Hexagram 38 of 64
Estrangement
睽 Kuí
Upper trigram: 離 Lí, fire
Lower trigram: 兌 Duì, lake
The judgment
小事吉。
Good fortune in small matters.
The Great Image
上火下澤，睽；君子以同而異。
Above is fire and below is the lake: Estrangement. In the same way, the noble person is alike with others and yet different.
The six lines
Lines are counted from the bottom. Read a line closely when it changes in your cast.
Line 1 初九
悔亡，喪馬勿逐，自復；見惡人无咎。
Regret goes. A lost horse: do not chase it, it comes back by itself. Seeing a bad person, no blame.
A horse that wanders off may find its own way home, and this line counsels against the chase. Ask whether someone who has drawn away from you needs room more than pursuit, and whether you could stay civil with someone you dislike.
Line 2 九二
遇主于巷，无咎。
Meeting the master in a lane. No blame.
The meeting happens in a back lane, away from formal channels. Consider where an informal talk could mend what an official one has not.
Line 3 六三
見輿曳，其牛𧤊，其人天且劓，无初有終。
A cart is seen being dragged, its ox held back, its driver branded on the forehead and his nose cut off. No beginning, yet there is an end.
The cart is stuck and the driver bears the marks of the old punishments, which this text records without question. When a start looks this bad, consider that the beginning need not settle the ending, and ask how you would treat a person marked by their past.
Line 4 九四
睽孤，遇元夫，交孚，厲无咎。
Estranged and alone. Meeting a worthy man, they trust each other. Danger, no blame.
Alone and out of step, someone meets a person worth trusting, and the trust runs both ways. Ask who might be that person for you, and whether you have given them a reason to trust you too.
Line 5 六五
悔亡，厥宗噬膚，往何咎。
Regret goes. His kinsman bites into tender meat. Where is the blame in going?
Kin sit down to eat and the meat is tender. If a rift is easing, consider what small shared meal or gesture could let you go back.
Line 6 上九
睽孤，見豕負涂，載鬼一車，先張之弧，後說之弧，匪寇婚媾，往遇雨則吉。
Estranged and alone. Seeing a pig with mud on its back and a cartload of ghosts. First a bow is drawn, afterward the bow is put down. No raiders here: a marriage party. Going on and meeting rain, then good fortune.
Suspicion here turns a muddy pig into a cart of ghosts and a wedding party into raiders, until the bow comes down. Ask what you might be seeing in someone because you have been alone with your fear of them.
What this hexagram says
Lake below, fire above: water sinks and flame rises, so the two draw apart. It stands for people or aims that have moved out of step.
The judgment grants good fortune in small matters and says no more. When people are at odds, large joint efforts may be out of reach while small ones can still go well. Ask what small thing you could still do together.
If your question is about a strained friendship, a family quarrel or a divided team, tradition reads this as a time for modest contact and for checking your own suspicions. The top line is the most vivid, as a frightened mind takes a wedding party for raiders. Consider how much of the distance comes from what you have assumed.
A hexagram is a prompt for reflection. It cannot promise a result, and it is no substitute for medical, legal or financial advice.
Where this text comes from
The Chinese follows the Wikisource text of the Zhou Yi (its page for this hexagram, 周易/睽), compared with the Project Gutenberg edition. The Great Image comes from the Wikisource page 周易/大象.
- Wikisource, 周易
Retrieved 2026-11-08
- Project Gutenberg eBook 25501, 易經
Retrieved 2026-11-08
Read this hexagram with its traditional commentaries in our library.
Where the sources differ
- In the third line, Wikisource (A) reads 其牛𧤊, with a rare character, and notes that another text has 掣. Project Gutenberg (B) reads 其牛掣 (its ox is held back). The English follows 掣, the sense A's own note points to.
- Spelling differences: in the top line A writes 涂 and B writes 塗, both meaning mud here, and in the first, second, third and fourth lines B writes 無 where A has 无, variant forms of the same word.
The English renderings and the advice are by Cast & Chart. The advice is a modern reading and is not part of the classical text.