Hexagram 10 for love
Hexagram 10 Stepping in love and relationships
Lü is heaven above and lake below: the youngest daughter walking behind the father, the weak treading after the strong, and a tiger that does not bite because she steps with pleasure and compliance. In a relationship it describes a pairing with a clear difference in power, age, temperament or standing, where things go well precisely because each knows where the other stands. The Great Image's 'distinguishing high and low' is not a hierarchy to resent but a footing that keeps both safe.
The lines read as ways of walking beside someone stronger. One and two keep their own plain colours and are at peace. Three is the warning line of the hexagram — a partner who pretends to more than they have, pushes, and gets bitten. Four moves close to the other's power with a wariness that pays off; five is the stronger partner, whose decisiveness is a danger even when right. A changing line in the lower trigram asks how you are stepping; one in the upper asks how the stronger party handles being stepped behind.
The hexagram in brief
Heaven above the lake: treading on the tiger's tail without being bitten. Correct conduct and courtesy carry one through danger; know your place and walk carefully.
Mind your manners and your footing; proceed respectfully even among the powerful and the risky.
The judgment
履虎尾，不咥人，亨。(Lî suggests the idea of) one treading on the tail of a tiger, which does not bite him. There will be progress and success.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 履 Stepping has its own page:
- 初九Nine at the beginningplain treading · simplicity · going alone
- 九二Nine in the second placelevel road · the recluse · inner calm
- 六三Six in the third placeone-eyed, lame · bitten by the tiger · overreach
- 九四Nine in the fourth placetiger's tail · trembling caution · good end
- 九五Nine in the fifth placeresolute tread · peril in correctness · the ruler
- 上九Nine at the topreview the path · signs examined · great blessing
The same hexagram for
Questions
- Is hexagram 10, Stepping, a good sign for love?
- Lü is heaven above and lake below: the youngest daughter walking behind the father, the weak treading after the strong, and a tiger that does not bite because she steps with pleasure and compliance. In a relationship it describes a pairing with a clear difference in power, age, temperament or standing, where things go well precisely because each knows where the other stands. The Great Image's 'distinguishing high and low' is not a hierarchy to resent but a footing that keeps both safe.
- What does Hexagram 10, 履 Stepping, mean?
- Heaven above the lake: treading on the tiger's tail without being bitten. Correct conduct and courtesy carry one through danger; know your place and walk carefully.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).