Hexagram 31 for love
Hexagram 31 Sensing in love and relationships
Xian is the I Ching's hexagram of attraction: the youngest daughter above the youngest son, lake sinking down to meet the mountain that reaches up. Its judgment reads 'success; steadiness is favourable; to take a wife brings good fortune' — the classic sign of a bond that begins in mutual feeling. Yet the six lines trace influence through the body from the toe to the tongue, and most of them counsel waiting: the toe stirs before it is time, the calf is told to stay put, the thigh is warned against being dragged along.
For a question about a relationship the hexagram affirms that the feeling is real and reciprocal, and asks how it is being handled. The pivotal line is the fourth, the heart: the bond thrives if the heart is steady and sincere, and thins into restlessness or mere talk if it is not. Read a changing line as the stage the feeling has reached.
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
- Is hexagram 31, Sensing, a good sign for love?
- Xian is the I Ching's hexagram of attraction: the youngest daughter above the youngest son, lake sinking down to meet the mountain that reaches up. Its judgment reads 'success; steadiness is favourable; to take a wife brings good fortune' — the classic sign of a bond that begins in mutual feeling. Yet the six lines trace influence through the body from the toe to the tongue, and most of them counsel waiting: the toe stirs before it is time, the calf is told to stay put, the thigh is warned against being dragged along.
- 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).