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Hexagram 18: Gu (蛊) — Work on What Has Been Spoiled
Hexagram 18, Gu (蛊) — Work on What Has Been Spoiled, is the eighteenth figure of the I Ching, composed of the Mountain trigram over the Wind trigram; the ancients read it as decay repaired.
Meaning
Gu is the hexagram of mending what neglect has broken. Wind is stopped and made stagnant beneath the mountain, and the old readers saw three things that have gone bad — and, just as clearly, the work of setting them right. The judgment promises supreme success to the person who undertakes this repair. The book treats decay not as a shameful secret but as the ordinary condition of human affairs, always in need of fresh attention.
Set against the working life, the figure is about the duty of correcting what a predecessor let slip. The lines speak again and again of setting right what the father or the mother spoiled, and of the care with which this must be done — a little remorse, no great blame. Repair is slow and delicate: done too harshly, it breaks what it means to fix; done with patience, it restores.
For a household or a bond that has drifted, Gu was read as the mending that follows. The sixth line is the key: he does not serve kings and princes, he sets himself higher goals. The commentators saw in this the person who stops blaming others and takes the work of repair as a private, higher calling — the one who mends rather than accuses.
Within a cycle, this figure marks a phase of cleaning up. It is the moment after things have gone wrong, when the damage is done and the only useful question is what to do about it. The image of wind under the mountain is the book's picture of air gone stale and heavy — a season for opening things up and setting them right again.
The Judgment
“Work on What Has Been Spoiled has supreme success. It furthers one to cross the great water.”
The Six Lines of Work on What Has Been Spoiled
Line 1Setting right what has been spoiled by the father. If there is a son, no blame rests upon the departed father.
Line 2Setting right what has been spoiled by the mother. One must not be too persevering.
Line 3Setting right what has been spoiled by the father. There will be a little remorse. No great blame.
Line 4Tolerating what has been spoiled by the father. In continuing one sees humiliation.
Line 5Setting right what has been spoiled by the father. One meets with praise.
Line 6He does not serve kings and princes; he sets himself higher goals.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What are the trigrams of Hexagram 18?
Gu (蛊) sets the Mountain trigram (Gen, 艮) over the Wind trigram (Xun, 巽). Wind trapped beneath a mountain becomes stagnant, which was the ancients' image of decay brought on by neglect — and of the work needed to set it right.
What does the judgment of Hexagram 18 say?
It reads: 'Work on What Has Been Spoiled has supreme success. It furthers one to cross the great water.' The old commentaries explain that repair honestly undertaken is rewarded — and that crossing the great water marks the work as a real undertaking, not a small fix.
Why does Hexagram 18 speak of the father and the mother?
The lines refer to setting right what has been spoiled by the father and the mother. The commentators read these as the inherited failures of the past — the things a person receives from those who came before — and taught that correcting them with respect is both a duty and a delicate art.
Related
Source: Judgment and line texts follow the Wilhelm/Baynes rendering of the Yijing.
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