Work on the Decayed
The Vessel of Worms
Rot bred by long neglect, not one act — inherited disorder, and the chance for renewal in facing it.
Work on the Decayed, Gu, places Keeping Still, Mountain, above the Gentle, Wind. The Image is the wind blowing low along the foot of the mountain, turned back by it and left to spoil the growing things beneath. The name is written with worms in a dish: corruption bred by no single act but by long neglect, the inertia of the mountain meeting the indecision of the wind. The judgement holds that such a state carries supreme success, because decay recognised in time is the occasion of renewal, and that it furthers one to cross the great water. The line texts speak of setting right what a father or a mother has spoiled, which makes this the hexagram of inherited disorder.
Light
Signifies renewal through repair, the resolve to face inherited disorder, and the removal of corruption at its root rather than at the surface where it shows.
Shadow
Can represent stagnation, rot bred by neglect, work endlessly deferred, or the burden of another's failure left to later hands to correct.
