Hexagram 15, line 6
上六Line 6 of Humility
Six at the top · 謙 qiān
爻辭 The line text
鳴謙，利用行師，征邑國。The sixth line, divided, shows us humility that has made itself recognised. The subject of it will with advantage put his hosts in motion; but (he will only) punish his own towns and state.
鳴謙，志未得也。可用行師，征邑國也。'His humility has made itself recognised:'—(but) all his aims have not yet been attained. 'He may employ the force of arms, (but only) in correcting (his own) towns and state.'
In plain words
The top line repeats the second's 'humility that is heard,' but adds 'favourable to set the army in motion — against one's own city and state.' At the end of the hexagram, yin at the top of Kun with no correspondent of its own kind, this is modesty that has become known but has not achieved what it sought; the small Image says so directly, 'the aim is not attained' (志未得也). The remedy is turned inward: the only legitimate campaign for this line is against disorder in one's own domain. Where five corrects others, six must correct itself.
If this line is changing
Your humility is well known and yet the thing you wanted has not come; turn the effort on your own house rather than outward, and put that in order first.
Where the line stands
- A broken line, yin — written 六 (six), the number of an old yin 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 upper trigram 坤 Kun (the Receptive) (earth).
- It corresponds (應) with line 3: one yin and one yang, the two lines answer each other across the hexagram.
之卦 When this line moves
謙 Humility becomes ䷳ 52 艮 Stillness (Mountain)
Mountain upon mountain: keeping still. Still the back so the self is not felt, walk in the courtyard without seeing the people — rest at the right time, move at the right time.
What it becomes52 · 艮 Stillness (Mountain)gènThe six lines of 謙 Humility
- 初六Six at the beginninghumble upon humble · crossing the river · tending oneself low
- 六二Six in the second placehumility that sounds · from the heart · central and correct
- 九三Nine in the third placemerit with humility · ruler of the hexagram · all submit
- 六四Six in the fourth placenothing unfavourable · showing humility · not breaking the rule
- 六五Six in the fifth placenot rich, yet neighbours · correcting the unsubmissive · humility with force
- 上六Six at the tophumility heard · aim not attained · only one's own town
Read 謙 Humility for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Six at the top of hexagram 15, Humility, mean?
- The top line repeats the second's 'humility that is heard,' but adds 'favourable to set the army in motion — against one's own city and state.' At the end of the hexagram, yin at the top of Kun with no correspondent of its own kind, this is modesty that has become known but has not achieved what it sought; the small Image says so directly, 'the aim is not attained' (志未得也). The remedy is turned inward: the only legitimate campaign for this line is against disorder in one's own domain. Where five corrects others, six must correct itself.
- What does hexagram 15 become when line 6 changes?
- Humility becomes hexagram 52, 艮 Stillness (Mountain): Mountain upon mountain: keeping still. Still the back so the self is not felt, walk in the courtyard without seeing the people — rest at the right time, move at the right time.
- Is line 6 of Humility 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).