Lin / Approach

above:K'un The Receptive, Earth
below:Tui The Joyous, Lake

Lin (indicates that under the conditions supposed in it) there will be great progress and success, while it will be advantageous to be firmly correct. In the eighth month there will be evil.

Overall Meaning

Approach, the symbol of advance

In Appendix VI Lin is explained as meaning 'great'. The writer, having misunderstood the meaning of the previous Ku, subjoins - 'He who performs such services may become "great"'. But Lin denotes the approach of authority, - to inspect, to comfort, or to rule. When we look at the figure, we see two strong, undivided lines advancing on the four weak lines above them, and thence follows the assurance that their actions will be powerful and successful. That action must be governed by rectitude, however, and by caution grounded on the changing character of all conditions and events. The meaning of the concluding sentence is given in Appendix I as simply being - that, 'the advancing power will decay in no long time'. Lu Kan-Khi (Ming dynasty) says: - 'The sun (or the day) is the symbol of what is Yang; and the moon is the symbol of what is Yin. Eight is the number of the second of the four emblematic figures (the smaller Yin), and seven is the number of the third of them (the smaller Yang). Hence to indicate the coming of the period of what is Yin, we use the phrase, "the eighth month"; and to indicate the period of the coming of what is Yang, we use the phrase, "the seventh day"'. The Khang-hsi editors say that this is the best explanation of the language of the Text that can be given: - 'The Yang numbers culminate in 9, the influence then receding and producing the 8 of the smaller Yin. The Yin numbers culminate in 6, and the next advance produces the 7 of the smaller Yang; so that 7 and 8 are the numbers indicating the first birth of what is Yin and what is Yang.' 'If we go to seek', they add, 'any other explanation of the phraseology of the Text, and such expressions as "three days", "three years", "ten years", etc., we make them unintelligible.' Lin is the hexagram of the twelfth month.