Hexagram 20 · 风地观

Contemplation

Wood · Qian palace

Observing and being observed; a time to study.

Meaning

Wind moving over the earth: influence that spreads by contact. Contemplation concerns observation, and the fact that you are also being watched.

Decision Framework

Study the situation; act as a model.

Decision Guidance

Contemplation is the reading of the observer. It appears when the useful move is to look carefully rather than to act, and it quietly reminds you that in any visible position you are being assessed at the same time.

The classical text divides observation into the shallow and the substantial: the person who looks at the surface of things and the person who looks at what conducts a situation. Aim for the second. Study incentives, patterns and precedents rather than impressions, and remember that your own conduct is part of what others are reading.

Judgment — Classical Text

盥而不荐，有孚顒若。

EN The hands are washed, the offering not yet made; full of sincerity, looking upward.

The Six Lines — Classical Text

初六：童观，小人无咎，君子吝。
EN Initial six: the view of a child — no blame for the petty, regret for the noble.
六二：窥观，利女贞。
EN Six in the second: peeking through the crack — favourable for a woman's perseverance.
六三：观我生，进退。
EN Six in the third: observe your own life — advance or withdraw.
六四：观国之光，利用宾于王。
EN Six in the fourth: observe the light of the state — useful to become the king's guest.
九五：观我生，君子无咎。
EN Nine in the fifth: observe your own life — the noble one is without blame.
上九：观其生，君子无咎。
EN Topmost nine: observe his life — the noble one is without blame.

Keywords

I Ching hexagram 20, Contemplation hexagram, Guan hexagram meaning, hexagram for observation