Hexagram 7.6 — The Army (Top Line)

Original Text & Translation

「大君有命,开国承家,小人勿用。」 — The great prince issues commands: founding states, establishing houses. Do not employ petty people.

The image is of a sovereign distributing honors and lands after a successful campaign. Vassals are enfeoffed, governors appointed, lineages recognized. This is the administrative climax of military effort — transforming chaos into hierarchy, soldiers into citizens, and territory into governed provinces. The warning is explicit: do not reward those who lack virtue or vision. Small-minded opportunists will corrode what discipline built.

Core Meaning

Line six sits at the apex of the hexagram, where force transitions into form. In The Army, this is the shift from battlefield to statecraft. The campaign is over; the challenge is to translate momentum into stable governance. Authority must now delegate wisely, formalize roles, and ensure that those who receive power are capable of wielding it with integrity and long-term vision.

Practically, this line addresses post-project handoff, leadership succession, organizational restructuring after growth, and the distribution of credit and responsibility. It warns against rewarding loyalty alone — competence, character, and alignment with enduring values must guide appointments. The "small person" is anyone who seeks position for ego, extraction, or short-term gain. Such appointments poison the institution from within.

The line also speaks to closure rituals: formal acknowledgment, documentation of lessons, celebration of contribution, and clear delineation of the next phase. Without these, teams drift, gains erode, and the cycle of effort feels incomplete.

Symbolism & Imagery

The "great prince" symbolizes mature authority — not the general in the field, but the sovereign who shapes legacy. "Opening states and承家 承家 (承家, establishing houses)" evokes feudal investiture: the granting of land, title, and lineage rights. This is the moment when military hierarchy becomes civil order, when temporary command becomes hereditary responsibility.

The imagery also implies documentation and ceremony. Commands are issued publicly, recorded, and witnessed. This formality ensures clarity, prevents later disputes, and signals that the organization has moved from emergency mode to sustainable structure. The exclusion of "small people" is a filter: only those who can steward, not merely exploit, should be elevated.

In modern terms, think of post-acquisition integration, founding team equity distribution, promotion cycles after a major launch, or the handoff from founders to professional management. The stakes are institutional health and cultural continuity.

Action Guidance

Career & Business

• Formalize roles and ownership: clarify who owns what going forward. Ambiguity at this stage breeds conflict later.
• Reward contribution, not just proximity: distinguish between those who delivered results and those who were simply present. Titles and equity should reflect value created.
• Document the transition: write the handoff memo, update the org chart, archive the project retrospective. Make knowledge durable.
• Invest in succession planning: identify and train the next layer of leadership. The organization must outlive its current heroes.
• Prune decisively: remove roles, processes, or people that no longer serve the mission. Completion includes elimination.
• Celebrate publicly: recognize achievement in a way that reinforces culture and signals the end of one chapter and the start of another.
• Avoid rewarding opportunists: those who angle for credit without having borne risk or done the work will destabilize morale and performance.

Love & Relationships

• Acknowledge the phase shift: if a relationship has moved from courtship to commitment, or from conflict to resolution, mark it. Ritual and clarity matter.
• Distribute responsibility fairly: who does what, who decides what, and how are conflicts escalated? Make implicit agreements explicit.
• Exclude toxic patterns: "small people" in relational terms are behaviors or influences that undermine trust. Set boundaries.
• Honor contributions: recognize what each person has brought to the relationship's growth. Gratitude consolidates bonds.
• Plan for the long term: discuss shared goals, resource allocation, and decision-making frameworks. Transition from spontaneity to sustainability.

Health & Inner Work

• Consolidate gains: if you've completed a training cycle, rehab protocol, or habit-building phase, formalize what you've learned into a sustainable routine.
• Reward yourself appropriately: celebrate milestones in ways that reinforce your values, not undermine them (e.g., rest and reflection, not binge behavior).
• Eliminate what no longer serves: prune supplements, exercises, or practices that were experimental and didn't prove useful.
• Transition to maintenance: shift from aggressive intervention to steady stewardship. The "campaign" is over; now you govern your health.
• Avoid shortcuts: "small person" energy in health is the quick fix, the unvetted hack, the ego-driven intensity. Stay aligned with long-term well-being.

Finance & Strategy

• Lock in profits: if a position or project has succeeded, take gains off the table. Formalize the win.
• Reallocate deliberately: distribute capital to the next phase based on strategy, not sentiment or inertia.
• Document the thesis: write down what worked, what didn't, and why. Build institutional memory.
• Avoid chasing the last increment: greed at the top of a cycle is the "small person" impulse. Exit with discipline.
• Prepare for the next cycle: use the completion of this campaign to fund research, infrastructure, or reserves for future opportunities.
• Reward competence: if managing a team or fund, promote and compensate based on judgment and execution, not politics or tenure.

Timing, Signals, and Readiness

The sixth line is inherently a closing position. It appears when the main effort is complete and the task is to formalize, delegate, and transition. Signals that you are in this phase include: the core objective has been met; momentum is shifting from execution to administration; stakeholders are asking "what's next?"; and you feel the need to document, celebrate, or hand off.

If you act too early — issuing commands before the campaign is truly won — you create confusion and premature closure. If you delay — holding on to emergency powers or refusing to delegate — you create bottlenecks and resentment. The right timing is when the outcome is clear, the lessons are fresh, and the organization is ready to absorb new structure.

Watch for fatigue masquerading as completion. True completion has clarity and energy for the next phase. False completion is simply exhaustion. Rest first, then formalize.

When This Line Moves

A moving sixth line in The Army often signals a major transition from collective effort to individual stewardship, from campaign to governance, from founder mode to institutional mode. The resulting hexagram (determined by your divination method) will show the character of the new phase. Study it carefully to understand what structure, culture, or challenge follows this moment of command and consolidation.

Practical takeaway: treat this transition as a design problem. Who gets what authority? What gets documented? What gets retired? What gets celebrated? The quality of your answers will determine whether the organization (team, relationship, project, or self) thrives in the next chapter or fractures under the weight of unresolved succession.

Concise Summary

Hexagram 7.6 is the art of completion and succession. The campaign is won; now the great prince issues commands that shape the future. Reward virtue and competence, exclude opportunists, formalize roles, document lessons, and transition from emergency to order. What you institutionalize now will define the legacy of all that came before. Close well, and the victory endures.