Shih / The Army

above: K'un The Receptive, Earth
below: K'an The Abysmal, Water

Sze indicates how, in the case which it supposes, with firmness and correctness, and (a leader of) age and experience, there will be good fortune and no error.

Overall Meaning

Group action, the symbol of multitude

The conduct of military expeditions in a feudal kingdom, and we may say, generally, is denoted by the hexagram Sze. Referring to Appendixes I and II for an explanation of the way in which the combination of lines in it is made out to suggest the idea of an army, and that idea being assumed, it is easy to see how the undivided line in the second place should be interpreted of the general, who is responded to by the divided line in the fifth and royal place. Thus entire trust is reposed in him. He is strong and correct, and his enterprises will be successful. He is denominated kang zan, 'an old, experienced man'.