Hexagram 20: Guan

Wind over Earth · 风地观 · Tendency: Auspicious

Structure

• Number: 20 (King Wen sequence)
• Symbol: ䷓
• Upper trigram: Xun (Wind)
• Lower trigram: Kun (Earth)
• Lines: yin yin yin yin yang yang (bottom to top)

The statement

盥而不荐。有孚颙若。

——《周易》

What this hexagram indicates

This hexagram suggests observing first and then acting. It is suitable for reading trends, understanding people's hearts, and assessing the overall environment. It is not advisable to jump to conclusions now; collecting more information is more beneficial. Observation is not passive watching; one must discern the true direction from phenomena.

A Buddhist reading

Ouyi Zhixu treats Guan (Contemplating) as meditative contemplation itself. The moment after washing the hands and before offering the sacrifice is when reverence is most whole, and he asks the reader to keep the mind permanently there, so that others are transformed without a word. He glosses the numinous as sincerity, sincerity as trust, and trust as simply the human heart, which is compliant and centered by nature, so that heart seals heart directly. Great contemplation, in his reading, falls into neither birth-and-death nor nirvana while illuminating both conventional and ultimate truth. The six lines are mapped onto the six identities, the graded stages of realization, so one word covers many depths.

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 / Inverted: Hexagram 19: Linthe whole figure turned upside down
• Next: Hexagram 21: Shi Ke
• Opposite: Hexagram 34: Da Zhuangevery line changed to its opposite
• Nuclear: Hexagram 23: Bolines 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.