Hexagram 1, line 1
初九Line 1 of Heaven
Nine at the beginning · 乾 qián
爻辭 The line text
潛龍，勿用。In the first (or lowest) line, undivided, (we see its subject as) the dragon lying hid (in the deep). It is not the time for active doing.
潛龍勿用，陽在下也。'The dragon lies hid in the deep;—it is not the time for active doing:'—(this appears from) the strong and undivided line's being in the lowest place.
In plain words
The dragon is submerged: a creature of heaven still lying in deep water. At the very bottom of six yang lines the creative force is complete in kind but not yet in position — it is the first month of the year, the first day of a career, a talent nobody has seen. The text says 'do not act' (勿用), not because the dragon is weak but because the time is not. The small Image gives the structural reason in four characters: the yang is below (陽在下也). Wang Bi and Cheng Yi agree that the line describes a sage in obscurity who neither resents it nor hurries out of it; the Wenyan commentary adds that such a person is 'not changed by the world, does not seek a name'.
If this line is changing
Your ability is real but unrecognised, and this is not the moment to prove it; keep working out of sight and let the season change on its own.
Where the line stands
- A solid line, yang — written 九 (nine), the number of an old yang line that moves when cast.
- It is in its correct place (當位): a yang line in an odd position or a yin line in an even one, which the tradition reads as a line at ease where it stands.
- It belongs to the lower trigram 乾 Qian (the Creative) (heaven).
- It has no correspondence (無應) with line 4: both lines are yang, so this line must find its support in its neighbours or in itself.
之卦 When this line moves
乾 Heaven becomes ䷫ 44 姤 Encounter
Wind under heaven: one yin line arriving beneath five yang. An encounter — the woman is strong; do not marry her. Something small and tempting enters; watch it from the start.
What it becomes44 · 姤 EncountergòuThe six lines of 乾 Heaven
- 初九Nine at the beginninghidden dragon · do not act · yang below
- 九二Nine in the second placedragon in the field · appearing · the great person
- 九三Nine in the third placevigilant all day · wary at evening · danger without blame
- 九四Nine in the fourth placeleaping or waiting · the abyss · trial
- 九五Nine in the fifth placeflying dragon · in heaven · the great person
- 上九Nine at the toparrogant dragon · regret · fullness cannot last
Read 乾 Heaven for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Nine at the beginning of hexagram 1, Heaven, mean?
- The dragon is submerged: a creature of heaven still lying in deep water. At the very bottom of six yang lines the creative force is complete in kind but not yet in position — it is the first month of the year, the first day of a career, a talent nobody has seen. The text says 'do not act' (勿用), not because the dragon is weak but because the time is not. The small Image gives the structural reason in four characters: the yang is below (陽在下也). Wang Bi and Cheng Yi agree that the line describes a sage in obscurity who neither resents it nor hurries out of it; the Wenyan commentary adds that such a person is 'not changed by the world, does not seek a name'.
- What does hexagram 1 become when line 1 changes?
- Heaven becomes hexagram 44, 姤 Encounter: Wind under heaven: one yin line arriving beneath five yang. An encounter — the woman is strong; do not marry her. Something small and tempting enters; watch it from the start.
- Is line 1 of Heaven in its correct place?
- It is in its correct place (當位): a yang line in an odd position or a yin line in an even one, which the tradition reads as a line at ease where it stands.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).