初六：干父之蛊，有子，考无咎，厉终吉。
Accepting an inherited problem can redeem what was neglected. Recognize the difficulty and work carefully rather than only distancing yourself from responsibility.
I Ching Hexagram 18
Gǔ · Work on the Decayed
蛊 · Hexagram 18
Gu concerns repairing what prolonged neglect has damaged. Wind held beneath a mountain suggests stagnation. The trouble often lies in inherited habits, unattended responsibilities, or old compromises. It calls for tracing causes and restoring what is useful, rather than merely blaming predecessors.
Upper trigram: Mountain/Gèn
Lower trigram: Wind/Xùn
The situation you may be in
You may have inherited a neglected situation or noticed the same trouble recurring in a relationship. Apparent calm need not mean that things are sound, and accommodating the old pattern can make repair harder.
How to respond
Understand how the damage arose and distinguish what deserves preservation from habits that must change. Prepare before intervening and follow through afterward so that repair becomes part of daily life.
Judgment and Image
Judgment
蛊：元亨，利涉大川。先甲三日，后甲三日。
Work on the Decayed has supreme success. It furthers one to cross the great water. Before the starting point, three days; after the starting point, three days.
Image
山下有风，蛊；君子以振民育德。
Wind at the foot of the mountain: Decay. The superior person stirs up the people and strengthens their spirit.
Applying it to real life
Love & relationships
Discuss recurring harmful patterns without reducing someone to a permanent label. Willingness to change needs visible action. If only one person carries repair, revisit responsibility and boundaries.
Career & work
Address neglected work, inherited routines, and incomplete handovers. Respect for predecessors does not require copying every practice; choose repairs that match the actual cause.
Choice & decisions
Determine whether you are addressing a cause or a symptom, and whether you can sustain the follow-through. A commitment to repair includes what happens afterward, not only an announcement of change.
Timing & pace
Repair should begin rather than be delayed because the problem is old. The Judgment's days before and after emphasize preparation and follow-up, not a mandatory six-day schedule.
The six changing lines
The lines unfold from the bottom upward, describing one pattern of change from its first appearance to its extreme. If your reading has a changing line, begin with that position.
九二：干母之蛊，不可贞。
Repair involving care, attachment, or ingrained accommodation needs tact and flexibility. Determination should not harden into needless confrontation.
九三：干父之蛊，小有悔，无大咎。
An overforceful repair may bring some regret, yet responsibility and adjustment remain more useful than avoiding the accumulated problem.
六四：裕父之蛊，往见吝。
Indulging a known inherited problem allows it to worsen. End accommodation that keeps the damage intact.
六五：干父之蛊，用誉。
Repair can earn respect when it preserves worthwhile foundations while correcting defects. There is no need to diminish predecessors to demonstrate your contribution.
上九：不事王侯，高尚其事。
You may preserve an independent purpose outside an unworthy contest for power. Leaving that contest need not abandon your responsibilities or values.
A common misreading
Gu does not condemn a family, partner, or predecessor, and it does not require destroying everything. Its parental imagery concerns inherited responsibility and the care needed to set things right.
Related hexagrams
Text and interpretation
Updated 12 September 2026Reviewed by MysticEast Research
This page preserves the Chinese Judgment, Image, and line texts of the received Zhouyi. MysticEast's modern explanations are newly written to emphasize stages of change and practical judgment rather than fixed good-or-bad predictions.
Read the Zhouyi at the Chinese Text ProjectLet the hexagram meet your actual question
A guide gives you the map. A cast made with a clear question can help locate the exact stage of change you are experiencing.