I Ching Cui Meaning: Hexagram 45 Explained

Gou 姤 is meeting. Met, things gather. Gathering is Cui 萃. Students drawing Cui easily think liveliness: a party, many people, a gathering. Many people is not automatically fortunate. Cui needs a temple, a great person, a seat. Without those three, people together is disordered gathering.

The picture is Lake over Earth, Dui above Kun. Lake above — the mouth, speech; earth below — the many, yielding. A lake on the earth: water gathers there, and people, words, resources gather there too. Many people write it as Lin 臨, Earth over Lake. Lin is Kun above Dui: earth over the lake, approaching, the above looking down on the below. Reverse above and below and when you should gather you go to talk inspection, and people cannot gather.

Cui: things meet, then they gather

The Xu Gua says: 「物相遇而後聚，故受之以萃。萃者，聚也。」 Things meet, then gather, so Cui follows. Cui means gathering. Draw Cui: in the matter asked there is an assembly, a team, ancestral temple, fundraising, a crowd. A wedding, a shareholders’ meeting, opening a temple, an opening banquet, a family council: all Cui scenes.

The Tuan says: 「萃，聚也。順以說，剛中而應，故聚也。」 Cui is gathering. Yielding and pleased; the firm in the center and answering: therefore they gather. Liveliness alone is not enough. Without yielding, people gather and push back. Without joy, people gather and suffer. Without the firm in the center, people gather with no spine.

The judgment: 「亨。王假有廟。利見大人，亨，利貞。用大牲吉，利有攸往。」 Opening. The king arrives at the temple. Beneficial to see a great person; opening; beneficial to persist. Using a great sacrificial animal is fortunate; beneficial to go somewhere. The temple is a center jointly recognized: ancestors, a brand, a charter, a purpose everyone admits. The great person is someone who can take charge. A great animal is truly putting out measure — not a verbal crowd.

The Xiang says: 「澤上於地，萃。君子以除戎器，戒不虞。」 A lake above the earth, Cui. The superior person puts weapons in order, guards against the unexpected. People gathering: first put the arms in order, guard against accident. A gathering is not only wine. Where people are many, accidents are also many. The sentence is earthy, and accurate.

Bi 比 is affinity; Cui is gathering. Bi leans toward “close to whom.” Cui leans toward “crowds and temple.” Both concern many people; the layer of the question differs. This article first makes Cui clear.

Career and wealth: do you have a temple, a seat?

Ask about career and draw Cui: it suits assembling, forming a team, fundraising, calling scattered people back. Opening, launching, holding an event, building a group, founding an association: all on topic. People will come. After they come, ask where the temple is. Cui without a temple is a dinner. The dinner breaks up, and nothing is left.

Nine in the fifth: 「萃有位，無咎。匪孚，元永貞，悔亡。」 Gathering and having a seat: no blame. Not yet trusted: original, lasting persistence, regret vanishes. In career: you need a seat, not only popularity. Group owner, person in charge, legal person, someone who can sign: that is the seat. People without a seat: afterward no one owns the account. A seat without trust yet: use time and correctness to build trust. Do not rely on one shout.

Nine in the fourth: 「大吉，無咎。」 Great fortune, no blame. In Cui this line is almost the cleanest fortune. The place is the layer near the ruler, able to connect gathered people upward. Draw nine in the fourth: it suits being a bridge, an organizer, the person who connects temple and crowd.

In wealth, Cui looks like water gathering on the earth. You can raise, pool, there is flow in the room. Using a great animal is fortunate: when you should put out, put out — invite the gods, host, put the budget on the table. A stingy Cui: people come and do not stay long. A great animal is not smashing the pot. It is being serious toward the common center. Throwing money at random is disordered gathering, not a great animal. Lavish without sincerity: the animal is empty. Sincere and within means: “great” can mean being serious about this matter, not showing off the bill.

The initial six: 「有孚不終，乃亂乃萃。若號，一握為笑，勿恤，往無咎。」 Sincerity not through to the end: then disorder, then gathering. If you call out, a handshake becomes a laugh; do not worry; going, no blame. Fundraising, forming a team: most common — at the start everyone trusts, mid-way trust breaks, people are still in the room, the room disorders. Draw the initial six: first speak half-done promises clearly. Better to call out than to disorder in silence.

Cui in love: gathering is gathering; disorder is also disorder

Ask about love and draw Cui: the relationship walks toward “together, meeting the parents, entering the family, entering a circle of friends.” It suits going public, putting the two of you into a larger temple: family, common friends, a common aim. If you are single, you easily meet someone at a gathering, and easily get pulled into a game. A game with a temple is a chance. A game without a temple is consumption.

If you are already together, Cui is taking the relationship from two people into a stretch that has a center. Meeting parents, becoming engaged, gathering both sides at one table: the daily version of the king arriving at the temple. Using a great animal: truly putting out sincerity and a scene — not “a little gesture” to meet the elders.

Six in the second: 「引吉，無咎。孚乃利用禴。」 Being drawn, fortunate; no blame. Sincerity, then a thin sacrifice is useful. In love, six in the second is very correct: being pulled by a correct person, having sincerity yourself, need not press people with a large scene. Yue 禴 is a thin sacrifice, the same spirit as Sun’s two bowls. Sincerity there, thin is enough. Sincerity not there, a great animal is also fake.

Six in the third: 「萃如嗟如，無攸利。往無咎，小吝。」 Gathering as if sighing; nothing beneficial. Going, no blame; small regret. People in the room, the heart sighing. The most common gathering: people came, the talk does not match, after gathering it is emptier. Draw six in the third: you can go; do not expect this gathering to give you a large harvest. Small regret is discomfort in the scene, not a great disaster.

Upper six: 「齎咨涕洟，無咎。」 Sighing, sniveling, weeping; no blame. Not misfortune. The last bus of gathering. An event ending, a team in its late stage, the person in a family who never quite entered the core: this kind of crying. Draw the upper six: allow yourself to be sad. Need not keep propping the room. Gathering has dispersing. Dispersing is not a crime.

The lines of Cui: fortune in having a center; misfortune in sincerity not through to the end

The lines above are already enough. Gather them once more, so drawing it you do not only see “many people.”

Initial six: 有孚不終，乃亂乃萃. Sincerity not through to the end: the gathering disorders. Able to call, shake hands, turn to a laugh: going still no blame. People who half-trust at the start: let them finish speaking. Do not press them with atmosphere.

Six in the second: 引吉，孚乃利用禴. Drawn by a correct person; a thin sacrifice is enough. Do not force a liveliness yourself.

Six in the third: 萃如嗟如. People in the room, the heart sighing. You can go; do not count on a large harvest from this gathering.

Nine in the fourth: 大吉無咎. The layer that can connect the crowd upward: most suited to organize.

Nine in the fifth: 萃有位. A seat holds a gathering. Not yet trusted: use original lasting persistence to vanish regret. Do not rely on one shout.

Upper six: sighing and weeping, the end of gathering, no blame. Allow dispersing. Need not, in tears, force the next gathering.

Cui is not who has more people. Many and disordered is worse than few with a temple. Sincerity not through to the end, then disorder, then gathering. This sentence can be stuck on every group, every shareholders’ chat, every family chat. Trust must go through to the end. Cannot go through to the end: do not call people first. Call them and then disorder: tidying is more expensive than not matching at the start.

Put weapons in order, guard against the unexpected. Holding an event, a wedding, a fundraise: first think accident — how money is kept, how people leave, who can cut if a quarrel starts. Cui’s accidents are usually not natural disasters. They are the corner that is born only when people gather.

Yielding and pleased; the firm in the center and answering. Those below should yield — not those below without a mouth. Those above should be pleased — not those above pleasing everyone. The middle must have the firm: the length that can decide. Missing one of the three, a gathering becomes a quarrel, or a dead air. The king arriving at the temple: arriving means arriving. The great person must actually be present; the temple must actually be used — not inviting a god and leaving the god in the corridor.

In class I check only three things in Cui

Temple. What do you jointly recognize? Ancestors, a product, a charter, a purpose that can be written down. Cannot say it: this gathering is a lake not yet dug; water will flow onto someone else’s land.

Great person. Who can decide? Beneficial to see a great person is not social language. Cui without a great person ends as whoever is loudest wins.

Seat. Nine in the fifth speaks of having a seat. Is your seat in this gathering clear? Unclear, and afterward credit and duty will both blur. Blur is disordered gathering.

In divination Cui often appears when asking: this wedding banquet, this fundraise, this group, this circling crowd, whether to take a share in a game that already has people. People will come: Cui’s benefit. Who takes charge after they come, where the temple is, how accidents are guarded: Cui’s homework. Ancestral temple, sacrifice, family council: old notes already put them on this hexagram. Today, a company annual meeting and a shareholders’ meeting are the same kind of qi.

After gathering, go upward: the next hexagram is Sheng 升. Read together: I Ching Sheng Meaning | Hexagram 46 How to Read: Pushing Upward, How to Rise by Accumulation. Bi is affinity, whom you lean on; Cui is crowds and temple. Both concern many people, different layers: I Ching Bi Meaning | Hexagram 8 How to Read: Holding Together, Alliance and Affinity. Gathering in a house: the temple is often the house: I Ching Jia Ren Meaning | Hexagram 37 How to Read: The Family, Marriage and Ordering the House. When gathering, put the posture right, and people are willing to come a second time: I Ching Qian (Modesty) Meaning | Hexagram 15 How to Read: All Six Lines Fortunate.

I Ching Cui FAQ

If I draw Cui, does it suit opening, a wedding, an event?

It does, provided there is a temple, a great person, willingness to use a great animal. Venue booked, people invited, the center still cannot be stated: an opening becomes a meal, a wedding becomes a scene. Opening is opening. Opening is in a correct gathering, not in the crowd count.

Fundraising, pooling shares, I drew Cui: what should I watch?

Sincerity must go through to the end. Write terms through to after the gathering breaks. Nine in the fifth has a seat: write who is in charge, dead. Initial-six people who half-trust: let them call out. Do not use atmosphere to keep them at the table. Atmosphere gone, disorder begins.

Upper six, weeping: is this relationship over?

Not necessarily over. This gathering has reached the end. It may be an event ending, you temporarily unable to enter the core, a family reunion that made you sad. No blame. Allow sadness. Need not make a large decision in tears. Large decisions wait until there is a seat, sincerity.

Cui and Tai both look smooth. How do I tell them apart?

Tai is qi exchanging, above and below opening. Cui is people gathering, a temple and a crowd. Tai can open with two people. Cui always involves more people. Ask “do we two open”: Tai. Ask “can this crowd hold together”: Cui.

For an online hexagram, try free love divination and match both birthdays with this reading.