Upper Trigram
巽 Xùn
Wind — Gentle
Lower Trigram
坤 Kūn
Earth — Receptive
Classical Texts
The Judgment
The ablution has been made, but not yet the offering. They look up with full trust. The ritual has begun—the sacred moment before the central act. Genuine inner preparation creates the reverence others feel.
The Lines
Line 1
Childish contemplation. For the small person, no blame. For the person of stature, humiliation. Surface seeing works for those who can't do better. For those who should see deeply, superficiality is shameful.
Line 2
Peeping out through the door crack. Furthers the perseverance of a woman. Limited view from a protected position. Acceptable for those in restricted circumstances; inadequate for those who should see broadly.
Line 3
Contemplating my own life, deciding whether to advance or retreat. Self-examination to determine next action—watching yourself as the ground for choice.
Line 4
Contemplating the light of the kingdom. Furthers one to be a guest of the king. Seeing the order clearly enables participation at the highest level. Observation precedes contribution.
Line 5
Contemplating my own life. The person of moral stature remains without blame. Examining your own impact—your effect on others—the mature form of self-knowledge.
Line 6
Contemplating his life. The person of moral stature remains without blame. Observing life itself—existence as such—the sage's perspective. Beyond personal impact to universal pattern.
Yilin: Forest of Changes
From Jiao Yanshou's Forest of Changes (焦氏易林) — the verse for Hexagram 20 in its unchanging form. A Han dynasty collection of four-character verses interpreting every hexagram transformation.
歷山之下，虞舜所處，躬耕致孝，名聞四海。為堯所薦，纘位天子。
Below Mount Li, where Shun of Yu once dwelt; he plowed the land himself in filial devotion, and his name was heard across the four seas. Recommended by Yao, he succeeded to the throne of the Son of Heaven.
Read full commentary ↓
Wind over earth, doubled: Contemplation gazing upon itself. Beneath Mount Li, Shun the humble farmer tills the soil and practices supreme filial piety. His renown spreads across the four seas despite his lowly station. Emperor Yao hears of him, recommends him, and Shun ascends to the throne of the Son of Heaven. According to tradition, Shun's father Gu Sou was blind and cruel, his stepmother malicious, yet Shun served them without resentment until his virtue became impossible to conceal. From Contemplation to Contemplation, the pattern is self-referential: the observer becomes the observed. Shun's quiet cultivation at Li was itself a form of contemplation that drew heaven's gaze downward, transforming the watcher into the watched, the farmer into the sovereign.
中文注释
風行地上，觀之重卦，觀觀自身。歷山之下，虞舜躬耕而致孝。父頑母嚚弟傲，然舜事之無怨，名聞四海。為堯所識薦，終纘天子之位。據《史記·五帝本紀》，舜耕於歷山，鄰人感其德而讓畔。從觀至觀，自我映照之卦象：觀者成為被觀者。舜之躬耕致孝本身即是一種觀照，其德行引天目下視，使農夫化為天子，使被省察者成為省察萬方之人。
Related Hexagrams
Same upper trigram: Wind (巽)
Same lower trigram: Earth (坤)