Hexagram 53, line 6
上九Line 6 of Gradual Advance
Nine at the top · 漸 jiàn
爻辭 The line text
鴻漸于陸，其羽可用為儀，吉。The sixth line, undivided, shows the geese gradually advanced to the large heights (beyond). Their feathers can be used as ornaments. There will be good fortune.
其羽可用為儀，吉；不可亂也。'Their feathers can be used as ornaments. There will be good fortune:'—(the object and character of the subject of the line) cannot be disturbed.
In plain words
The goose comes to the great height — 陸 read as 逵, the cloud-road, by Zhu Xi and most since. Line six is yang at the top of Xun, beyond the ruler, beyond any station: the goose is in the sky, and all that remains of it on earth are feathers used as ornaments in ceremony. The small Image: 不可亂也, it cannot be disarranged. This is the end of gradual progress, and unlike most top lines it is not excess but completion — the one who has passed through every stage in order and whose example now sets the pattern for others. Its fortune is in being beyond the reach of disorder.
If this line is changing
You have passed through the stages and what you leave behind is an example; keep the order that brought you here, and let your way of doing things be the thing others take from you.
Where the line stands
- A solid line, yang — written 九 (nine), the number of an old yang line that moves when cast.
- It is not in its correct place (不當位): a yang line in an even position or a yin line in an odd one, which the tradition reads as a line under some strain — often the reason a text sounds a warning.
- It belongs to the upper trigram 巽 Xun (the Gentle) (wind).
- It has no correspondence (無應) with line 3: both lines are yang, so this line must find its support in its neighbours or in itself.
之卦 When this line moves
漸 Gradual Advance becomes ䷦ 39 蹇 Impasse
Water on the mountain: a hard pass. Favourable to the southwest, not the northeast; see the great man — obstruction is a time to turn back and cultivate yourself.
What it becomes39 · 蹇 ImpassejiǎnThe six lines of 漸 Gradual Advance
- 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
Read 漸 Gradual Advance for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Nine at the top of hexagram 53, Gradual Advance, mean?
- The goose comes to the great height — 陸 read as 逵, the cloud-road, by Zhu Xi and most since. Line six is yang at the top of Xun, beyond the ruler, beyond any station: the goose is in the sky, and all that remains of it on earth are feathers used as ornaments in ceremony. The small Image: 不可亂也, it cannot be disarranged. This is the end of gradual progress, and unlike most top lines it is not excess but completion — the one who has passed through every stage in order and whose example now sets the pattern for others. Its fortune is in being beyond the reach of disorder.
- What does hexagram 53 become when line 6 changes?
- Gradual Advance becomes hexagram 39, 蹇 Impasse: Water on the mountain: a hard pass. Favourable to the southwest, not the northeast; see the great man — obstruction is a time to turn back and cultivate yourself.
- Is line 6 of Gradual Advance in its correct place?
- It is not in its correct place (不當位): a yang line in an even position or a yin line in an odd one, which the tradition reads as a line under some strain — often the reason a text sounds a warning.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).