Completion · Apparent victory · Anticipate the disorder
Upper · Kan ☵ Water/Lower · Li ☲ Fire
Judgment
— I Ching · classical
亨小，利贞。初吉终乱。
After completion. Success in small matters. Perseverance furthers. At the beginning, good fortune; at the end, disorder.
Image
— Great Image
水在火上，既济，君子以思患而预防之。
Water over fire: the image of after completion. Thus the superior person takes thought of misfortune and arms themselves against it in advance.
Six Lines
— Bottom to top
Initial Nine · 初九⚊ yang
曳其轮，濡其尾，无咎。
He brakes his wheels. He gets his tail in the water. No blame.
On crossing, brake the wheel (ye qi lun); wet the tail (ru qi wei) — voluntary slowing right at the start of success. No blame.
Six in the second · 六二⚋ yin
妇丧其茀，勿逐，七日得。
The woman loses the curtain of her carriage. Do not run after it. On the seventh day you will get it.
Loses a small accessory (the carriage curtain); do not chase; seven days, returns.
Nine in the third · 九三⚊ yang
高宗伐鬼方，三年克之，小人勿用。
The Illustrious Ancestor disciplines the Devil's Country. After three years he conquers it. Inferior people must not be employed.
High Ancestor's punitive campaign against the rebels takes three years to win — the cost of holding the achievement is high; never employ small people in this stage.
Six in the fourth · 六四⚋ yin
繻有衣袽，终日戒。
The finest clothes turn to rags. Be careful all day long.
Embroidered robes contain rags for plugging leaks; vigilant all day against the inevitable cracks.
Nine in the fifth · 九五⚊ yang
东邻杀牛，不如西邻之禴祭，实受其福。
The neighbor in the east who slaughters an ox does not attain as much real happiness as the neighbor in the west with their small offering.
The lavish eastern neighbor's ox-sacrifice yields less than the western neighbor's modest reverent sacrifice — substance over ostentation.
Six at the top · 上六⚋ yin
濡其首，厉。
He gets his head in the water. Danger.
Drowning in the success itself (head submerged); danger comes from inability to step back from victory.
Modern Readings
— Interdisciplinary
Career & Management
Successful close-out, IPO, system live-rollout. Just when celebration peaks, the seed of bureaucratic decay is planted. Immediately launch 'second-startup' mindset, red-team your own success.
Psychology & Cognition
The closer the finish, the more carefully (chu ji zhong luan). Do not make hedonistic decisions at the peak; 'success is the mother of failure' (the inversion of the proverb).
Decision Guidance
Take thought of misfortune and arm in advance (si huan yu fang). Slow at the start of victory (line 1: brake wheels). Substance over splendor (line 5).
Western Parallels
— Cross-cultural
Andy Grove's 'inflection point' detected at the very moment of success; Jim Collins on Stage 1 of decline (hubris from accomplishment); Charlie Munger's 'invert, always invert' — what could ruin this success?; Jeff Bezos's 'Day 1' mindset against organizational ossification.
· All texts here come from public-domain editions of the I Ching and supporting commentary.
· Anygua does not predict, score, schedule, ward, or recommend rituals.
· The same input via the same method will always reproduce the same hexagram — verifiable below.
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