Hexagram 40

JIĚ

Take the horns

Release
Harvest: west and south
Proceeding without probing, one's coming and returning is auspicious
Proceeding probing, dawn is auspicious

Thunder and rain at work: release
The noble one pardons transgressions and is lenient towards crimes

Thunder
Water

day 8 of a yin moon

JIE: Two hands (1) remove the horn (2) of a cow. Dan Stackhouse says it is taken to be used as a marlinspike, to disentangle rope and such. Or maybe removing the horns means, to remove the aggressiveness.
Horns can be aggressiveness or defensiveness, macho or status: blowing one's own trumpet.
JIE: to unfasten, untie, loosen, undo, get rid of; solve; explain, clarify, interpret; understand. Explanation, interpretation; idea, view. To break up, separate, disperse; to take off, to strip; to relieve, to alleviate (pain etc); to cut apart, dissect, dissolve, discharge (water etc), defecate, to forward, send, hand over to.

6 at 3: Carrying a burden on the back and also riding a carriage. Inviting robbers to approach. Determination: distress. Learn how to behave in society. If you don’t know what can be done and what not, you will get embarrassed or worse, and you yourself are the only one to blame. At first sight following rules seems less free, but the contrary is true. If you know and employ the right behavior, you dance through the world, and everything will cooperate. If you refuse the lessons, you will step on all toes, and they will step on yours. (Changes to hex.32)		Above 6: The prince shoots a falcon on the top of a high rampart. He hits it. Harvest is sure. To be one with a target means one will inevitably hit it. Arjuna was the greatest archer because he did not see a wall, not a bird, only an eye. He could not miss. (Changes to hex.64) About this line and its characters see 'origins'
9 at 2: At the hunt catching three foxes. Acquiring a gold arrow. Determination auspicious. Correcting the cunning means aquiring what is pure. Not fleeing nor ignoring the danger, but having the guts and wits to face it. Predators chase the weak and fearful, so look everyone honest in the face, without fear or suspicion. (Changes to hex.16)		6 at 5: The net-guiding rope of a noble one still leaves freedom. Auspicious. True to small men. A free mind cannot be bound and does not bind others. But everyone will follow him of his own free will. In order to make others listen to you, honor them for what they are, and give them the freedom to be what they are. (Changes to hex.47)
Initial 6 : Without fault. When there is nothing that has to be done, then enjoy having nothing to do. Or do what pleases you. These moments make the balance with all the other moments filled with many things. Not-do is a big talent, at least as big as able-to-do. (Changes to hex.54)		9 at 4: Release, also the thumb. Partners arrive especially true. Complete freedom from any thought or action, being here and now and true, means one can really feel and understand the other. Who 'is-not' is completely present and can completely answer to persons, things that happen, words - anything. One creates the life around oneself that one is oneself and others respond to this truth with their truth. (Changes to hex.7)
The Sabian Symbols for the hexagram-lines
6 at 3 corresponds to c 8: First dancing instruction It is all about toes.		Above 6 corresponds to i 8: A girl blowing a bugle
9 at 2 corresponds to a 8: Rabbits dressed in clothes and on parade If every fear could parade, the world would be a lot happier.		6 at 5 corresponds to g 8: Birds in the house singing happily
Initial 6 corresponds to _ 8: A sleigh without snow		9 at 4 corresponds to e 8: The moon shining across a lake

For the meaning of Eminent - expansion. Harvest - determination click HERE

'Coming and returning' can also mean a seven day cycle
'West and south' or: southwest.
Thunder and rain 'at work' or creating.
Line 2. 'At the hunt' can also be 'in the field', hunt and field are both the character 'field' And 'gold' is the same as 'yellow'.
Line 3. 'Carrying a burden and also riding' might be 'carrying an ancestral tablet when riding'. For the tablet, see hex.44 line 3.
Line 4. A difficult one, still searching for a better translation. In one of my Chinese texts the last character is not 'true' but 'study'. 'Release and-yet big-toe (or thumb) friend (or money) arrive split-off true'. Split-off can be apart or special, and arrive can be culminate, the top. Anybody who has a good idea, please mail to me!
Line 5. A guiding rope for a net or a tether rope. Another problematic line.
Line 6. This line refers IMO to Arjuna, one of the princes of the Mahabharata, and the one who had the long talk with Shiva in the Bhagavad Gita. In India he is a great example, and without any doubt he is well known in China too since old times.
When the princes, the sons of Kunti, learned shooting, the teacher asked each of them what he saw when he aimed at a bird on a high wall. One saw a wall with a bird, another one only a bird, but Arjuna saw only an eye of a bird.