The lines
Six at the beginning [yin at bottom] means:
When ribbon grass is pulled up, the sod comes with it.
Each according to his kind.
Perseverance brings good fortune and success.
The text is almost the same as that of the first line of the preceding hexagram, but with a contrary meaning. In the latter a man is drawing another along with him on the road to an official career; here a man is drawing another with him into retirement form public life. This is why the text says here, \"Perseverance brings good fortune and success,\" and not \"Undertakings bring good fortune.\" If it becomes impossible to make our influence count, it is only by retirement that we spare ourselves humiliation. Success in a higher sense can be ours, because we know how to safeguard the value of our personalities.
Six in the second place means:
They bear and endure;
This means good fortune for inferior people.
The standstill serves to help the great man to attain success.
Inferior people are ready to flatter their superiors in a servile way. They would also endure the superior man if he would put an end to their confusion. This is fortunate for them. But the great man calmly bears the consequences of the standstill. He does not mingle with the crowd of the inferior; that is not his place. By his willingness to suffer personally he insures the success of his fundamental principles.
Six in the third place means:
They bear shame.
Inferior people who have risen to power illegitimately do not feel equal to the responsibility they have taken on themselves. In their hearts they begin to be ashamed, although at first they do not show it outwardly. This marks a turn for the better.
Nine in the fourth place means:
He who acts at the command of the highest
Remains without blame.
Those of like mind partake of the blessing.
The time of standstill is nearing the point of change into its opposite. Whoever wishes to restore order must feel himself called to the task and have the necessary authority. A man who sets himself up a capable of creating order according to his own judgement could make mistakes and end in failure. But the man who\'s truly called to the task is favoured by the conditions of the time, and all those of like mind will share in his blessing.