Hills, Gardens, and a Roll of Silk That Looks Too Small

The ruling line of Grace holds the highest working position in the hexagram and adorns it from the countryside. Legge's translation shows a subject adorned by the occupants of the heights and gardens, bearing a roll of silk that is small and slight, and adds that he may appear stingy but that there will be good fortune in the end. Two judgements are placed side by side, an unflattering appearance and a favourable outcome, and the gap between them is where the line does its work.

Heights and gardens are not the court. They stand for a modest, cultivated, out of the way source of value, and a ruler who takes adornment from there has chosen substance over spectacle. The roll of silk carries the same choice into a specific transaction. It is a real gift, correctly given, and it is visibly smaller than the position could have afforded, which is exactly why observers read meanness into it.

A yin stroke occupies this odd position, incorrect by the letter of the rule, and it is central in the upper trigram Gen and rules the whole hexagram. Yielding at the seat of Grace is what makes the restraint possible, since a firm line in this place would find the appearance intolerable and spend to correct it. The good fortune is placed at the end rather than the beginning because the appearance comes first and the understanding of it comes later, and the line asks its subject to accept that order.