Hexagram 5: Xu

Water over Heaven · 水天需 · Tendency: Auspicious

Structure

• Number: 5 (King Wen sequence)
• Symbol: ䷄
• Upper trigram: Kan (Water)
• Lower trigram: Qian (Heaven)
• Lines: yang yang yang yin yang yin (bottom to top)

The statement

有孚，光亨。贞吉，利涉大川。

——《周易》

What this hexagram indicates

There are still risks ahead; temporarily need to wait for the right timing. Suitable for preparing materials, conserving energy, and observing changes, rather than rushing through. Waiting is not procrastination; prepare while waiting. Forcing when timing is not right can easily lead to passivity.

A Buddhist reading

Xu means waiting. Nurturing cannot be hurried, and Ouyi Zhixu invokes the old story of the farmer who tugged at his seedlings. Conditions ripen in their own season, and when the season arrives the principle shows itself. Seeing danger ahead and choosing to wait is not timidity but genuine strength, since refusing to move rashly is what keeps one from falling in. He gives the line about eating and feasting a fine turn: supportive practice is drink, direct insight is food, and when the two are well matched the mind rests at ease in zhi-guan, calming and insight together.

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 4: Meng
• Next / Inverted: Hexagram 6: Songthe whole figure turned upside down
• Opposite: Hexagram 35: Jinevery line changed to its opposite
• Nuclear: Hexagram 38: Kuilines 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.