The Judgment says:
Inner truth: Pigs and Fishes
Good Fortune
It furthers one to cross the great water.
Perseverance furthers.
The Wilhelm/Baynes I Ching says that Pigs and Fishes are dumb animals and difficult to influence, then says that inner truth must grow to influence them. It is about relationships, “not simple intimacy or a secret bond” if it is between thieves and can turn into hate. But, when it is based on what is right it remains steadfast.
THE IMAGE then talks about criminal cases and delaying executions.
The meaning read into the words of the I Ching changed over time. Wilhelm had the advice of Lao Nai-hsuan, a Neo-Confucian Scholar. Scholarly translations such as Wilhelm’s can be quite different than those that are trying for the original meaning from the Zhou Dynasty, 3000 years ago, when most scholars agree was when the Judgments and Lines as we know it was written. The interoperation and translation of some Hexagrams are very similar and some, such as Hexagram 61, become a metaphor of the original text.
My view is that the I Ching is a living document, so the both translations are correct, each set in its own place and time. By the early 20th Century, Confucianism has absorbed…