Home › I Ching · 64 hexagrams › Hexagram 20
James Legge, 1899 (public domain)
Kwân shows (how he whom it represents should be like) the worshipper who has washed his hands, but not (yet) presented his offerings;—with sincerity and an appearance of dignity (commanding reverent regard).
Kwân — wind passing over the earth — is the hexagram of watching and being watched. The oracle's image is a worshipper who has washed his hands but not yet presented his offerings: everything rests on inward sincerity and a dignity that commands reverent regard. The lines measure the gaze. A lad's looking is no fault in the humble, but regret in the great. Peeping through a door would be well enough in a woman, not in a ruler. One who contemplates his own life advances or recedes at the right time. One who contemplates the glory of the kingdom becomes the king's guest. And the superior man, contemplating his own life and character, does not fall into error.
Line 1
The first line, divided, shows the looking of a lad;—not blamable in men of inferior rank, but matter for regret in superior men.
Line 2
The second line, divided, shows one peeping out from a door. It would be advantageous if it were (merely) the firm correctness of a female.
Line 3
The third line, divided, shows one looking at (the course of) his own life, to advance or recede (accordingly).
Line 4
The fourth line, divided, shows one contemplating the glory of the kingdom. It will be advantageous for him, being such as he is, (to seek) to be a guest of the king.
Line 5
The fifth line, undivided, shows its subject contemplating his own life(-course). A superior man, he will (thus) fall into no error.
Line 6
The sixth line, undivided, shows its subject contemplating his character to see if it be indeed that of a superior man. He will not fall into error.