Hexagram 31 as yes or no
Hexagram 31 Sensing as a yes-or-no answer
As an answer to a yes-or-no question Xian leans toward yes, but with a condition written into its judgment: 'steadiness is favourable.' The matter you are asking about depends on a response from someone else, and the hexagram says that response is available — the two trigrams are already in contact, lake over mountain. What it does not promise is that forcing the pace will work. Five of the six lines describe a part of the body moving before the whole is ready.
So: yes, if you can proceed without pushing and keep your own intention steady. If the changing line is in the lower trigram (toe, calf, thigh), the honest reading is 'not yet'. If it is the fourth line, the decision is yours and turns on sincerity. If it is the top line, you are being offered words rather than substance, and the answer is no.
The hexagram in brief
Lake on the mountain: the mountain yields and the lake moistens it — mutual attraction. Success; taking a wife brings good fortune; influence that comes from genuine, emptied-out receptiveness.
Let attraction be sincere and unhurried; influence others by openness rather than calculation.
The judgment
咸：亨，利貞，取女吉。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.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 咸 Sensing has its own page:
- 初六Six at the beginningfirst stirring · intention · too early
- 六二Six in the second placerestlessness · stay put · wait to be moved
- 九三Nine in the third placefollowing others · impulse · regret
- 九四Nine in the fourth placethe heart · steadiness · scattered thoughts
- 九五Nine in the fifth placethe back · no regret · beyond feeling
- 上六Six at the topwords only · the mouth · shallow influence
The same hexagram for
Questions
- Does hexagram 31, Sensing, mean yes or no?
- As an answer to a yes-or-no question Xian leans toward yes, but with a condition written into its judgment: 'steadiness is favourable.' The matter you are asking about depends on a response from someone else, and the hexagram says that response is available — the two trigrams are already in contact, lake over mountain. What it does not promise is that forcing the pace will work. Five of the six lines describe a part of the body moving before the whole is ready.
- What does Hexagram 31, 咸 Sensing, mean?
- Lake on the mountain: the mountain yields and the lake moistens it — mutual attraction. Success; taking a wife brings good fortune; influence that comes from genuine, emptied-out receptiveness.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).