Guan · Contemplation

The meaning

What the name means Guan is looking, and being looked at: see clearly before you move.

The picture Wind over the earth, blowing across every place, like an inspection and also like an example.

The sense of the whole The whole hexagram is about looking first and speaking later. Step back, take in the whole, and become someone worth being looked at. Do not hurry to take a side; understand first.

In plain words: what this hexagram says

Step back and see clearly before you speak or act. Look at others, and at yourself.

The upper trigram is Wind and the lower is Earth: Wind 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

盥而不薦，有孚顒若。

The image

風行地上，觀；先王以省方觀民設教。

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. 初六童觀，小人無咎，君子吝。
2. 六二窺觀，利女貞。
3. 六三觀我生，進退。
4. 六四觀國之光，利用賓於王。
5. 九五觀我生，君子無咎。
6. 上九觀其生，君子無咎。

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