Hexagram 63: After Completion
Outer trigram (upper)
Khảm
Water · Water
Inner trigram (lower)
Ly
Fire · Fire
Judgment
既濟：亨小，利貞，初吉，終亂.
Translation
Ký Tế (already completed, already across the river): a small success. Favorable to hold to correctness. Good at the start, but disorder comes in the end.
Commentary
Khảm above is water, Ly below is fire. Water above and fire below — the fire heats the water, and the task is done. All six lines are in their correct positions, yang on the odd lines and yin on the even ones — the most perfect arrangement possible. But once perfection is reached, decline sets in: good at the start, disordered at the end. One must stay watchful to preserve it.
Line Readings
Line 1 (yang)
初九：曳其輪，濡其尾，无咎.
Translation
Holding the wheel back; getting the tail wet. No blame.
Commentary
Line 1, yang, is in its correct position. At the very start it is careful and holds itself back — holding the wheel back — like a fox crossing a river and wetting its tail: careful step by step. No blame.
Line 2 (yin)
六二：婦喪其茀，勿逐，七日得.
Translation
The woman loses the curtain of her carriage; do not go searching for it — in seven days it will be found again.
Commentary
Line 2, yin, holds the center and is in its correct position. At the height of success it loses something minor — the carriage curtain — and there is no need to worry or search for it, since it returns on its own. Holding to the middle way, things come of themselves.
Line 3 (yang)
九三：高宗伐鬼方，三年克之，小人勿用.
Translation
Cao Tông campaigns against the Quỷ Phương, and only after three years does he win. The petty person is not to be employed.
Commentary
Line 3, yang, is in its correct position. A great undertaking needs a long time — three years — before it succeeds. The petty person is not to be entrusted with great affairs.
Line 4 (yin)
六四：繻有衣袽，終日戒.
Translation
A fine robe kept with a patch of old cloth at hand; vigilant all day long.
Commentary
Line 4, yin, is in its correct position but nearing the end. Even amid success — the fine robe — one must stay watchful and prepared, keeping a patch at hand in case of trouble, vigilant the whole day through.
Line 5 (yang)
九五：東鄰殺牛，不如西鄰之禴祭，實受其福.
Translation
The eastern neighbor slaughters an ox, yet it does not match the western neighbor's simple summer offering — it is the western neighbor who truly receives the blessing.
Commentary
Line 5, yang, centered and correct. A lavish offering — slaughtering an ox — matters less than real sincerity, a simple but genuine offering. It is true inner virtue that actually earns the blessing.
Line 6 (yin)
上六：濡其首，厲.
Translation
The head gets wet. Danger.
Commentary
Top line, yin, at the extreme, like a fox crossing the river and getting even its head wet — going too far, into danger. The task is already complete, yet not knowing when to stop and pressing on further brings peril.