Hexagram 16: Enthusiasm (Yu)

Master Ưng Khiêm's Commentary: The Initial Six lies at the very bottom of the hexagram Yu (Enthusiasm) and stands in correspondence with the powerful yang Nine in the Fourth Place, so it presumes on that backing and rejoices and boasts far too much over the first small success. What I teach you is this: a true joy should be nourished quietly, not trumpeted abroad the moment it arrives. One who has gained a little and at once boasts and leans on his connections will draw envy and ill will upon himself, and something unpleasant will follow.

Master Ưng Khiêm's Commentary: The Six in the Second Place holds both the centre and the correct position, and it is the one line in the hexagram Yu (Enthusiasm) that does not go along with the general atmosphere of amusement; it stays clear-headed and firm as a rock, seeing the sign of danger early and acting without waiting until the matter is fully plain. What I teach you is this: a clear-sighted person recognises the omen in the smallest of signs, and does not wait until everything has already happened before waking with a start.

Master Ưng Khiêm's Commentary: The Six in the Third Place holds neither the centre nor the correct position, and standing close to the powerful Nine in the Fourth Place it does nothing but look upward and lean on the one above for its own pleasure, never standing on its own ability and character. What I teach you is this: a pleasure that leans on another person, or on some outside power, and is not of your own making cannot last even when you have it, and sooner or later it turns to regret. To see the error and be slow in mending it is still to pay the price in regret.

Master Ưng Khiêm's Commentary: The Nine in the Fourth Place is the only yang line and also the governing line of the hexagram Yu (Enthusiasm), carrying the responsibility of bringing joy and prosperity to the five yin lines around it. What I teach you is this: one of ability and character who serves as the pillar of a group must have confidence and decision enough not to doubt or waver before the charge laid on him. Only so will he gather the hearts of those around him, as hairpins gather one head of hair together, firmly bound to a single purpose.

Master Ưng Khiêm's Commentary: The Six in the Fifth Place sits in the ruler's seat but is a soft and weak yin line, resting directly above the firm and powerful Nine in the Fourth Place, like a ruler overshadowed by an abler minister and never quite at ease, as though carrying an illness in the body. What I teach you is this: it is the situation of one who holds a high place without the matching capacity, and who must live in constant unease and watchfulness. Yet precisely because that unease and that watchfulness remain, and a measure of the central virtue remains with them, the discomfort is like an illness that does not put life in danger.

Master Ưng Khiêm's Commentary: This is the last line of the hexagram Yu (Enthusiasm), at the highest place and yet sunk deepest in amusement and indulgence, blind and no longer clear-headed. What I teach you is this: a love of pleasure carried to the point of blindness must lead to ruin and cannot last. But the I Ching still leaves a door open: if the one in that condition can recognise it in time and change, then however deep he has sunk he may still avoid a serious fault. What matters is to wake before it is too late.