Hexagram 53: Jian

Wind over Mountain · 风山渐

Structure

• Number: 53 (King Wen sequence)
• Symbol: ䷴
• Upper trigram: Xun (Wind)
• Lower trigram: Gen (Mountain)
• Lines: yin yin yang yin yang yang (bottom to top)

The statement

女归吉，利贞。

——《周易》

What this hexagram indicates

This hexagram signifies gradual progress, suitable for relationships, cooperation, learning, and career to take shape slowly. Following the rules step by step makes things more stable. Do not rush the results or skip necessary processes; gradual progress ensures longevity.

A Buddhist reading

Jian (Gradual Progress) advances step by step. Zhixu draws the classic distinction between principle and practice: insight can be sudden and dissolves together with the awakening, but habits are removed only in sequence, so understanding may open in a moment while ingrained tendencies are worn down slowly. He therefore insists that stillness is the source of movement; without a still root, one move exhausts itself, like a ditch briefly filled by rain and dry again soon after. Trees grow on the mountain so gradually that no watcher notices, and settling into virtue works the same way.

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 52: Gen
• Next / Inverted / Opposite: Hexagram 54: Gui Meithe whole figure turned upside down; every line changed to its opposite
• Nuclear: Hexagram 64: Wei Jilines 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.