Upper Trigram
乾 Qián
Heaven — Creative
Lower Trigram
兌 Duì
Lake — Joyous
Classical Texts
The Judgment
You're stepping on the tiger's tail. It doesn't bite. Success—but only because your conduct is correct. The situation is genuinely dangerous. The weak follows the strong and worries it. Your manner, not your power, determines whether you survive.
The Lines
Line 1
Simple conduct, going forward plainly. No blame. When you act without pretension, staying within your natural sphere, you move safely.
Line 2
The path is level and smooth. The solitary person finds good fortune through perseverance. Steady and unassuming progress on a clear road.
Line 3
The one-eyed thinks he can see. The lame thinks he can walk. He treads on the tiger's tail and gets bitten. Misfortune. This is the warrior who oversteps toward the great ruler—overconfidence destroys him.
Line 4
Treading on the tiger's tail with extreme caution—success in the end. Fear is appropriate here. Careful fear leads to good fortune.
Line 5
Resolute treading. Perseverance brings danger. You're determined, but determination alone isn't enough. The situation remains precarious despite your firmness.
Line 6
Look back at your conduct, examine the omens. If you can complete the circle with integrity, supreme good fortune.
Yilin: Forest of Changes
From Jiao Yanshou's Forest of Changes (焦氏易林) — the verse for Hexagram 10 in its unchanging form. A Han dynasty collection of four-character verses interpreting every hexagram transformation.
十烏俱飛，羿得九雌；雖得淂全，且驚不危。
Ten crows fly together; Yi shoots down nine hens. Though what is gained is kept whole; there is a fright, but no real danger.
Read full commentary ↓
Treading upon itself — the hexagram doubled. Ten sun-crows fly together, and Archer Yi brings down nine, but takes only the females. Though the world survives intact, the fright was real. This directly invokes the myth of Hou Yi shooting down the nine surplus suns that were scorching the earth, leaving one to light the world. Yet the detail of 'nine females' is curious — perhaps distinguishing the docile from the dangerous, or counting only what was safely captured. From Treading to Treading, the pattern is self-referential: peril managed through precise conduct, danger averted but not forgotten. The tiger's tail was touched; the tiger did not bite.
中文注释
履之本卦，象重疊。十日並出，羿射得九，皆取其雌。雖得保全，驚而未危。此即后羿射日之神話：十烏（十日）同飛，灼燒天下，羿射落其九，留一以照世間。「九雌」之說或為區分柔順與兇猛，或僅記所獲之數。從履至履，自我映照之象：險境以精準之行止化解，危難已過然餘悸猶在。虎尾已踩，虎未噬人——此即履卦「履虎尾，不咥人」之本義。
Related Hexagrams
Same upper trigram: Heaven (乾)
Same lower trigram: Lake (兌)