NAME AND STRUCTURE Jian means gradual, developing gradually, or progressing step by step. Wilhelm translates Jian as Development (Gradual Progress). Blofeld also translates it as Gradual Progress. Here I adopt the term Developing Gradually.
The ideograph of Jian consists of three parts. Jian was the name of a river whose fountainhead lay in the mountains in central China at a place called Dan-yang in the kingdom of Zhou. The Jian river crossed the vast area of central China and gradually became vast itself as it flowed east to the ocean. The ancients chose this river as a symbol of gradual development. The left part of the ideograph is the sign for water, which looks like the primary gua Water turned vertically. The central and the right images put together provide the sound of the character Jian.
Sequence of the Gua: Events cannot continue in stillness without moving. Thus, after Keeping Still, Developing Gradually follows. The structure of the gua is Wood above, Mountain below. It denotes a tree that is growing gradually to its height on a mountain. When the trunk of a tree grows upward above the ground, its roots develop deep underneath the earth. The progress of upward and downward growth are in positive proportion. In this way, the tree remains strong, firm, and stable. This is the wisdom of nature. Weeds grow fast; they are neither strong nor stable. In the text of the gua the analogy of a marrying maiden describes a gradual process of development. In ancient China, before the wedding of a couple there was a process of several ceremonies. First, there should be a proposal. After an agreement was reached, both presented betrothal gifts to each other, and then a ceremony of engagement was performed. These ceremonies proceeded gradually. In this gua, from the second line to the fifth line, every line is correct in its placement. It symbolizes the pureness and correctness of the maiden’s virtue. There is good fortune. In the Yao Text, the landing of a swan at different places is used to demonstrate the process of gradual development.
From Alfred Huang’s The Complete I Ching
Introductory Comments
This event took place on 18th February 2025 at 10:00 AM local time, this date and time being used to calculate the resultant Hexagrams with a single Changing Line in accordance with the Plum Blossom Mind method as explained by Jou Tsung Wa in his book The Tao of I Ching Way.
The attached pdf Commentary is fairly long so this Introduction is short. But this Reading featured Line Three prominently, to whit:
a) The Changing Line
b) Earth #15: all broken lines with one Yang line in 3rd Place
c) Future Influence: all solid lines with one yin line in 3rd place
This was the first Ambassador Level meeting between the United States and Russia since before the start of the Special Military Operation in 2022. Often Line 5 is regarded as the Ruler with Line 4 as the Ministerial level. Line 3 could be local officials but in this case I have taken it to mean lower level level national leaders or nations such as in this context Ukraine, Israel, Iran, Greenland, Canada.
The most immediate urgent issue with outright killing every day is Ukraine with her leader Zelinsky who was much in the news before and after the Conference, agitated that he was not invited to the Big Table. The text for the Changing Line in the Third Place is decidedly negative indicating loss, theft, waste, disappointment. I have taken this to refer especially to both Ukraine and Israel which recently have seen extensive violence and loss of life.
In any case, the overall thrust of the Reading emphasizes the necessity to go through a worthy process leading to integration step by step, starting at the bottom, in this case with the lower Line Three. These local hot spots must be resolved before any sort of higher level Grand Bargain, which both Putin and Trump have expressed interest in crafting, can be made. A fairly obvious point, but nice to see so nicely laid out by a cluster of Hexagrams from a very old diagnostic and divinatory model from ancient China.
Yi Event: 2025 02 18 10:00 Us Russia Meeting 53 3 > 20 < 64
