Kun · The Receptive

The meaning

What the name means Kun is the earth, and yielding: it carries everything and does not push to the front.

The picture Earth over earth, wide and thick, with no edge, able to hold anything.

The sense of the whole The whole hexagram is about carrying and following. Do not race to lead; lower yourself, take the matter in and hold it steady. Going with the grain takes you further than pushing, as long as you have looked at what you are following.

In plain words: what this hexagram says

Like the earth, it carries. Do not race ahead or grab the road; take things in with patience and softness and you go further.

The upper trigram is Earth and the lower is Earth: Earth above, Earth below. When you read it, first picture the two together as a scene, then set it against the original below. The plain words speak only of stance and do not foretell.

The judgement

元亨，利牝馬之貞。君子有攸往，先迷後得主，利西南得朋，東北喪朋。安貞吉。

The image

地勢坤，君子以厚德載物。

The six lines

From the bottom up, the first line is the lowest. When you cast this hexagram and a line is changing, read the matching one. The original is classical Chinese.

1. 初六履霜，堅冰至。
2. 六二直方大，不習無不利。
3. 六三含章可貞。或從王事，無成有終。
4. 六四括囊，無咎無譽。
5. 六五黃裳，元吉。
6. 上六龍戰於野，其血玄黃。
7. 用六利永貞。

To learn how to read a hexagram, see "How to read a hexagram"; for changing lines, see "Changing lines and the resulting hexagram".