The Image

The lake rises above the trees:

The image of PREPONDERANCE OF THE GREAT.

Thus the superior man, when he stands alone, is unconcerned,

And if he has to renounce the world, he is undaunted.

Extraordinary times when the great preponderates are like flood times when the lake rises over the treetops. But such conditions are temporary. The two trigrams indicate the attitude proper to such exceptional times: the symbol of the trigram Sun is the tree, which stands firm even though it stands alone, and the attribute of Tui is joyousness, which remains undaunted even if it must renounce the world.