Fire lights up the foot of a mountain, making its shapes beautiful. Bi is about form, beauty and presentation, the grace that makes things pleasing and orderly. Form matters: it gives life dignity. But it is not substance. Adornment is suited to small matters; important decisions need more than an attractive surface.
Judgment
賁：亨。小利有攸往。
Adornment: success. Small advantage in having somewhere to go.
Image
山下有火，賁；君子以明庶政，无敢折獄。
Fire beneath the mountain: adornment. Taking this as a model, the noble one brings light to the many routine affairs of government, but does not presume to settle lawsuits by it.
- Beauty and form
- Presentation
- Substance versus surface
- Simplicity
- Cultivated elegance
- beauty
- form
- elegance
- presentation
- simplicity
- surface
- Form gives life dignity, but it cannot replace substance.
- Beauty serves small matters; big decisions need essence.
- The highest grace is simplicity.
The six lines
Lines are numbered from the bottom. In a reading, only the lines that are changing apply to your cast.
Line 1Nine at the beginning 初九
Line text
賁其趾，舍車而徒。
Adorning the feet: leaving the carriage behind and walking.
At the start, you prefer to make your own way modestly rather than accept a ride you have not earned. Self-reliance is its own kind of grace.
- Self-reliance
- Modest beginnings
- Accepting shortcuts that compromise you
- Walking your own way with dignity
Line 2Six in the second place 六二
Line text
賁其須。
Adorning the beard.
Decoration that depends on something else, like a beard on a chin. Attend to what the form expresses, not to the form itself.
- Form dependent on substance
- Vanity
- Caring only about appearances
- Letting form follow substance
Line 3Nine in the third place 九三
Line text
賁如濡如，永貞吉。
Adorned and glistening. Lasting steadfastness: good fortune.
Things are going pleasantly and attractively. Enjoy it, but stay steady and principled; it is easy to drift into comfortable indulgence.
- Pleasant circumstances
- Staying steady
- Sinking into comfortable complacency
- Lasting good fortune through constancy
Line 4Six in the fourth place 六四
Line text
賁如皤如，白馬翰如，匪寇婚媾。
Adorned, or plain white? A white horse as if winged. Not raiders: suitors.
You face a choice between outward splendor and plain simplicity. A sincere offer of connection arrives unadorned. Do not mistake it for a threat.
- Choosing simplicity
- Recognizing sincere offers
- Rejecting the plain in favor of glamour
- A genuine bond in simple form
Line 5Six in the fifth place 六五
Line text
賁于丘園，束帛戔戔，吝，終吉。
Adornment in the hills and gardens. The roll of silk is small and thin. Regret, but in the end good fortune.
You turn away from the showy to a simpler life, and your offerings seem small. The sincerity behind them counts more, and this ends well.
- Simple sincerity
- Modest offerings
- Embarrassment at having little to show
- Recognition of genuine sincerity
Line 6Nine at the top 上九
Line text
白賁，无咎。
Plain white adornment: no blame.
The highest grace is unadorned. When substance is genuine, it needs no decoration. Plainness here is perfection.
- Unadorned perfection
- Essence over form
- Overdecorating what is already good
- Letting the real thing speak for itself
Related hexagrams
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Cast a readingChinese text: Zhouyi 周易 (received classical text). English rendering and notes: Site rendering. About our sources
Commentary
Fire at the foot of the mountain illuminates and beautifies it, but only the base, and only for a while. Bi deals with aesthetics in the broad sense: style, manners, presentation, culture. The reading may suggest that attention to form, such as how something is presented or communicated, will help, especially in everyday matters.
The image sets a limit, though: elegance should not decide matters of real weight. The lines move from decorated feet to a final image of plain white, where adornment is no longer needed. In relation to a question, Bi may emphasize presentation and charm, while asking whether the substance underneath is sound, and whether simpler might be better.