A beautifully laid-out introduction may still leave readers unsure of the point; a simple gift can fully convey its meaning. Grace explores ornament, appearance, and substance, moving through feet, beard, a white horse, bundles of silk, and plain adornment to show the different weight beauty can carry.
Identifying the hexagram
Bì is hexagram 22 in the traditional King Wen sequence, with the symbol ䷕. Its lower trigram is Li ☲ and its upper trigram is Gen ☶; their traditional images are fire and mountain, respectively. Count the lines from the bottom: 初九, 六二, 九三, 六四, 六五, 上九. A solid line is yang and a broken line is yin. Nine and six in the line headings identify yang and yin; they do not indicate additional lines.
The six lines are numbered from the bottom upward; the figure below displays their actual positions from top to bottom.
━━━━━━ 上九
━━ ━━ 六五
━━ ━━ 六四
━━━━━━ 九三
━━ ━━ 六二
━━━━━━ 初九
Hexagram statement
賁：亨。小利有攸往。
Editorial rendering: Grace: favorable progress. There is a small advantage in having somewhere to go.
The character 賁 is pronounced bi here and concerns adornment. Legge holds that ornament should support substance rather than take the lead, so he retains the qualification of only a small advantage in going forward.
This does not mean contemporary learning rejects beauty. Ask whether form helps others understand, use, and experience the content. If it only makes the creator look impressive while hiding problems, adornment has lost its purpose.
[zhouyi-22; legge1882-22]
Interpretation in the Ten Wings
The Commentary on the Judgment (Tuan zhuan) and the Commentary on the Images (Xiang zhuan) belong to the Yi zhuan, the commentaries commonly called the Ten Wings. Their interpretations are kept separate below from the hexagram and line statements, followed by applications for contemporary learning.
The Commentary on the Judgment discusses the interweaving of firm and yielding and human culture. The Commentary on the Images takes fire beneath the mountain, saying it can illuminate ordinary administration but must not be relied upon to decide lawsuits. It leaves a boundary between adornment and discerning judgment.
Today, this reminds us that clear, attractive presentation has value, but important factual judgments cannot rest only on appearance and emotional appeal. Making evidence inspectable is more responsible than using design to conceal uncertainty.
[zhouyi-22; hon-sep]
Six lines, from bottom to top
The quotations below are line statements; the explanations that follow are original learning commentary. Good fortune, no blame, and regret belong to ancient divinatory language and cannot be turned directly into guarantees about an individual’s future.
初九 · Begin with your own real steps
賁其趾，舍車而徒。
Editorial rendering: Adorning the feet, one leaves the carriage and walks.
The feet are adorned, yet the carriage is left behind in favor of walking. Legge explains this through self-cultivation and the willingness to set aside luxury when necessary.
When preparing an introduction, first explain it in accurate words, then decide whether more visual effects are needed. You need not use language you cannot explain yourself simply to look professional.
[zhouyi-22; legge1882-22]
六二 · Ornament needs substance to support it
賁其須。
Editorial rendering: Adorning the beard.
The line only describes adorning a beard. Legge uses the beard’s relationship with the chin to explain an accessory’s connection with the main body. It is not a rule of personal grooming.
Headings, images, and layout can highlight content, but they cannot stand in for nonexistent evidence. Before changing the appearance, clarify what the reader actually needs to understand.
[zhouyi-22; legge1882-22]
九三 · Remain truthful when your work is embellished
賁如濡如，永貞吉。
Editorial rendering: Adorned and glistening. Lasting right constancy brings good fortune.
The image of being moistened suggests a glossy richness. Legge reads adornment and favor here, stressing continued right conduct instead of satisfaction with position or external support alone.
When a work receives praise, keep checking its accuracy. Beautiful language and positive feedback do not automatically make omitted facts unimportant.
[zhouyi-22; legge1882-22]
六四 · Do not infer intentions from appearances alone
賁如皤如，白馬翰如，匪寇婚媾。
Editorial rendering: Adorned in white; the white horse moves as if winged. Not a raider, but one seeking marriage.
Whiteness, a white horse, and marriage form this line. Legge’s reading retains plain white adornment and the process of recognizing a newcomer; these are more than decorative descriptions.
A contemporary reminder is that an unfamiliar style of expression need not imply ill intent, while a familiar, attractive style does not establish reliability. Intentions need communication and behavior to assess; a hexagram cannot read minds.
[zhouyi-22; legge1882-22]
六五 · A modest gift can convey wholehearted feeling
賁於丘園，束帛戔戔，吝，終吉。
Editorial rendering: Adornment in hills and gardens; small bundles of silk. Some embarrassment, but good fortune in the end.
Hills, gardens, and small bundles of silk depict a simple offering. The text acknowledges possible embarrassment without judging only by abundance. Legge likewise emphasizes restraint in ceremony.
When preparing thanks or an introduction, fit the content to your means. Clearly expressing genuine gratitude matters more than promising a return you cannot deliver merely to keep up appearances.
[zhouyi-22; legge1882-22]
上九 · Returning to simplicity does not mean carelessness
白賁，无咎。
Editorial rendering: Plain white adornment: no blame.
Legge reads white adornment as a return to purity and simplicity after ornament has run its course, valuing substance. White here cannot be turned directly into someone’s lucky color.
After removing unnecessary effects, complete information, readable structure, and necessary care should remain. Simplicity is a conscious choice, not omission of what the reader actually needs.
[zhouyi-22; legge1882-22]
Remaking an event information page
Original contemporary scenario
The following contemporary scenario was created for learning.
An organizer creates a visually lavish event page, but readers cannot find the time, location, or intended participants. She first organizes that information, then chooses type sizes, spacing, and images that help people read it.
When describing what the event will achieve, she keeps the uncertainties visible instead of turning plans into promises to attract interest. The pictures are attractive, and those that are merely illustrative are identified as such.
The final page is simpler yet communicates more completely. Grace’s contemporary application lies in how form serves content, not in any fixed aesthetic style.
Common misreadings
-
Grace does not label people who care about appearance as shallow or treat a plain appearance as proof of virtue. Form and substance need to be examined together.
-
This hexagram does not judge marriage partners, the worth of someone’s appearance, or another person’s sincerity. An appealing presentation cannot replace evidence in consequential judgments.
Three practices
-
Choose an introduction you currently use and state what readers most need to learn from it.
-
Check whether each visual or verbal embellishment supports that purpose; remove one that only creates an impression of grandeur.
-
Ask someone unfamiliar with the background to read it and explain what they actually understood.
Related reading
Biting Through (hexagram-21)
Biting Through concerns handling substantive obstacles; Grace concerns expressing things appropriately. If a problem remains unresolved, a prettier way of describing it cannot substitute for dealing with it.
Closing question
When reading Grace, ask: after the most eye-catching decoration is removed, does the important content still stand there clearly?
Sources
-
legge1882-22: The Yî King — Hexagram 22, chapter XXII, judgement, six lines and notes
-
unicode-hexagrams: Yijing Hexagram Symbols — U+4DC0–U+4DFF
-
legge-scan-rights: Sacred Books of the East volume16 scan metadata
Classical quotations retain the Chinese source’s character forms and modern punctuation. The commentary is translated from original Simplified Chinese learning prose. The historical English source and received Chinese text are used together, and interpretations by later translators are attributed in the article. This article is not a basis for medical, investment, or other professional decisions.