Hexagram 53 as yes or no
Hexagram 53 Gradual Advance as a yes-or-no answer
Jian answers 'should I?' with yes, slowly. The judgment's good fortune is tied to 利貞, firmness, and the Tuan's reason is that the advance gets its results by reaching each position in order. The hexagram approves the direction and disapproves the shortcut: Gen below says keep your footing, Xun above says penetrate gently. A leap, no; the next step, yes.
The changing line tells you which step you are on. In the lower trigram: one, you have just begun and the talk around you is not a verdict; two, you are on firm ground and should not hurry off it; three, the move in front of you is out of order and leads nowhere good. In the upper trigram: four, accept a stage that does not fit by finding its one flat place; five, the delay is real and the outcome is still yours; six, the thing is complete and your part now is to be the example of how it was done.
The hexagram in brief
A tree on the mountain: gradual growth. The wild goose advances stage by stage — shore, rock, dry land, tree, hill, the heights — good fortune for a marriage, success through correctness.
Advance in order, each step consolidated before the next; slow and proper beats fast and shaky.
The judgment
漸：女歸吉，利貞。Kien suggests to us the marriage of a young lady, and the good fortune (attending it). There will be advantage in being firm and correct.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 漸 Gradual Advance has its own page:
- 初六Six at the beginningthe shore · the young one · talked about
- 六二Six in the second placethe rock · eating at ease · earned
- 九三Nine in the third placedry land · going and not returning · defend together
- 六四Six in the fourth placethe tree · a flat branch · yielding
- 九五Nine in the fifth placethe hill · three years · what is wished
- 上九Nine at the topthe heights · feathers for ceremony · unconfused
The same hexagram for
Questions
- Does hexagram 53, Gradual Advance, mean yes or no?
- Jian answers 'should I?' with yes, slowly. The judgment's good fortune is tied to 利貞, firmness, and the Tuan's reason is that the advance gets its results by reaching each position in order. The hexagram approves the direction and disapproves the shortcut: Gen below says keep your footing, Xun above says penetrate gently. A leap, no; the next step, yes.
- What does Hexagram 53, 漸 Gradual Advance, mean?
- A tree on the mountain: gradual growth. The wild goose advances stage by stage — shore, rock, dry land, tree, hill, the heights — good fortune for a marriage, success through correctness.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).