Hexagram 11: Peace
泰Tài
Heaven and earth meet halfway.
The passages below are historical language. Their references to fortune, danger, and the exemplary person belong to the text’s world. Our modern explanation is an invitation to reflect on your situation.
The Judgment
Classical Chinese
泰。 小往大來，吉亨。
Our English rendering
Peace. The small goes away; the great arrives. Good fortune and success.
The Image
Classical Chinese
象曰：天地交，泰。後以財成天地之道，輔相天地之宜，以左右民。
Our English rendering
Heaven and earth meet: Peace. The ruler therefore shapes and completes the way of heaven and earth, assists what suits their conditions, and thereby guides and supports the people.
Translation note: The source's hou is understood as the ruler. Cai cheng means shaping or bringing into completion in this context; the phrase does not refer to financial wealth.
A modern reading
Heaven and earth meet, so the two large parts of the scene have a working relationship. The Image links this contact with a ruler's task of helping their conditions take useful form for people. Peace has practical work inside it: favorable contact needs arrangements through which its benefits can reach those who depend on it. In a present setting, an open exchange may create an opportunity to coordinate effort that was previously separated.
The Judgment describes a change in what is leaving and what is arriving, with the great entering as the small departs. Its auspicious language belongs to the ancient oracle. As reflection, the movement can prompt you to look at what a period of cooperation makes possible now. An agreement, shared resource, or newly available conversation may need attention while it is accessible. The Image's guiding and supporting actions give that attention a public, practical direction.
A question to sit with
What practical arrangement would help a current opening for cooperation benefit the people involved?
Source and method
The Judgment and Image are classical passages from the Book of Changes. The English rendering and modern explanation are Meow Ching’s editorial work. This page covers these two passages; it does not translate the six individual line texts.
Read the classical text on Wikisource · Our sources and method