I Ching Yu Meaning: Hexagram 16 Explained

Draw Yu 豫 and a student’s face lights. Yu is joy, smoothness, the matter finally going smoothly, a chance to breathe.

You can breathe. You cannot lie down and roll. Yu is most easily read as “lately it will be great.” Great is the surface. True Yu is moving with the yielding: moving along the time that should move, joy in the doing, not getting high first yourself. Get high first yourself and the line writes unlucky straight.

First get the image right. Yu is Thunder over Earth, Enthusiasm. Zhen 震 above, Kun 坤 below. Thunder above, Earth below. Thunder comes out and the earth stirs; yang qi issues from the ground, the ten thousand things are glad, so it is called Yu. It is not Earth over Thunder, Fu 復. Fu is Kun above, Zhen below, thunder under the earth: one yang returning, to be raised. Yu is thunder already out of the earth: moving smoothly, joying correctly. Reverse above and below and you misread “joy that can move” as “Fu that still has to hide.”

Why Yu follows Qian (Modesty) 謙

The Xugua says: 「有大而能謙必豫，故受之以豫。」 Have the great and still be able to be modest, then there must be Yu; therefore Yu follows. Before it is Da You 大有, and before that Tong Ren 同人, and in the middle still able to be modest, not filling: then Yu comes. Not happiness falling from the sky. You have, and can still put it down; qi is smooth; smooth, then joy.

This line is useful for a reading. People who draw Yu are often not suddenly winning a lottery after bitterness. The stretch of taking it in before is starting to show. What should be yielded was yielded, what should be hidden was hidden, and the road is wide. If you have never been modest, only want to ask “will I suddenly be very smooth,” even drawing Yu treat it as a window. Windows close.

The Tuan says: 「豫，剛應而志行，順以動。」 Yu: the firm is responded to and the will goes through; move with the yielding. One yang line at nine in the fourth, five yins above and below coming to respond; the will gets through, plus Kun’s following and Zhen’s movement: therefore Yu. The point is moving with the yielding, not moving for the thrill. Yielding is the layer that can match time, principle, and people. Moving hard without yielding: that is Zhen, not Yu.

The Xiang says: 「雷出地奮，豫。先王以作樂崇德，殷薦之上帝，以配祖考。」 Thunder out, the earth stirring, Yu. The former kings made music to honor virtue, presented it richly to the Lord on High, matching the ancestors. Music is music, and also joy. The ancients used music to honor virtue, to sacrifice, not to anesthetize themselves. Draw Yu and you can take gladness to complete a matter, to gather people. Do not take it to empty out.

The judgment is 「利建侯行師」. Beneficial to establish a marquis, to move the army. Meaning plain: when it is smooth, it suits appointing a responsible person, suits action. Not staying up all night celebrating. Establishing a marquis is giving the seat to the right person; moving the army is sending force out. Both need a principal. You cannot have group joy with no principal.

Career and wealth: do the work when it is smooth; do not sound first when it is smooth

Ask about career and draw Yu: overall it is beneficial to move. Good for releasing, forming a team, letting the right person go up, taking a plan from paper onto the field. Thunder is already out of the earth; hiding further is past time. The initial six is sounding Yu: first calling the sound of joy out yourself, unlucky. What most looks like this line at work is the matter not yet done, first issuing a victory report, first opening a celebration, first announcing joy in the group.

For wealth, Yu is like a waterway smooth, people willing to match, closing faster. You can push a product, talk, harvest. Still look at how you joy. Treat ease as forever, add leverage, spend next season’s joy in advance: that is joy gone too far. The upper six, dark Yu: joyed until dim, and treating it as habit. Then it is not that you cannot change. The later you change, the more it hurts.

Nine in the fourth is this hexagram’s only yang line, called Yu coming from you, great gain. Joy comes from here; people gather from here. Draw nine in the fourth: you may be the one who makes everyone smooth — the principal, the organizer, the middle place that can move a host. Do not doubt, do not doubt yourself into not moving. Friends like hair gathered by a pin. People have come; you have to receive them. Do not doubt until you pull the pin out.

Love and people: you can be glad; first see who is joying

Ask about love and draw Yu: the relationship’s atmosphere is good, willing to meet, willing to go forward. Good for pledging, putting a happy matter on, letting both families be glad. Yu already has the flavor of making music to honor virtue, gathering. Weddings, banquets, reunions: the topic fits.

If you are single and draw Yu, the occasion leans lively: a wedding banquet, an event, a gathering of friends. In a place of joy you can meet people, and you can also meet yourself getting high first. Initial six sounding Yu: first immersing in the sound of “I might be getting out of being single,” the other person not yet following. This joy, the line marked unlucky. Put the heart back to ordinary first, then look at people: more like six in the second.

If you are already together, Yu reminds: is your joy two people’s smoothness, or one person’s performance? Six in the third, looking up for Yu: lifting the eyes to people’s faces to joy; delay and there is regret. The most tiring kind of love is being glad only when the other person is glad, panicking first when they sink. That is not moving with the yielding. That is moving by reading faces.

Workplace people and Yu: team atmosphere is good, suited to leading people, public praise, putting morale on a goal. When atmosphere is good, what you most must not is only knowing how to joy, not how to cut. Six in the second, bounded like stone: a limit like a stone, not waiting until dark to keep correct. Social that should be refused, chaotic celebrating that should be blocked: cutting early is luckier than cutting late.

Lines: the way of joy is completely different

Yu is not “draw it and be happy.” Who joys first, how you joy, how far you joy: the six lines differ a long way. In class these have to be taught separately.

Initial six: 鳴豫，凶. First calling joy out yourself. The initial six at the very bottom, yin yielding, not correct, far from nine in the fourth, yet first sounds. Draw this line: do not issue a statement, do not celebrate early, do not speak an imagination that has not happened as fact. Unluck is in one word, sounding. No root yet, first a sound.

Six in the second: 介于石，不終日，貞吉. Bounded like stone; need not wait until the day is over; keep correct, luck. This is Yu’s clearest line. Draw six in the second: you can joy, but put the principle on the table first. Refuse today what should be refused; need not drag to evening “see the atmosphere.” Not waiting until the day is over is deciding fast, not a fast temper.

Six in the third: 盱豫，悔，遲有悔. Looking up to people to seek joy. Already regret; delay and more regret. Draw six in the third: at work and in love, ask: are you maintaining yourself on other people’s being glad? This line allows regret, allows change. Change slowly and regret will add stakes.

Nine in the fourth: 由豫，大有得，勿疑，朋盍簪. Yu comes from you, great gain. Do not doubt; friends will gather. Draw nine in the fourth: suited to carrying a matter, gathering people. Doubting is not caution. It is, when you should act, still guessing “are they only flattering me.” Flatter or not, first ignore. Do the matter right and the pin is naturally there.

Upper six: 冥豫，成有渝，無咎. Joyed until dark; it has become habit, but you can still change; change and no blame. The upper six at Zhen’s extreme: moved too far, joyed too far. Draw this line: not sentencing you finished. Telling you: this way of joying has become; it has to change. Change, no blame; treat it as personality and stay dim, and what follows is not Yu. It is disaster.

You can joy. Initial six, joy first yourself, unlucky. Six in the second must have a principle. Joy too far becomes dim. Those three sentences are enough to fish Yu out of chicken soup.

How I use this breath of gladness in class

Draw Yu and what I have students do is also real.

First, use the gladness on establishing a marquis and moving the army: name a responsible person, set the action day, send the troops that should be sent. Do not use the gladness on an announcement.

Second, give yourself a stone. Six in the second’s bounded like stone can be very concrete: a budget cap, an overtime cap, a drinking-session cap, which line of the other person cannot be touched. Put the stone down while joying: cheaper than regretting after joying.

Third, check whether there is sounding, looking up, dimness. Sounding is calling first yourself; looking up is reading faces; dimness is dim and treating it as normal. If one of the three words is there, first stop the sound, first take the eyes back, first change the habit. Having become, there can be change: that is allowing you to change.

After Yu is Sui 隨. You have joyed; people will follow, and you will go follow people. The next hexagram asks whom you follow. This breath of gladness used right, Sui is gaining people; used wrong, Sui is being led.

Compare: I Ching Qian (Modesty) Meaning | Hexagram 15 How to Read: All Six Lines Fortunate. Have the great and still be modest, then Yu connects. After Yu, how to walk with people: I Ching Sui Meaning | Hexagram 17 How to Read: Following, Whom You Tie To. How not to finish ease: Tai is also useful: I Ching Tai Meaning | Hexagram 11 How to Read: Advance or Guard in Peace.

I Ching Yu FAQ

Is Yu everything favorable, suited to a happy occasion?

The direction favors joy, moving, gathering people. Still look at the line. The initial six should not make a sound; six in the third should not follow by reading faces; the upper six has to change a dim way of joying. A happy occasion can be held; the person in charge has to be clear; guests can joy.

I asked about health and drew Yu. How do I read it?

Thunder out of the earth: qi going up, going out. People easily get excited, sleep badly, eat too well, play too late. Not a code for a serious illness. Joy injuring. Six in the second’s bounded rest is more useful than tonics.

I drew Yu and colleagues praise me a lot. Should I believe it?

See whether you yourself have the substance of Yu coming from you. Nine in the fourth is first having gain, first able to gather, then do not doubt. If you are only being poured wine and praise, it is more like someone else’s sounding Yu, not your Yu coming from you. The real work is still in your hand; praise is a side dish.

How is Yu different from Tai 泰?

Tai is Heaven and Earth meeting, the road open. Yu is thunder out of the earth, the heart smooth and able to move. Tai leans toward the environment opening; Yu leans toward morale and rhythm being smooth. Draw Tai and yourself not glad to do the work: opening is wasted. Draw Yu and have not been modest: joy will fill. Both hexagrams lucky, the use different.

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