The I Ching, Legge tr.: Text Section II: XLV. The Žh...

This is an annotated excerpt from the *I Ching* (Book of Changes), a classical Chinese divination and philosophical text, presenting Hexagram 45 — "Žhui" (萃, "Gathering Together") — along with its six line readings and a scholarly commentary in the tradition of the Ten Wings interpretive appendices. The hexagram's central argument is that harmonious union between a ruler and his people is best achieved and sustained through correct conduct, religious reverence (particularly ancestral rites), and the moral authority of a virtuous sovereign. Each of the six line readings describes a different character's relationship to this ideal of union — ranging from a weak subject who achieves connection through sincere appeal, to a central ruler who embodies it, to a solitary figure at the top who mourns his exclusion but avoids blame through good feeling. The commentary maps each line's meaning onto its structural position within the hexagram (strong vs. weak, central vs. peripheral, correlate pairings), explaining outcomes as consequences of positional propriety or impropriety. Notably, the commentary includes a rare self-critical aside, acknowledging that one line's interpretation overrides standard rules and that this reveals "how much of fancy there is in the symbolism" — an unusually candid admission of interpretive arbitrariness within the tradition. The overall framing is both political and spiritual, presenting religious ceremony and kingly virtue as the practical mechanisms for maintaining social cohesion in a well-ordered state.

The I Ching, Legge tr.: Text Section II: XLV. The Žh...

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