Why do we say "bear the cost"? This sentence refers to the dual nature of the Dui-Li imagery of the Hidden Hexagram. Here, lines two to five are Qian and Xun stacked; Qian represents health and vitality, Xun represents deterioration or decay, Qian and Xun stacking together evoke the image of health being compromised. So the question arises: who is the subject here, whose health is at risk? Therefore, the Dui-Li imagery has both positive and negative meanings. The purpose of this sentence is to compare these two different options and provide suggestion to guide the focal player’s action.

Let us first consider the negative reading. Li represents the mother bird, Dui represents mouth, food, and obtaining food. The Qian trigram formed by the third, fourth, and fifth lines suggests fullness, while the Xun trigram formed by the second, third, and fourth lines suggests profit. Therefore, the Dui-Li imagery symbolizes the focal player obtaining food from this relationship, meaning the possibility of gaining benefits. All these four trigrams together mean the mother bird has secured food for herself and become full, then the previous Qian-Xun imagery points to the possibility the chicks have health issues, meaning the mother searching for food causes egg incubation failure.

Now consider the positive reading. The Li trigram again represents the mother bird, but this time Dui represents impairment. The Dui-Li image indicates that the health of the focal player is impaired, so the Qian-Xun imagery indicates that the mother bird’s own health is affected. At the same time, Qian represents victory and success, while Xun represents profit, indicating the mother bird’s victory and the successful hatching of the eggs.

In short, the mother bird's feeding causes harm to her offspring, while her own harm leads to successful hatching. Essentially, this is a trade-off between short-term benefit and long-term gain. Combining these two possible options, the I Ching author's advice to the diviner is to bear the cost: One must be willing to give something up.

From the perspective of natural bird behavior, during incubation birds generally remain still in place rather than moving around in search of food, relying mainly on their own energy reserves to sustain life. This is a significant sacrifice, and it is precisely what “bear the cost” implies. The reason is that the bird instinctively understands the dual nature of the dui-li imagery: a bird that leaves to forage moves back and forth, causing the eggs to cool and preventing the embryos from developing properly, thereby harming the growth and development of its offspring.

This sentence means, as the focal player, I do not actively pursue the breaking of the shell. Rather, the breaking of the shell happens to me—in other words, I simply wait.

This sentence explains how we should understand the Zhen trigram formed by the second, third, and fourth lines in this hexagram. Because the Gen trigram carries the imagery of skin and shell, as well as the image of a bird, the focal-player Gen trigram in this hexagram represents both the incubating side—the mother bird—and the eggshell. The Kan trigram represents harm and damage, while the Zhen trigram formed by the second, third, and fourth lines represents decomposition, breaking, and action.

When Zhen functions as action, it is a verb. So who is the subject of this verb? Depending on the subject, the Gen-Kan image in this hexagram can be understood either as the focal player acting—the Gen side actively inflicting harm in order to split and break the shell—or as the other player acting, with the Gen side being harmed and the eggshell cracking as a result.

Correspondingly, the Qian trigram and the Dui-Li image in the Hidden Hexagram also have two different meanings. Firstly, the Qian trigram formed by the third, fourth, and fifth lines can be understood as forceful and martial; in that case, Dui means damage, Li means a bonding relationship, and the Dui-Li image refers to damage to the egg-embryo bond in a scene of violent shell-breaking. Secondly, if Qian is understood as benevolence instead, the middle way, and success, then the Dui-Li image refers to the chick successfully separating from the egg-embryo bond in a scenario of passive waiting.

Faced with these two possibilities, the author of the *Zhouyi* advises that the acting subject of the Zhen trigram should be the other player, not the focal player represented by Gen. In other words, passive waiting is the best strategy for the focal player.

As for the bird’s behavior in the natural environment, under normal circumstances the mother bird does not actively help the chick peck open the shell. Because the mother bird cannot see through the eggshell, pecking at the egg can easily injure the living chick. If the eggshell is opened prematurely, the unabsorbed yolk sac may rupture, or amniotic fluid may enter the lungs, which may instead cause the chick to die. Therefore, the advice given by the author of the *Zhouyi* also aligns with the behavioral characteristics of bird incubation.

This sentence clarifies the different possible meanings of the Gen trigram. Gen can be understood as being still or walking back, thus opening up two different possible future outcomes.

If Gen keeps its original meaning of stillness, Zhen is understood as the other player moving upward and breaking through the Gen side, and the Kan trigram should be understood as the Gen side being harmed—that is, the shell cracking. The Kun trigram is then understood as the focal player sitting still. The focal player remains seated, and the task is completed in one attempt. For the focal player, this means paying a small cost and obtaining a large gain, which is precisely the definition of “auspicious.”

However, Gen also has the sense of returning, that is, moving back, while Zhen means going forward. Therefore, the overlapping Gen-Zhen image formed by the second through sixth lines can mean repeated back-and-forth movement. In other words, this Gen-Zhen image can be understood as the focal player walking back and forth repeatedly, and the Kan trigram below corresponds to the disaster that this back-and-forth movement brings to the other player. In that case, the Kun trigram takes on the image of death: the embryo dies and stops developing. This is also consistent with the physiological process of avian incubation. During incubation, birds cannot keep walking back and forth; otherwise, the eggs cool down and the embryos may die. When a hen incubates eggs, she stays on them motionless. This also echoes the earlier discussion of “bear the cost.”

Combining these two possible scenarios, therefore, the text says, “The first incubation is auspicious.”

Why does the text say “for the focal player, obstacles diminish as the process unfolds”? In the Hatch hexagram, the mother bird is a metaphor of the focal player, which corresponds to the Gen trigram. However, the Gen trigram also carries an image of obstacles, which the focal player faces. This causes confusion.

Here, the Gen-Kan image corresponds to the possibility that the focal player is being harmed. For an inexperienced interpreter, this may raise the question: does this mean that the situation is unfavorable for the focal player? The line statement answers: no, this is still “beneficial for the focal player.”

Why? The key reason is that the interests and positions of the focal player and the other player are aligned. The Gen-Kan image suggests that the Kan-side other player is trying to overcome the obstacles it faces. In the Hidden Hexagram, this changes into the Dui-Li image: Li represents the bonding relationship between the focal player and the other player, while Dui represents damage or separation. This means that the two sides are no longer so closely bonded. For the other player, this means that its obstacles are reduced, and therefore it is beneficial to the other player. Since, in this case, the interests of the focal player and the other player are aligned, the reduction of the other player’s obstacles also corresponds to the reduction of the focal player’s obstacles. This fits the definition of “benefit,” and therefore the text says obstacles reduced, for the focal player.