A source-first reading note for Hexagram 22, Bi (Grace), with a reference translation, trigram frame, and one reversible observation practice.
Reference translation
Grace: success. In small matters it is favorable to undertake something. The Commentary says: Grace has success. The yielding comes and adorns the firm, therefore there is success. The firm divides, ascends, and adorns the yielding, therefore in small matters it is favorable to undertake something. The interplay of firm and yielding—this is the adornment of heaven. Brightness held within bounds—this is the adornment of man. By contemplating the adornments of heaven, we discern the changes of the seasons; by contemplating the adornments of man, we transform and perfect the world.
See the original-text and authority layers in the complete catalog entry.
Context from the authority layer
The hexagram image of "fire beneath the mountain" allows one to perceive both pattern and brilliance within the firelight. For humanity, such radiance can manifest upward as the "patterns of heaven" and downward as the "patterns of humankind." From this, the sages understood that the brilliance and pattern of Bi possess the power to "illuminate the various affairs of government" and "transform all under heaven." At the same time, by comparing Shi He, which also contains the Li image, with Bi, they discovered their differences: in Bi, the Li image lies below, depicting fire beneath the mountain; in Shi He, the Li image lies above, depicting fire in the heavens.
Read the structure before the slogan
The lower trigram is 离 (火), associated in the bundled corpus with 丽; the upper trigram is 艮 (山), associated with 止. Read the lower trigram as the inner or starting field and the upper trigram as the outward field before turning the pattern into advice.
One accountable observation practice
Copy one concrete verb, condition, or image from the reference translation for Hexagram 22. Name one place where it is observable in the situation you are examining. Then choose one small step you can reverse and write the condition that would make you review it.
Common misread to avoid
Do not turn Grace into a personality label, a guaranteed event, or a verdict about another person. The translation and trigram frame are source layers to examine, not an instruction to surrender judgment.
Source boundary
The reference translation and context are drawn from Yarrow's bundled structured Zhouyi authority layer. Yarrow keeps that layer separate from optional modern reflection. This page does not claim that Hexagram 22 was cast for your question.