Approach describes a rising trend — two strong lines pushing up from below. Things are moving in your favour, and the text says so plainly. It then adds a warning that is easy to miss: when the eighth month comes, there will be misfortune.
The structure: Earth over Lake
The lake is below, earth above. Joy beneath, receptive ground above — an easy, open combination.
The Judgment
Approach has supreme success. Perseverance furthers. When the eighth month comes, there will be misfortune.
The abrupt turn in the final clause is deliberate. The I Ching treats favourable momentum as time-limited, and pairs almost every strong hexagram with the shape of its decline.
The Image
The earth above the lake: the image of Approach. Thus the superior man is inexhaustible in his will to teach, and without limits in his tolerance and protection of the people.
The lines
- Line 1 — Joint approach. Perseverance brings good fortune.
- Line 2 — Joint approach. Good fortune. Everything furthers.
- Line 3 — Comfortable approach. Nothing that would further. If one is stirred to regret, one becomes free of blame.
- Line 4 — Complete approach. No blame.
- Line 5 — Wise approach. This is right for a great prince. Good fortune.
- Line 6 — Greathearted approach. Good fortune. No blame.
Line 3 is the one to note: comfort is named as the specific risk of a favourable period. The hazard here is not opposition but ease.
The eighth month
The deadline in the Judgment is the most distinctive feature of this hexagram. It is usually read through the seasonal cycle: Approach corresponds to the twelfth month, when yang begins to grow, while the eighth month is where yang peaks and begins to decline.
Whether or not you accept the seasonal mapping, the instruction is the same. Momentum is not permanent, and the time to act on it is while it is present — not once it has started to fade.
Approach from below
The structure is two strong lines pressing upward beneath four yielding ones — momentum arriving from underneath. The Image draws on the lake above the earth: water held, with more still coming.
That is why the favour in the Judgment is explicitly conditional on timing. Momentum of this kind is real but not permanent, and the eighth month marks where it turns.
The danger of ease
This hexagram's warning is unusual because the risk comes from things going well. Momentum that is not used decays into comfort, and comfort is harder to notice than opposition.