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The image of hexagram 40
Jiě Release

Hexagram 40 has trigram Kăn, Water, below or inside, Zhèn, Thunder, above or outside. Kăn is formless water, in a person it removes all stiffness. Zhèn moves without letting itself be hindered. Together they cause supreme freedom of tension.

What does it mean, 'inner' and 'outer' trigram (popup)

When trigram Kăn is below (popup)

When trigram Zhèn is above (popup)

Kăn below Zhèn: Kăn often indicates intuitïon and the freeing of tensions because it has no shape of its own, and when it has Zhèn on the outside to manifest that, you get the skills of an acrobat. A freedom of thinking and moving that is not restrained by rules or ideas.

The old diviners gave this combination of trigrams a name: Jiě, Release [szheeyeah]. It is the freedom of predefined rules and ways of thinking. It frees both body and mind, but also your energy, because nothing will be wasted on needless worries or fixations. It means to be totally present in the moment.

Ideogram of the character Jiě: at the top two hands taking a horn, at the bottom the head of an ox. Release, solution, opening bound and tied things, remove, abolish, stop, melt, clarify, analyze and explain, understand, reconciliation, negligent, relaxed, slack, encounter, to alleviate (pain etc); to cut apart, dissect, dissolve, discharge (water etc), defecate, to forward, send, hand over to. In the past, it referred to various skills of acrobatic performances, especially those performed on horses.
The ideogram might be grasping the horns to somersault over the animal.

The Image says: Thunder and rain at work: release. The noble one pardons transgressions and is lenient towards crimes.

Hex.40 is the contrast of 37, which is about being and acting according to your abilities and to the place in life where you belong.
Hex.40 is when nothing is predefined, it is the moment and the intuïtion which decide the action. Hex.40 is the hexagram of the archer who releases the arrow at the right moment and exactly on its target. Not by aiming consciously but because nothing else exists for him right then.

  Story:
   Freedom is to be innocent.
   Guilt is the most massive prison wall there is. It makes you do, think and be what others prescribe.
   If you think yourself something should be done, then do it. If not, then don’t – and don’t let anyone point at you and make a feeling of guilt in you. And never do that yourself. Making guilt is a crime against life.
   Stay free and leave free.

The image of hexagram 40 Jiě Release

The image of hexagram 40
Jiě Release