03 - Difficulty at the Beginning

Contemporary Interpretation

03 - Difficulty at the Beginning

Surprising insights into
our own source of being

A clear,
Well rooted
Determination
Requires
Disengagement
To then provide
[perhaps surprising]
Insights into
Our own
Source of being:
Abysses,
Springboards.

Follow the Path of the Dao: A Western Approximation

The Hexagram's Inner Trigrams

yin yang yin yin yin yang

Upper Trigram: Kan, Water

2nd Core Character: Gen, Mountain

1st Core Character: Kun, Earth

Lower Trigram: Zhen, Thunder

The Hexagram's Inner Trigrams in the Context of Yin and Yang

The hexagram's inner trigrams within the fields of Yin and Yang

Changes and Impulses

Additional Resources

You can also open this content in a separate window: Exemplary Experiences

Dschun [Zhen, difficulty at the beginning] (03) is visible, but has not yet lost its residence.

The image

Clouds and thunder: the image of difficulty at the beginning. Thus the superior man disentangles and arranges in proper order.

The judgement

Difficulty at the beginning works sublime success. Furthering through perseverance. Nothing should be undertaken. It furthers one to deploy assistants. Full text of Richard Wilhelm's 1924 translation by Cary F. Baynes