Hexagram 57
巽为风
The Gentle
Hexagram 57, Xun (The Gentle), is Wind over Wind - wind following wind, penetrating every opening, gentle yet unstoppable.
Upper Trigram
☴
巽 (木)
Lower Trigram
☴
巽 (木)
Palace
巽 Palace
Shi / Ying Lines
Shi: Line 6 · Ying: Line 3
The 巽 trigram (木) sits above the 巽 trigram (木), forming 巽为风. This hexagram belongs to the 巽 Palace.
Judgment (卦辞)
The Gentle. Success through what is small.
Judgment text follows the Wilhelm–Baynes translation (The I Ching or Book of Changes, Princeton University Press), quoted for commentary.
Image (象辞)
Winds following one upon the other: the image of the Gently Penetrating.
Line Texts (爻辞)
In advancing and retreating, perseverance of a warrior. (进退)
Penetration under the bed. Priests and magicians. (巽在床下)
Repeated penetration. Humiliation. (频巽)
Remorse vanishes. During hunt, three kinds of game. (悔亡)
Perseverance brings good fortune. No beginning, but an end. (贞吉)
Penetration under the bed. Loses property and ax. (巽在床下)
Hexagram 57 in Love & Relationships
Relationships: Softness is not weakness. Gentle honesty reaches where harshness is refused.
Hexagram 57 in Career & Decisions
Career: Influence through persistence and humility, not force. The gentle, repeated effort wins what the grand gesture cannot.
Hexagram 57 as a yes / no answer
Depends on timing
The hexagram counsels timing and care: the answer depends on how and when you proceed.
The I Ching reads situations, not fixed outcomes — your reading can weigh the moving lines with this leaning.
In-Depth Analysis[+]
Hexagram 57, Xun (The Gentle), is Wind over Wind - wind following wind, penetrating every opening, gentle yet unstoppable. This is the hexagram of influence through gentleness, of the soft power that accomplishes what force cannot. The judgment: 'success through what is small' - not the grand gesture but the persistent, humble, repeated effort. The lines trace penetration in its forms: the warrior's perseverance, penetration under the bed (the hidden, the excessive), and the final loss when gentleness becomes weakness. Xun teaches that the wind does not break the tree; it bends it, enters it, and over time, reshapes it.
Historical Stories[+]
The erosion of a mountain by centuries of wind - the gentle force that wears down what the axe cannot.
A diplomat who, through patience and softness, opens doors that armies could not - the wind that penetrates where force is barred.
Practical Applications[+]
Career: Influence through persistence and humility, not force. The gentle, repeated effort wins what the grand gesture cannot.
Relationships: Softness is not weakness. Gentle honesty reaches where harshness is refused.
Personal Growth: What resistance in your life could be dissolved by gentleness rather than broken by force?
Classical Sources for Hexagram 57
火珠林 (The Fire Pearl Forest)宋 (Song Dynasty, 960–1279) — disputed
The foundational Najia framework for mapping Stems, Branches, Six Relations, and Six Animals to each hexagram line.
Related Hexagrams
Learn More
Wonder how Hexagram 57 applies to your situation?
Ask the I Ching about Hexagram 57