← The I Ching
Hexagram 18 · ☶ over ☴
Work on the Decayed
Gu
The judgment
Something has gone wrong through neglect or corruption — old arrangements, inherited problems, damaged structures that can no longer function as they are. This hexagram calls for careful assessment and genuine renovation, not surface repair. The work is real but the outcome can be better than what existed before.
The image. Mountain rests over wind — stillness above the slow penetration of what has decayed.
Guidance
Examine what has deteriorated carefully before acting; understand how it went wrong. Then fix it properly — thorough work now prevents the same problem from returning.
How it’s built
Every hexagram is two trigrams — the lower one beneath the upper. This one is Xùn below Gèn.
☶Upper · MountainKeeping Still — stillness, limits, meditation, the youngest son
☴Lower · Windthe Gentle — penetration, influence by slow degrees, the eldest daughter