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Hexagram 37: Jia Ren (家人) — The Family

Hexagram 37, Jia Ren (家人) — The Family, is the thirty-seventh figure of the I Ching, its six lines placing the Wind trigram over the Fire trigram; the ancients read it as the household.

Meaning

Jia Ren is the hexagram of the household. Wind rises out of fire, and the old readers saw a flame that gives birth to the moving air above it — the inner warmth of the family spreading outward through the whole house. The judgment rests everything on one word: the perseverance of the woman furthers. In the classical view the home is ordered from within, and the ordering is a steady, daily discipline rather than an occasional grand gesture.

Turned toward the running of any small community — a firm, a workshop, a team — the figure is about good order. The lines speak of firm seclusion within the clan, of attending to the food, of tempering severity when tempers flare. Good order is built from small things done consistently: clear roles, steady attention, and a fairness that is not allowed to become harsh. The ancients saw the well-run household as the model for every larger undertaking.

For people who share a home, Jia Ren was read as the difference between a house and a household. The fourth line, she is the treasure of the house, and the fifth, as a king he approaches his family, fear not, were the commentators' pictures of a home in which each person is valued and the one in authority is welcome rather than feared. The closing line, his work commands respect, sets the standard: a family is held together by the respect its members earn from one another.

Within a cycle, this figure marks a phase of consolidation at home. It is the moment to order the inner life — the household, the close circle, the daily routines — before turning back to the outer world. The image of wind born of fire is the book's picture of warmth made active — a season for strengthening the foundations that everything else stands on.

The Judgment

“The Family. The perseverance of the woman furthers.”

The Six Lines of The Family

Line 1Firm seclusion within the clan. Remorse disappears.
Line 2She should not follow her whims. She must attend to the food. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Line 3When tempers flare up in the family, too great severity brings remorse. Good fortune nonetheless. When woman and child dally, this leads to humiliation.
Line 4She is the treasure of the house. Great good fortune.
Line 5As a king he approaches his family. Fear not. Good fortune.
Line 6His work commands respect. In the end good fortune comes.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How are the trigrams of Hexagram 37 arranged?
Jia Ren (家人) sets the Wind trigram (Xun, 巽) over the Fire trigram (Li, 离). Wind rising out of fire was the ancients' image of the home's inner warmth spreading outward — the source of the meaning of the family.
What does the judgment of Hexagram 37 mean?
It reads: 'The Family. The perseverance of the woman furthers.' The old commentaries explain that the household is ordered from within and sustained by steady, daily care — the judgment points to quiet constancy, not to any dramatic gesture.
Why does Hexagram 37 speak of tempers flaring up?
The third line warns that when tempers flare in the family, too great a severity brings remorse. The commentators read it as counsel about discipline: correction is necessary, but when it hardens into harshness it breaks the warmth the family depends on.

Related

Source: Judgment and line texts follow the Wilhelm/Baynes rendering of the Yijing.

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