Judgment
— I Ching · classical
贞，丈人，吉，无咎。
The army needs perseverance and a strong, experienced leader. Good fortune. No blame.
Image
— Great Image
地中有水，师，君子以容民畜众。
In the middle of the earth there is water: the image of the army. The superior person nourishes and educates the people, and gathers their force.
Six Lines
— Bottom to top
Initial Six · 初六
⚋ yin
师出以律，否臧凶。
An army must set forth in proper order. If the order is not good, misfortune.
Discipline, SOP, and clear chain of command come first. Without these, even superior weapons lose.
Nine in the second · 九二
⚊ yang
在师中，吉，无咎，王三锡命。
In the midst of the army. Good fortune. No blame. The king bestows a triple decoration.
Commander serves on the front line, builds credibility through shared hardship, earns repeated mandates from above.
Six in the third · 六三
⚋ yin
师或舆尸，凶。
Perchance the army carries corpses in the wagon. Misfortune.
Multiple commanders, scattered authority, incompetent substitutes — the battle-line dissolves; only corpses come home.
Six in the fourth · 六四
⚋ yin
师左次，无咎。
The army retreats. No blame.
Reading the terrain, withdrawing leftward to preserve force, is tactical wisdom — not cowardice.
Six in the fifth · 六五
⚋ yin
田有禽，利执言，无咎。长子帅师，弟子舆尸，贞凶。
Game in the field. It furthers one to catch it. No blame. Let the elder lead the army. The younger transports corpses, and steadfastness brings misfortune.
Casus belli is just; entrust command to the seasoned (the elder son). Promoting an inexperienced favorite (the younger) loses the war.
Six at the top · 上六
⚋ yin
大君有命，开国承家，小人勿用。
The great prince issues commands, founds states, vests families with fiefs. Inferior people should not be employed.
After victory: reward freely with goods, never with seats in the strategic core. Wartime utility ≠ peacetime fitness.
Modern Readings
— Interdisciplinary
Career & Management
Existential transformation, major reorgs, severe public-relations crises. Time to abandon flat democracy and enter militarized execution mode with unified command.
Psychology & Cognition
High-resilience 'super-execution state'. Demands focused will, strong personal boundaries, internalized order.
Decision Guidance
Centralize command in a single seasoned figure. Discipline before strategy. Distribute spoils, but guard the strategic core from political promotions.
Western Parallels
— Cross-cultural
Clausewitz on the moral forces of war; Sun Tzu's emphasis on unified command and provisions; Drucker on crisis leadership; Boyd's OODA loop applied under pressure; military maxim 'amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics'.
· 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.