The Marrying Maiden is the I Ching's most cautionary hexagram about unions. Where Development shows the proper sequence, this shows what happens when the order is skipped.
The structure: Thunder over Lake
The lake below, thunder above. Movement over something that follows along — the image of action without its own ground.
The Judgment
The Marrying Maiden. Undertakings bring misfortune. Nothing that would further.
One of the bluntest judgments in the text. There is no conditional clause, no "in small matters." What makes it interesting is what the lines then do with it.
The Image
Thunder over the lake: the image of The Marrying Maiden. Thus the superior man understands the transitory in the light of the eternity of the end.
The instruction reframes the problem: measure what is temporary against what is meant to last. Most improvised arrangements fail this test.
The lines
- Line 1 — The maiden is married as a concubine. A lame man who is able to tread. Undertaking brings good fortune.
- Line 2 — A one-eyed man who is able to see. The perseverance of a lonely man furthers.
- Line 3 — The maiden is married as a slave. She is sent back as a concubine.
- Line 4 — The marrying maiden misses the right time. A late marriage comes in due course.
- Line 5 — The sovereign I gave his daughter in marriage. The embroidered garments of the princess were not as gorgeous as those of the waiting woman.
- Line 6 — The woman holds the basket, but there are no fruits in it. The man stabs the sheep, but no blood flows. Nothing that acts to further.
Lines 1 and 2 are the surprising ones: both describe a compromised position — lame, one-eyed — and both come out well. The text is not condemning imperfection.
What is actually being warned against
Line 6 is the clearest statement: the forms are performed but nothing is in them. The basket is empty, the sheep yields no blood. The warning is about arrangements that look complete but carry nothing.
That is quite different from the imperfect but functional positions of lines 1 and 2, and reading them together is what keeps this hexagram from being simply pessimistic.
Empty forms
Line 6 is the sharpest image in the text: the basket held without fruit, the sheep stabbed without blood. The ritual is performed and yet nothing has actually happened.
Read alongside lines 1 and 2, the distinction becomes clear. A compromised arrangement is workable; a hollow one is not.