represents polarity within a comprehensive whole, it has also its
useful and important functions. The oppositions of heaven and earth,
spirit and nature, man and woman, when reconciled, bring about the
creation and reproduction of life. In the world of visible things, the
principle of opposites makes possible the differentiation by categories
through which order is brought into the world.
The Image
Above, fire; below. The lake.
The image of OPPOSITION.
Thus amid all fellowship
The superior man retains his individuality.
The two elements, fire and water, never mingle but even when in contact retain their own natures. So the cultured man is never led into baseness or vulgarity through intercourse or community of interests with persons of another sort; regardless of all commingling, he will always preserve his individuality.