Hexagram 1: Qian

Heaven over Heaven · 乾为天 · Tendency: Auspicious

Structure

• Number: 1 (King Wen sequence)
• Symbol: ䷀
• Upper trigram: Qian (Heaven)
• Lower trigram: Qian (Heaven)
• Lines: yang yang yang yang yang yang (bottom to top)

The statement

元，亨，利，贞。

——《周易》

What this hexagram indicates

There is room to actively push things forward. You now need to show initiative and drive. It's a good time to set goals, secure resources, and advance major matters. But the stronger your power, the more you must follow the rules. Don't rush to show off, and avoid ruining a good situation through pride or excessive force.

A Buddhist reading

All six lines are yang, so the hexagram is named Qian (the Creative), and its meaning is unceasing strength. Ouyi Zhixu adds that in our nature it is illumination, and in practice it is contemplation. Strength by itself carries no direction, so he asks what a person is being strong at: strength in evil sinks downward, strength in good rises, and only when one sees that the good itself is the whole realm of things and the buddha nature does it reach full awakening. Ceaseless self renewal is not grim effort but matching oneself to a nature that already never rests.

After Ouyi Zhixu (1599-1655), whose Chan commentary on the Changes reads each hexagram as a stage of practice.

The statement is quoted from the Book of Changes, which is in the public domain. The English reading on this page was prepared for this library.

Related hexagrams

• Next / Opposite: Hexagram 2: Kunevery line changed to its opposite

Related

• Liu Yao Divination ChartLiu Yao casts a hexagram about one specific matter and reads its structure. Unlike BaZi or Zi Wei, which describe a person, Liu Yao describes how a situation stands at a particular moment. This page walks through the full process from casting to attribution.
• Mei Hua Yi Shu CalculatorMei Hua Yi Shu is traditionally attributed to Shao Yong. What sets it apart is how freely it casts: a time, a spoken number, a direction or something noticed in passing will all serve. It attaches no stems and no relatives, reading the trigrams directly. This page covers casting through to the subject and object.