Breakthrough
Judgment
— I Ching · classical
扬于王庭，孚号有厉。告自邑，不利即戎，利有攸往。
The matter must be brought openly before the king's court, proclaimed with total sincerity even though danger remains. Give warning first within one's own community; resorting to force does not favor the outcome, but pressing ahead does.
Image
— Great Image
泽上于天，夬，君子以施禄及下，居德则忌。
The lake climbs until it stands level with the sky: this is Breakthrough. The wise leader responds by pushing wealth back down to those below, never coasting on past merit.
Six Lines
— Bottom to top
Modern Readings
— Interdisciplinary
Career & Management
Removing tenured underperformers, exposing legacy audits, severing toxic subsidiaries. Strategy: gather hard evidence, declare openly and lawfully (yang yu wang ting), never resort to dirty force.
Psychology & Cognition
Indecision compounds; resolution clears. Be ready to bear short-term pain and isolation while severing toxic relations.
Decision Guidance
Openly, lawfully decisive; maintain alarm-preparedness (line 2); avoid arms (line 1 misuse). Always sound the cry (line 6: silence = catastrophe).
Integrated Reading
— Structure · timing · relations
Breakthrough places The Joyous / Lake above The Creative / Heaven. Read the lower trigram as the emerging ground and the upper trigram as the field, pressure, or constraint it must answer. The core theme is Breakthrough · Decisive parting · Open declaration. Relations: the opposite hexagram shows the shadow/complement (Splitting Apart); the inverse shows the other-side view (Coming to Meet); the nuclear hexagram shows the hidden internal mechanism (The Creative).
Line Path
Line path: Initial Nine → Nine in the second → Nine in the third → Nine in the fourth → Nine in the fifth → Six at the top. Read from bottom to top to see how the situation emerges, develops, crosses thresholds, and resolves.
Reflection Prompt
Am I acting from the proper position of Breakthrough, or am I being pulled by turning resolution into aggression? What is the smallest reversible next move that respects the timing?
Western Parallels
— Cross-cultural
Václav Havel's 'living in truth' as the slow burn that becomes breakthrough; the Truth and Reconciliation method in South Africa; Marshall Goldsmith on letting go of behaviors that no longer serve; the Aristotelian principle of moral courage (andreia) under social pressure.
· English renderings and modern readings are original editorial writing, cross-checked against public-domain and classical commentary lineages.
· Hexagram Cast does not predict, score, schedule, ward, or recommend rituals.
· Modern inputs are reproducible; traditional casts can be audited line by line from the stored coin/yarrow trace.