Approach, Line 3

Content drops out of the approach at the third line. Legge's translation shows one well pleased to advance whose action will nonetheless be in no way advantageous, then adds that if he becomes anxious about it there will be no error. The Little Symbolism gives both halves their cause: the position is not appropriate to him, and his error will not be continued. Pleasure taken in advancing, unaccompanied by anything solid, is the fault, and recognising it is the whole of the remedy.

Dui is the trigram of pleasure and the marsh, and this line sits at its top, where that quality is most concentrated and least anchored. A yielding stroke occupies an odd place, incorrect by the standard rule, and stands at the threshold where the lower trigram gives way to the earth of Kun above. An approach made from this station has the manner of advancing without the strength that the two lines below supplied.

What redeems the line is unusual for how little it asks. No corrective action is prescribed, no delay and no reversal. The text requires only that the emptiness of the advance be genuinely felt, and the commentary confirms that the error stops there. Approach conducted on charm alone gains nothing, but it costs nothing lasting either, provided the person making it notices.

Six in the third place is drawn when an approach has been made on manner rather than substance. The querent has been agreeable, the advance has been pleasant, and the text states flatly that it will be in no way advantageous. Readings landing here often concern a bid for position, favour or agreement that was warmly received and produced nothing, because nothing of weight was ever actually put on the table.

The remedy the line offers is remarkably light. Anxiety about the situation removes the fault, and the commentary adds that the error will not be continued. Nothing is demanded beyond an honest recognition that the approach was hollow, since a fault noticed at this stage has not yet had time to set. Querents who instead defend the approach as having gone well are the ones for whom this line turns costly.

Structurally the stroke is yielding in an odd place, incorrect for the position, sitting at the top of the pleasure trigram Dui where agreeableness is at its most concentrated. Compared with the two strong lines below, whose advance the hexagram endorses without reservation, this one shows the same forward motion with the substance taken out. The counsel is to supply the substance, not to abandon the approach.