益
yì

42. Increase

䷩
Above
巽 xùn
The Gentle, Wind
Below
震 zhèn
The Arousing, Thunder

The idea of in­crease is ex­pressed in the fact that the strong low­est line of the upper tri­gram has sunk down and taken its place under the lower tri­gram. This con­cep­tion also ex­press­es the fun­da­men­tal idea on which the Book of Changes is based. To rule truly is to serve. A sac­ri­fice of the high­er el­e­ment that pro­duces an in­crease of the lower is called an out-and-out in­crease: it in­di­cates the spir­it that alone has power to help the world.

The Judgement

Increase. It furthers one
To undertake something.
It furthers one to cross the great water.

Sac­ri­fice on the part of those above for the in­crease of those below fills the peo­ple with a sense of joy and grat­i­tude that is ex­treme­ly valu­able for the flow­er­ing of the com­mon­wealth. When peo­ple are thus de­vot­ed to their lead­ers, un­der­tak­ings are pos­si­ble, and even dif­fi­cult and dan­ger­ous en­ter­pris­es will suc­ceed. There­fore in such times of progress and suc­cess­ful de­vel­op­ment it is nec­es­sary to work and make the best use of the time. This time re­sem­bles that of the mar­riage of heav­en and earth, when the earth par­takes of the cre­ative power of heav­en, form­ing and bring­ing forth liv­ing be­ings. The time of IN­CREASE does not en­dure, there­fore it must be uti­lized while it lasts.

The Image

Wind and thunder: the image of increase.
Thus the superior man:
If he sees good, he imitates it;
If he has faults, he rids himself of them.

While ob­serv­ing how thun­der and wind in­crease and strength­en each other, a man can note the way to self-in­crease and self- im­prove­ment. When he dis­cov­ers good in oth­ers, he should im­i­tate it and thus make every­thing on earth his own. If he per­ceives some­thing bad in him­self, let him rid him­self of it. In this way he be­comes free of evil. This eth­i­cal change rep­re­sents the most im­por­tant in­crease of per­son­al­i­ty.

The Lines

Nine at the beginning means:
It furthers one to accomplish great deeds.
Supreme good fortune. No blame.

If great help comes to a man from on high, this in­creased strength must be used to achieve some­thing great for which he might oth­er­wise never have found en­er­gy, or readi­ness to take re­spon­si­bil­i­ty. Great good for­tune is pro­duced by self­less­ness, and in bring­ing about great good for­tune, he re­mains free of re­proach.

Six in the second place means:
Someone does indeed increase him;
Ten pairs of tortoises cannot oppose it.
Constant perseverance brings good fortune.
The king presents him before God.
Good fortune.

A man brings about real in­crease by pro­duc­ing in him­self the con­di­tions for it, that is, through re­cep­tiv­i­ty to and love of the good. Thus the thing for which he strives comes of it­self, with the in­evitabil­i­ty of nat­ur­al law. Where in­crease is thus in har­mo­ny with the high­est laws of the uni­verse, it can­not be pre­vent­ed by any con­stel­la­tion of ac­ci­dents. But every­thing de­pends on his riot let­ting un­ex­pect­ed good for­tune make him heed­less; he must make it his own through inner strength and stead­fast­ness. Then he ac­quires mean­ing be­fore God and man, and can ac­com­plish some­thing for the good of the world.

Six in the third place means:
One is enriched through unfortunate events.
No blame, if you are sincere
And walk in the middle,
And report with a seal to the prince.

A time of bless­ing and en­rich­ment has such pow­er­ful ef­fects that even events or­di­nar­i­ly un­for­tu­nate must turn out to the ad­van­tage of those af­fect­ed by them. These per­sons be­come free of error, and by act­ing in har­mo­ny with truth they gain such inner au­thor­i­ty that they exert in­flu­ence as if sanc­tioned by let­ter and seal.

Six in the fourth place means:
If you walk in the middle
And report to the prince,
He will follow.
It furthers one to be used
In the removal of the capital.

It is im­por­tant that there should be men who me­di­ate be­tween lead­ers and fol­low­ers. These should be dis­in­ter­est­ed peo­ple, es­pe­cial­ly in times of in­crease, since the ben­e­fit is to spread from the leader to the peo­ple. Noth­ing of this ben­e­fit should be held back in a self­ish way; it should re­al­ly reach those for whom it is in­tend­ed. This sort of in­ter­me­di­ary, who also ex­er­cis­es a good in­flu­ence on the leader, is es­pe­cial­ly im­por­tant in times when it is a mat­ter of great un­der­tak­ings, de­ci­sive for the fu­ture and re­quir­ing the inner as­sent of all con­cerned.

Nine in the fifth place means:
If in truth you have a kind heart, ask not.
Supreme good fortune.
Truly, kindness will be recognized as your virtue.

True kind­ness does not count upon nor ask about merit and grat­i­tude but acts from inner ne­ces­si­ty. And such a truly kind heart finds it­self re­ward­ed in being rec­og­nized, and thus the benef­i­cent in­flu­ence will spread un­hin­dered. A

Nine at the top means:
He brings increase to no one.
Indeed, someone even strikes him.
He does not keep his heart constantly steady.
Misfortune.

The mean­ing here is that through re­nun­ci­a­tion those in high place should bring in­crease to those below. By ne­glect­ing this duty and help­ing no one, they in turn lose the fur­ther­ing in­flu­ence of oth­ers and soon find them­selves alone. In this way they in­vite at­tacks. An at­ti­tude not per­ma­nent­ly in har­mo­ny with the de­mands of the time will nec­es­sar­i­ly bring mis­for­tune with it. Con­fu­cius says about this line: The su­pe­ri­or man sets his per­son at rest be­fore he moves; he com­pos­es his mind be­fore he speaks; he makes his re­la­tions firm be­fore he asks for some­thing. By at­tend­ing to these three mat­ters, the su­pe­ri­or man gains com­plete se­cu­ri­ty. But if a man is brusque in his move­ments, oth­ers will not co-op­er­ate. If he is ag­i­tat­ed in his words, they awak­en no echo in oth­ers. If he asks for some­thing with­out hav­ing first es­tab­lished re­la­tions, it will not be given to him. If no one is with him, those who would harm him draw near.

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