Revolution
- Upper Trigram
- Lake
- Lower Trigram
- Fire
The Judgment
Fire burns beneath the lake, water and flame at odds, until the old arrangement can no longer hold them both — Revolution is about radical change, the kind undertaken only when its time has truly come. This is not the wilfulness of overthrow for its own sake; it is like an animal moulting or the seasons turning, where the ripe moment lets the old fall away and the new grow of itself. The difficulty of Revolution lies wholly in timing and measure: move too early and hearts will not follow; wait too long and the rot deepens. So the hexagram counsels acting only when trust has gathered and the day is right — and acting so that people understand why you change. True revolution does not merely swap the surface; it renews things to the root, while still leaving a way forward for those who remain. The question it puts to you is whether what you want to change has genuinely reached the point of must, or whether you are simply impatient for something new.
The Six Lines
First line
Bound fast as if with the hide of a yellow ox, this is not yet the moment to act. At the outset of Revolution your strength is still slight and trust not yet built; to move rashly now would only fail. Steady yourself first and make your preparation complete, holding back the urge to overturn the table at once; what genuinely needs changing will wait until you stand firm.
Second line
When the ripe day arrives at last, then set the reform in motion; to advance furthers, and there is no blame. This line is about change that comes once the water has found its channel. The patience beforehand was not wasted — when conditions are met and hearts are ready, hesitate no longer but move with the current, and this step is taken justly and on sure ground.
Third line
To rush forward brings danger, and to sit still is uneasy too; the case for change is weighed a third time before it slowly gathers people's trust. This line is the stage of Revolution that most demands patience. Do not force your way through out of sheer frustration; state plainly what must change, hear out the voices that differ, and only when consensus is firm do you move — that is how change carries far.
Fourth line
Regret disappears; carry sincerity into the renewing of the old order, and it is fortunate. Here Revolution reaches its pivotal turn: the former arrangement has loosened and the new direction grows clear. What matters most now is good faith — let people see that you change for the sake of something better, not to seize power, and their hearts will truly come along.
Fifth line
Like a tiger putting on new markings, bold and clear, one wins people's trust without even needing to divine for it. This is the ripe moment of Revolution, its direction plain and its whole aspect renewed. When change is done openly and honourably, for all to see, there is no more need to labour at persuading anyone; live out the new form, and trust gathers of itself.
Top line
The person of character changes like a leopard, renewed from within outward; ordinary people at least change their faces and fall in with the new order. To press on now, greedy for still more upheaval, brings danger — to settle and hold the order already won is fortunate. This closes Revolution: once change has landed, stop, and let the new order settle and take root rather than changing for change's sake.
Reading the Change
Revolution is a change undertaken only when its time has come; from the first line to the top it runs from holding back while the moment is unripe, through advancing once the water finds its channel and weighing the case until consensus forms, to renewing with sincerity and a wholly fresh aspect, and finally settling to hold what has been won. It speaks of overthrow, yet at every step it presses timing and measure upon you. When a line changes, the judgement — to hold, to move, or to consolidate — turns at that stage. A change low down mostly asks you to steady yourself and prepare fully; a change up top speaks of not changing for change's sake once the work has landed, letting the new order root. Read where the changing line falls, then the resulting hexagram, and you know where this Revolution is heading.