Hexagram 15: Qian

Earth over Mountain · 地山谦 · Tendency: Auspicious

Structure

• Number: 15 (King Wen sequence)
• Symbol: ䷎
• Upper trigram: Kun (Earth)
• Lower trigram: Gen (Mountain)
• Lines: yin yin yang yin yin yin (bottom to top)

The statement

亨。君子有终。

——《周易》

What this hexagram indicates

This hexagram reminds you that being low-key and steady can actually bring more benefits. Now is not the time to seek the spotlight. Instead, lower your posture, listen to more opinions, and solidly do what needs to be done. Humility is not retreat; the key is to have strength but not show off, avoiding damaging opportunities by saving face.

A Buddhist reading

Modesty here is not a lowered posture but a mind that is never full. Ouyi Zhixu calls witnesses from both traditions: King Wen looked on his people as though they were wounded, Yao and Shun still felt they fell short, and the Buddhist vow is to reach awakening only when every being has been carried across. Nothing worldly or beyond the world ever arrives at fullness, and the moment a mind believes it has, heaven, earth, spirits, and people all begin to take it away. Reducing the high to raise the low he reads generously: the mountain of merit is moved to fill the ground where ordinary beings stand.

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

• Previous: Hexagram 14: Da You
• Next / Inverted: Hexagram 16: Yuthe whole figure turned upside down
• Opposite: Hexagram 10: Lvevery line changed to its opposite
• Nuclear: Hexagram 40: Xielines two to four below, three to five above

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.