Form and Image (Xing Xiang)

Once a shape forms, do not break it

When two elements join to make an image, or five gather into a formed structure, the first rule is to preserve it: the danger is not weakness but something that cracks the shape apart. A chart that is complete in one or two elements should be allowed to travel into what it transforms into, while a chart that is missing something should be filled in. The chapter gives the two basic moves of every later remedy — reduce the excess, supply the lack — and warns that the remedy must not damage the structure it is meant to help.