Hexagram 55: Abundance
豐Fēng
Full as the noonday sun.
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
豐。 亨。王假之，勿憂，宜日中。
Our English rendering
Abundance. Success. The king reaches abundance. Do not be anxious. It is fitting to be like the sun at noon.
The Image
Classical Chinese
象曰：雷電皆至，豐。君子以折獄致刑。
Our English rendering
Thunder and lightning arrive together: Abundance. A person of integrity judges legal cases and carries out punishments.
Translation note: The Image explicitly concerns judging cases and imposing punishment. Its historical exercise of authority is preserved in the translation; the modern reflection considers the responsibility that accompanies capacity.
A modern reading
Noon is a moment of full illumination. Abundance asks what can be seen and done when capacity, visibility, or resources are at their height. The Judgment tells the king to meet that fullness without anxiety. For a modern reader, the image can prompt attention to the opportunities already present and the work they make possible. Having plenty also creates decisions about where attention and resources should go while they are available.
Thunder and lightning combine force with light. The Image expresses this through deciding legal cases and imposing punishment, giving abundance a demanding public responsibility. In ordinary life, greater capacity can increase the consequences of your decisions for other people. The reflection may concern whether you are examining evidence carefully enough before acting, especially when action is easy. A bright and energetic moment still needs judgment about who will be affected and how.
A question to sit with
What decision can your present resources support, and whose situation needs to be clearly understood before you act?
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