T'ai / Peace
above: K'un The Receptive, Earth
below: Ch'ien The Creative, Heaven
In Thai (we see) the little gone and the great come. (It
indicates that) there will be good fortune, with progress and
success.
Overall Meaning
In Thai (we see) the little gone and the great come. (It
The language of the Thwan has reference to the form of Thai, with the
three strong lines of Khien below, and the three weak lines of Khwan above.
The former are 'the great', active and vigorous; the latter are 'the small',
inactive and submissive. But where have the former 'come' from, and whither
are the latter 'gone'? In many editions of the Yi beneath the hexagram of
Thai here, there appears that of Kwei Mei ( ||:|:: ), the 54th in order,
which becomes Thai, if the third and fourth lines exchange places. But in
the notes on the Thwan, in the first Appendix, on hexagram 6, I have spoken
of the doctrine of 'changing figures', and intimated my disbelief in it. The
different hexagrams arose necessarily by the continued manipulation of the
undivided and divided lines, and placing them each over itself and over the
other. When King Wan wrote these Thwan, he was taking the 64 hexagrams, as
they were ready to his hand, and not forming one from another by any process
of divination. The 'gone' and 'come' are merely equivalent to 'below' and
'above', in the lower trigram or in the upper.
A course in which the motive forces are represented by the three strong,
and the opposing by the three weak lines, must be progressive and successful.
Thai is called the hexagram of the first month of the year, the first month
of the natural spring, when for six months, through the fostering sun and
genial skies, the processes of growth will be going on.