The word “auspicious” appears frequently across the I Ching. In general, it can be understood as paying a small cost and obtaining a larger gain; more precisely, it means that a favorable change has appeared in the external environment for the focal player — a good thing that might or might not have happened has in fact happened.

Why does the opening statement call the Bi hexagram auspicious? In the Original Hexagram, the Gen trigram formed by lines three, four, and five combs downward and meets the doubled Kun formed by lines one through four. Since Kun means emptiness and nonexistence, this shows that the inspection has not found any harmful elements — the combing proceeds against an entirely compliant Kun side. The Hidden Hexagram is Li over Qian: Li represents eyes and the oversight mechanism, while Qian represents victory. This confirms that the oversight mechanism achieves success. In this scenario, the focal player’s inspection faces a compliant Kun side, finds no harmful elements, and obtains an ideal result without needing to act forcefully. For all parties involved, this is a satisfactory outcome, and therefore the text says “auspicious.”

The next phrase — “Whether for granting a pardon or for the leader’s wellbeing, the divination carries no fault” — addresses two special divination scenarios specifically. Why does the text need to clarify these cases? Because there is potential confusion when applying the hexagram image to them. For an inexperienced interpreter, seeing that this hexagram is Bi and that its theme is combing lice out of hair, it would be tempting to reach two troubling conclusions: first, that criminals found through inspection are like lice and therefore should not be pardoned; second, that if lice appear on the head, the health of the head is in trouble, and by analogy, the leader’s health would also seem threatened. Both conclusions follow from the same logic of analogy that underlies all hexagram interpretation, but both, in this case, are wrong.

Why are they wrong? Because this phrase follows directly from the earlier word “auspicious.” The implied meaning of “auspicious” is that no harmful element has been found and no unfavorable factor has appeared. In the specific case of pardoning a criminal, the offender currently in question should not be categorized as a harmful element and may therefore be pardoned. In the Hidden Hexagram, Li represents relationship and Qian represents benevolence and the correct way; the Li-Qian image shows that the authorities hold a benevolent attitude toward the pardoned person, and that their relationship is healthy and in accord with the middle way. Moreover, the Hidden Hexagram transforms into Dayou — the hexagram in which the Qian side makes concessions and sacrifices — which also fits the topic of pardoning offenders.

As for the divination concerning the leader’s health, the answer likewise lies in the hexagram image. Gen carries the imagery of the body, while Kan means harm and crisis; the stacked Kan-Gen image from lines three through six suggests that the body encounters crisis, that is, illness. The overall Kan-Kun image, however, suggests that this harm disappears. The Hidden Hexagram also supports this conclusion: Li, as the opposite of Kan, symbolizes diagnosis and the overcoming of crisis; Qian represents the leader, health, and success. The Li-Qian image therefore suggests that treatment achieves victory and that the Qian side successfully passes through the illness. Hence both scenarios carry “no fault.”

The closing sentence — “A nit under the crown goes unfelt today, yet tomorrow’s heads will feel the itch” — introduces a crucial temporal dimension. No current concerns does not imply the absence of danger; it only indicates that no danger is presently apparent. At this moment, danger has just begun to sprout, like louse eggs that have only just appeared — so tiny that even the teeth of the fine-tooth comb cannot yet scrape them out. This latent danger will appear for later generations or successors.

This conclusion is grounded in the hexagram image. In the Original Hexagram, lines two through five form a stacked Gen-Kun image, a modified version of the Bo hexagram — the hexagram of an organism beginning to be eroded. Lines five and six form half of the Zhen trigram. In this hexagram, Zhen represents lice on the head; half-Zhen therefore represents larvae. This half-Zhen connects with the Gen trigram through Kan. Since Kan is crisis and Gen is protection, the image suggests larvae beginning to erode the focal player’s protective barrier.

In the Hidden Hexagram, lines two through five form Dui stacked with Qian. Dui represents larvae and escape, while Qian represents success and growing; this shows that some nits have passed through the screening and are growing stronger. At the same time, Dui means minor damage while Qian means health, showing that health suffers a slight impairment. However, the upper and lower trigrams of the Hidden Hexagram take priority over this subsidiary image: overall, the Hidden Hexagram remains Li over Qian, still showing that the oversight mechanism succeeds and the head remains healthy. The opening statement therefore combines these positive and negative pictures along a timeline: the whole organism is fairly healthy at this moment, but hidden danger exists, and the future trajectory is not optimistic.

It is also worth noting that the Hidden Hexagram here is Dayou. Dayou is the hexagram of the Qian side spending great resources to maintain a relationship — the Qian side must invest heavily to keep the scrutiny institution running. Because no harmful elements have yet appeared inside the Kun side, lines one through four of the resulting Hidden Hexagram form a doubled Qian, showing that the focal player still has sufficient material resources. But once Kun changes — once harmful elements appear within the Kun side — the Qian side’s condition will also necessarily change. This corresponds to the latent danger that will manifest for tomorrow’s heads.