Home › I Ching · 64 hexagrams › Hexagram 31
James Legge, 1899 (public domain)
Hsien indicates that, (on the fulfilment of the conditions implied in it), there will be free course and success. Its advantageousness will depend on the being firm and correct, (as) in marrying a young lady. There will be good fortune.
Hsien — a lake resting above a mountain — is the hexagram of influence: feeling that moves between two before any word is spoken. Empty yourself, and you can be truly moved; the oracle promises free course and success when the influence is as firm and correct as the marrying of a young lady — then good fortune. The lines grade the moving. The great toe stirs — nothing yet. The calves move — evil, unless you abide quiet. Thighs that follow whomever they cling to — regret. But when the heart itself is moved with firmness, the whole person follows, and the purposes of others follow it. Influence that ends in jaws and tongue was never feeling at all.
Line 1
The first line, divided, shows one moving his great toes.
Line 2
The second line, divided, shows one moving the calves of his leg. There will be evil. If he abide (quiet in his place), there will be good fortune.
Line 3
The third line, undivided, shows one moving his thighs, and keeping close hold of those whom he follows. Going forward (in this way) will cause regret.
Line 4
The fourth line, undivided, shows that firm correctness which will lead to good fortune, and prevent all occasion for repentance. If its subject be unsettled in his movements, (only) his friends will follow his purpose.
Line 5
The fifth line, undivided, shows one moving the flesh along the spine above the heart. There will be no occasion for repentance.
Line 6
The sixth line, divided, shows one moving his jaws and tongue.