已成之卦，初吉終亂
先看圖像，再讀文字。Read the image before the words.
水在火上，既濟
(The trigram representing) water over (that representing) fire forms Ji Ji.
君子以思患而豫防之。
The superior man, in accordance with this, thinks of evil (that may come), and beforehand guards against it.
水在火上——水可滅火、火可煮水，互相成就，這是既濟之象。君子由此體會：在事成之時就要思考將來的禍患，提前防備。
(The trigram representing) water over (that representing) fire forms Ji Ji. The superior man, in accordance with this, thinks of evil (that may come), and beforehand guards against it.
先讀經文，再讀《彖傳》如何解釋卦辭。The received text, then the Tuan commentary on it.
既濟：亨小，利貞。初吉終亂。
既濟卦——小事亨通，利於守正。一開始吉，但結束時混亂——已成之事最容易失於懈怠。
Ji Ji intimates progress and success in small matters. There will be advantage in being firm and correct. There has been good fortune in the beginning; there may be disorder in the end.
既濟，亨，小者亨也。利貞，剛柔正而位當也。初吉，柔得中也；終止則亂，其道窮也。
既濟亨通——但只是小事亨通。「利貞」是因為剛柔皆得正位。「初吉」是因為柔爻（六二）得中位；但若停滯不前則亂，因為已成之道最終會走到盡頭。
Ji Ji indicates progress and success — in small matters. The strong and weak are correctly arranged, each in its appropriate place. The good fortune at the beginning is due to the central position of line two; if there is stoppage at the end, the way is exhausted.
六條線各有一句判斷。閱讀次序初→上；卦象由下而上，看左側的卦。One statement per line, read from the first line to the top. The figure is drawn bottom-up — watch the rail.
曳其輪，濡其尾，無咎。
拖住車輪不讓它太快走，浸濕了狐狸的尾巴——慢一點，無咎。
The first NINE shows its subject (as a driver) who drags back his wheels, (or as a fox) which has wet his tail. There will be no error.
曳其輪，義無咎也。
拖住車輪以緩之，按理當然無咎。
婦喪其茀，勿逐，七日得。
婦人丟了車蔽——不要去追，七天之後自然找回。
The second SIX shows (a wife) who has lost her (carriage-)curtain. There is no occasion to go in pursuit of it. In seven days she will find it.
七日得，以中道也。
七天之後得回，是因為守住了中道。
高宗伐鬼方，三年克之，小人勿用。
商高宗征伐鬼方，三年才打勝——大事不可輕舉，小人不可重用。
The third NINE shows (such a case as that of) Gao Zong, who attacked the Demon region, but was three years in subduing it. Small men should not be employed (in such enterprises).
三年克之，憊也。
三年才克之，疲憊到極點。
繻有衣袽，終日戒。
華服雖然絲縷漏出，全日戒備防漏——已成之時更要警醒。
The fourth SIX shows its subject with rags provided against any leak (in his boat), and being on his guard all day long.
終日戒，有所疑也。
全日戒備，是因為心中有疑慮。
東鄰殺牛，不如西鄰之禴祭，實受其福。
東邊鄰居殺牛大祭，不如西邊鄰居薄禴祭——實心誠意，反得福報。
The fifth NINE shows its subject — the neighbor in the east who slaughters an ox; but he does not derive the blessing from it of the (small spring) sacrifice of his neighbor in the west.
東鄰殺牛，不如西鄰之時也。實受其福，吉大來也。
東鄰殺牛不如西鄰得時。實受其福，是大吉到來之兆。
濡其首，厲。
頭都浸濕了——已過河卻反而沉頭，危。
The topmost SIX shows its subject with (even) his head immersed. The position is perilous.
濡其首厲，何可久也。
頭都濕了的危險，怎能持久呢？
把象套到你的情境，取一個可行的下一步。Apply the image to your situation; take one practical step.
成·患·思患預防
Completion · risk · forethought
既濟卦的核心應用：在事成的瞬間就要想敗。任何項目、關係、職位、修養達到「都對」的狀態時，先別急著慶祝，該做的是大象那句話——思患而豫防之。具體做法：把未來半年最可能出問題的幾個點列出來，逐一預先佈防。
The core application of Ji Ji: at the moment of completion, think of failure. When any project, relationship, role, or practice reaches the 'all aligned' state, don't celebrate — heed the Da Xiang: think of the trouble and guard against it beforehand. Concrete: list the three most-likely failure points in the next six months, and pre-mitigate.
上六之失：既已過河，反而濡頭——這是現代「成功者突然崩塌」最典型的模式。馬斯洛之後、奧運冠軍之後、公司上市之後、當上執行長之後——皆有可能。完成感本身就是危險。
Line 6's failure mode: crossed the river, then your own head goes under. The most common pattern of 'sudden post-success collapse' — after the championship, the IPO, the C-suite. The feeling of completion is itself the danger.
王弼以為既濟之卦，每爻皆得正位——這是 64 卦中位置最完美的一卦。但正因為太完美，便已是衰變之始；故彖傳說「終止則亂，其道窮也」。讀此卦最該記住的是大象「思患而豫防之」——成功之時就要想敗。
Wang Bi observes that in Ji Ji every line occupies its correct position — the most perfectly placed of all 64 hexagrams. But precisely because it is so perfect, decline has already begun; hence the Tuan says 'stop at the end, and disorder follows — the way is exhausted.' What most deserves remembering is the Great Image: 'think of trouble and guard against it in advance' — at the moment of success, think of failure.
程子強調既濟「亨小」二字——已成之卦，亨通的範圍反而小了。因為大事都已完成，剩下的都是小事；但小事處理不好，大局也會崩。九五「東鄰殺牛，不如西鄰之禴祭」一爻是全卦之眼——形式越大不如誠意越實。
Cheng Yi dwells on the two characters 'progress in the small' (heng xiao 亨小): once things are complete, the scope of success actually narrows. The great matters are done and only small ones remain — yet small matters badly handled will still bring the whole down. Line 5, 'the eastern neighbor slaughters an ox, yet gains less than the western neighbor's modest yue sacrifice,' is the eye of the hexagram: the grander the form, the less it counts against real sincerity.
朱子直言：既濟與未濟為易經之終結對，意義深遠。既濟雖位皆正，然柔在五位、剛在六位之外，六爻皆顯「過正」之象——所以「初吉終亂」。學者讀此卦當知：完美只是一個瞬間，下一刻就要回到未濟的調整中。
Zhu Xi says plainly: Ji Ji and Wei Ji form the closing pair of the Yi, and the meaning runs deep. Though every position in Ji Ji is correct, the lines throughout show the mark of 'correctness overdone' — hence 'good fortune at first, disorder at the end.' The student should understand: perfection lasts only an instant, and the next moment returns to the adjustments of Wei Ji, the not-yet-complete.
既濟六爻全部當位，六十四卦裡唯一一個「都對」的卦，偏偏卦辭說「初吉終亂」。彖傳把理由講完了：「終止則亂，其道窮也」。一個體系一旦各就各位，就沒有再動的餘地，下一步只能是鬆動——完成只維持一瞬，接著就要回到未濟的調整裡去。所以大象教的姿態是「思患而豫防之」：越是諸事就緒，越要先想哪裡會先漏。成功最險的地方，是它看起來不需要再做什麼。
All six lines of Ji Ji sit in their proper places — the only hexagram of the sixty-four where everything is 'right' — and yet the judgment says 'good fortune at first, disorder at the end.' The Tuan gives the whole reason: 'stop at the end, and disorder follows — the way is exhausted.' Once a system has everything in position, there is no room left to move, and the only next step is loosening. Completion holds for one instant; then it returns to the adjustments of Wei Ji. So the Great Image teaches the right posture: 'think of trouble and guard against it in advance' — the more fully everything is in order, the sooner you should ask where the first leak will spring. The most dangerous thing about success is that it looks like nothing more needs doing.
Already, accomplished — the 'done' half of the pair with 未 (wei, 'not yet') in Hexagram 64.
To ford, cross a river; hence to succeed, bring to completion.
To drag, pull back — braking the wheels so the crossing doesn't run away with itself.
The screen at the front of a carriage — the lady's lost curtain in line 2. Don't chase it; it returns.
The modest spring-summer sacrifice of antiquity — small in form, real in sincerity.
Fine silk fabric — the splendid garment already fraying at the threads.
Rags, worn wadding — the old cloth kept ready to plug a leak in the boat.
The Gui Fang — a northern tribal people of the Shang era, target of Gao Zong's three-year campaign.
第 63 既濟與第 64 未濟為易經最後一對，其特殊之處在於：兩者既互為綜卦（上下顛倒）又互為錯卦（每爻翻轉）。古人以此二卦結尾，意在揭示：完成與未完成永遠是一體兩面；六十四卦不是直線的進化，而是循環的演變。
Ji Ji (63) and Wei Ji (64) are the final pair of the Yi Jing, and their relation is unique: each is the other's inverse (turned upside down) and also its opposite (every line flipped). The ancients closed the book with these two to reveal that completion and incompletion are forever two faces of one thing — the sixty-four hexagrams are not a straight-line progression but a cycle.
既濟卦每一爻都「當位」——奇數位（1, 3, 5）是陽爻，偶數位（2, 4, 6）是陰爻。這在 64 卦中是獨一無二的「全正」狀態。但易經從不認為「全正」是好事；恰恰相反，全正即是衰變之始，故卦辭「初吉終亂」。
Every line of Ji Ji is 'in its proper place' — yang lines in the odd positions (1, 3, 5), yin lines in the even (2, 4, 6). Among the 64 hexagrams this fully correct state is unique. But the Yi never treats total correctness as a good thing; on the contrary, full correctness is the beginning of decay — hence the judgment's 'good fortune at first, disorder at the end.'
九三「高宗伐鬼方，三年克之」典出商王武丁伐北方鬼方部族之戰。據卜辭與《竹書紀年》，此役歷時約三年方克。這是易經中少見直接引用具體歷史事件的爻辭，意在說明「大事必有久持之耗」。
Line 3's 'Gao Zong attacked the Gui Fang and subdued it in three years' refers to the Shang king Wu Ding's campaign against the northern Gui Fang tribes. According to the oracle-bone inscriptions and the Bamboo Annals, the war took roughly three years to win. It is one of the rare line statements in the Yi Jing that cites a specific historical event, and its point is that great undertakings always exact the cost of long endurance.
九五「東鄰殺牛，不如西鄰之禴祭」歷代解為：商人重大祭（殺牛），周人重時祭（薄禴）；周勝商即是因為「形式不如誠意」「失時不如得時」。這個對比是周初政治哲學的縮影：以德代力，以時代禮。
Line 5, 'the eastern neighbor slaughters an ox, yet gains less than the western neighbor's modest yue sacrifice,' has traditionally been read thus: the Shang favored grand sacrifice (the slaughtered ox), the Zhou favored the timely one (the frugal yue 禴); Zhou prevailed over Shang because form counts for less than sincerity, and missing the moment for less than meeting it. The contrast is early Zhou political philosophy in miniature: virtue in place of force, timeliness in place of ceremony.
「既」與「未」二字在卦名中相對，請寫出二者本義。
What do 既 (ji, 'already') and 未 (wei, 'not yet') mean, paired in the hexagram names 既濟 (Already Across) and 未濟 (Not Yet Across)?
為何六爻皆正卻仍「初吉終亂」？
Why does the most-correct hexagram still warn of 'orderly start, chaotic end'?
用九五「禴祭」評論一個你親眼見過「形式宏大但無實效」的儀式或活動。
Use line 5's principle to comment on a grand-but-hollow ritual you've witnessed.