夬 Breakthrough
Upper trigram: Lake (the lake) · Lower trigram: Heaven (the sky)
Decisive breakthrough — name the problem plainly and act with allies.
Modern interpretation
Break through — resolutely, openly, and not alone. Name the problem in plain words, gather your allies, and act. One caution: stay courteous even in victory, because the way you win shapes everything that follows.
The Judgment · 卦辞
扬于王庭，孚号。有厉，告自邑。不利即戎，利有攸往。
“Kwâi requires (in him who would fulfil its meaning) the exhibition (of the culprit's guilt) in the royal court, and a sincere and earnest appeal (for sympathy and support), with a consciousness of the peril (involved in cutting off the criminal). He should (also) make announcement in his own city, and show that it will not be well to have recourse at once to arms. (In this way) there will be advantage in whatever he shall go forward to.” — James Legge, The Yî King (1882)
The six lines · 爻辞
Read from the bottom line upward. Each line pairs the received Chinese text with Legge's English translation.
壮于前趾，往不胜，为咎。
“The first line, undivided, shows its subject in (the pride of) strength advancing with his toes. He goes forward, but will not succeed. There will be ground for blame.”
惕号，莫夜有戎，勿恤。
“The second line, undivided, shows its subject full of apprehension and appealing (for sympathy and help). Late at night hostile measures may be (taken against him), but he need not be anxious about them.”
壮于頄，有凶。君子夬夬独行，遇雨若濡，有愠无咎。
“The third line, undivided, shows its subject (about to advance) with strong (and determined) looks. There will be evil. (But) the superior man, bent on cutting off (the criminal), will walk alone and encounter the rain, (till he be hated by his proper associates) as if he were contaminated (by the others). (In the end) there will be no blame against him.”
臀无肤，其行次且。牵羊悔亡，闻言不信。
“The fourth line, undivided, shows one from whose buttocks the skin has been stripped, and who walks slowly and with difficulty. (If he could act) like a sheep led (after its companions), occasion for repentance would disappear. But though he hear these words, he will not believe them.”
苋陆夬夬中行，无咎。
“The fifth line, undivided, shows (the small men like) a bed of purslain, which ought to be uprooted with the utmost determination. (The subject of the line having such determination), his action, in harmony with his central position, will lead to no error or blame.”
无号，终有凶。
“The sixth line, divided, shows its subject without any (helpers) on whom to call. His end will be evil.”
About changing lines
In a real I Ching reading, hexagrams are built by casting coins or yarrow stalks six times, bottom line first. Some lines come out “old” (unstable) — an old yin or old yang flips into its opposite, producing a second hexagram that shows where the situation is heading. The changing lines are the moving parts of your answer: read their individual line statements above, and they point to the direction of change.
Ask a question and cast the coins — free, with a plain-English interpretation grounded in the classical text.
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