Hexagram 46
升 Shēng · Rising
Legge: Shang
☷ Earth (Kūn) above ☴ Wind, wood (Xùn)
Scryway summary
Modern commentary written for Scryway. Not part of the classic text.
Steady upward growth like a tree from the earth. Effort in small steps.
The judgment
Shang indicates that (under its conditions) there will be great progress and success. Seeking by (the qualities implied in it) to meet with the great man, its subject need have no anxiety. Advance to the south will be fortunate.
The image
(The trigram representing) wood and that for the earth with the wood growing in the midst of it form Shang. The superior man, in accordance with this, pays careful attention to his virtue, and accumulates the small developments of it till it is high and great.
The lines, bottom to top
- Bottom line, broken
The first line, divided, shows its subject advancing upwards with the welcome (of those above him). There will be great good fortune.
- Second line, solid
The second line, undivided, shows its subject with that sincerity which will make even the (small) offerings of the vernal sacrifice acceptable. There will be no error.
- Third line, solid
The third line, undivided, shows its subject ascending upwards (as into) an empty city.
- Fourth line, broken
The fourth line, divided, shows its subject employed by the king to present his offerings on mount Khi. There will be good fortune; there will be no mistake.
- Fifth line, broken
The fifth line, divided, shows its subject firmly correct, and therefore enjoying good fortune. He ascends the stairs (with all due ceremony).
- Top line, broken
The sixth line, divided, shows its subject advancing upwards blindly. Advantage will be found in a ceaseless maintenance of firm correctness.
Quoted from James Legge (trans.), The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1882. Public domain. The image is from Legge’s Appendix II. Words in parentheses are Legge’s additions.