An event can attract many registrations yet leave everyone talking past one another. A small group, meanwhile, may know exactly why it has gathered and how to work together. Cui explores gathering through ancestral temples, sacrifice, position, and trust, but also through the sighs and tears at its edges. Its subject is more complicated than “strength in numbers.”
萃 is hexagram 45 in the traditional King Wen sequence, with the symbol ䷬. Its lower trigram is 坤☷ and its upper trigram is 兑☱, traditionally associated with earth and lake respectively. Count the lines from the bottom: 初六, 六二, 六三, 九四, 九五, 上六. A solid line is yang; a broken line is yin. Nine and six identify yang and yin in the line labels; they do not add extra lines.
Line structure (bottom to top): 0 0 0 1 1 0
Six-line figure, displayed top to bottom; line numbering starts at the bottom.
━━━━ ━━━━ 上六
━━━━━━━━━ 九五
━━━━━━━━━ 九四
━━━━ ━━━━ 六三
━━━━ ━━━━ 六二
━━━━ ━━━━ 初六
The judgment
萃：王假有廟，利見大人，亨。利貞。用大牲吉，利有攸往。
Original editorial rendering, not a quotation from Legge: Gathering: the king arrives at the ancestral temple. It is beneficial to meet a great person; there is favorable progress. Constancy is beneficial. Using a large sacrificial animal is favorable; having somewhere to go is beneficial.
Here, 假 concerns arriving: the judgment describes a king coming to the ancestral temple and mentions a large sacrificial animal. Legge interprets this within ancient religious rites and the gathering of a political community. We should not remove that historical setting and leave only present-day social skills.
For modern study, we can ask how a common purpose becomes visible, who organizes the gathering, and whether participants genuinely share that purpose. Animal sacrifice belongs to the historical record, not to advice about what rituals to perform today. Nor can a community be sustained by status and spectacle alone.
Sources: zhouyi-45, legge1882-45
Interpretation in the Ten Wings
The Commentary on the Judgment and the Commentary on the Images belong to the Yi Zhuan, the commentaries usually called the “Ten Wings.” Here their explanations are kept distinct from the judgment and line texts, before turning to modern applications for study.
The Commentary on the Judgment explains Cui as gathering and discusses responsiveness joined with joy and gathering on a proper basis. The Commentary on the Images depicts a lake above the earth and speaks of putting weapons in order and preparing for the unexpected. The commentaries do not assume that a gathering is naturally free of risk.
For ordinary modern events, this can suggest planning capacity, responsibilities, and contingencies, but that is this article’s analogy. Knowing whom to approach when something goes wrong, and whether one is free to leave, is often more useful than repeated calls for unity.
初六 · Trust may still be unsettled when a group first comes together
有孚不終，乃亂乃萃，若號一握為笑，勿恤，往无咎。
Original editorial rendering, not a quotation from Legge: There is trust, but it does not last; confusion and gathering follow. A cry turns, in a moment, to laughter. Do not worry; going forward brings no blame.
The line moves from trust that does not last to confused gathering, then to an image of crying out turning into laughter. Legge emphasizes the failure of initial trust to endure and the possibility of seeking connection again.
When misunderstandings arise in a new group, first check whether people understood the original arrangement in the same way. One enthusiastic meeting does not establish reliable mutual understanding; a brief awkward moment does not prove that cooperation has no value.
Sources: zhouyi-45, legge1882-45
六二 · Sincerity matters more than an elaborate ceremony
引吉，无咎，孚乃利用禴。
Original editorial rendering, not a quotation from Legge: Being drawn together is favorable, without blame. With sincerity, a modest yue offering is appropriate.
禴 names a sacrificial rite, which Legge explains as a comparatively simple seasonal offering. Setting the judgment’s large sacrificial animal beside this modest rite prevents gathering from becoming only a question of material scale.
When inviting others to participate, explain the reason clearly and make honest, proportionate commitments. A brief, candid explanation may build more trust than a grandly presented but vague vision.
Sources: zhouyi-45, legge1882-45
六三 · Notice those who have not found a place in the gathering
萃如，嗟如，无攸利，往无咎，小吝。
Original editorial rendering, not a quotation from Legge: Gathering, yet sighing. Nothing is advantageous. Going brings no blame, though there is a little embarrassment.
Gathering is accompanied by sighing: some people remain unhappy even among others. Legge reads a situation in which someone wants to approach the group but has not yet received a suitable response.
If you are on the edge of a group, ask about specific ways to participate. If you organize it, notice whether quiet members lack a way in. The most active voices in the room cannot tell you whether everyone is satisfied.
Sources: zhouyi-45, legge1882-45
九四 · An organizing role brings greater responsibility
大吉，无咎。
Original editorial rendering, not a quotation from Legge: Great good fortune; no blame.
The line is very brief. Legge expands it by considering the fourth yang line’s proximity to a leadership position: sufficiently good results and appropriate conduct are needed to avoid fault. That account of the role belongs to his commentary.
A coordinator needs to make arrangements serve the common purpose rather than create a circle revolving around the coordinator alone. Being popular and acting responsibly need to be assessed separately.
Sources: zhouyi-45, legge1882-45
九五 · Holding a position does not mean having earned trust
萃有位，无咎。匪孚，元永貞，悔亡。
Original editorial rendering, not a quotation from Legge: Gathering in an established position brings no blame. If trust is lacking, fundamental and lasting constancy makes regret disappear.
The line explicitly mentions a position while allowing for a lack of trust. Legge sees steady, sustained right conduct as the way to respond to that distrust.
After receiving the title of leader, you still need to explain decisions, keep agreements, and accept questions. Other people’s doubts are not evidence of disunity, and a position cannot speak in your defense by itself.
Sources: zhouyi-45, legge1882-45
上六 · Acknowledge the disappointment a gathering can leave behind
齎咨涕洟，无咎。
Original editorial rendering, not a quotation from Legge: Sighing, with tears and a running nose; no blame.
The final line contains sighing, tears, and a running nose. It does not cover everyone’s feelings with a cheerful ending. Legge retains the distress of failing to come together as one hoped.
When someone leaves an event disappointed, listen seriously to the reason rather than insisting that they appear happy. The quality of a gathering includes how unmet expectations are treated, not just whether everyone looks orderly in a group photograph.
Sources: zhouyi-45, legge1882-45
Organizing a neighborhood reading group for the first time
Original modern scenario
After announcing the book, an organizer receives many registrations but discovers that some people want detailed discussion while others simply hope to meet their neighbors. She explains the duration, discussion format, and option of listening without speaking in advance, so everyone knows what this gathering can offer.
Alongside a facilitator and note-taker, she makes time for newcomers to introduce their questions. Afterward, one participant says they could never get a word in. The organizer does not dismiss this feedback by saying that everyone had a good time.
For the next meeting, she adjusts how turns are taken and acknowledges that the event cannot suit everyone. Here, learning from Cui means attending to shared purpose and genuine participation rather than treating attendance figures and uniformly happy faces as the only evidence of success.
Avoiding misreadings
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Cui does not guarantee popularity, marriage, or a team’s victory. Its figure cannot establish who deserves trust.
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Ancestral temples, sacrificial animals, and weapons belong to the ancient textual setting. Modern organizing needs to respect voluntary participation, facts, and applicable safety rules.
Three exercises
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Write down one thing this gathering hopes to accomplish together, and check whether participants understand its purpose in the same way.
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Approach someone who rarely speaks and ask, without pressure, whether it is easy for them to participate.
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Examine one organizing arrangement: does it support the shared purpose, or merely display the organizer’s importance?
Related reading
Bi — Holding Together (hexagram-08): Bi emphasizes affiliation and choosing connections; Cui brings out the order and trust needed after people have gathered. Forming relationships and sustaining shared activities are connected but distinct questions.
When reading Cui, ask: are we together for a clear, shared reason, or have we merely appeared in the same place for a while?
Textual note
The top line uses the variant 咨 explicitly listed by the base text; the page’s main text reads 資.
Sources
Source: zh · hexagram-45 · SHA256 806fb1b7207a43db350d264270ce5dd002b55022f8ba419d6547431955ce6c50
Translation status: complete_translation_pending_review; independent editorial review: pending_translation_review; human native-speaker/expert review: not performed; unpublished.