Sheng · Pushing Upward

The meaning

What the name means Sheng is rising, step by step.

The picture A tree growing up out of the earth, slowly getting taller.

The sense of the whole The whole hexagram is about rising steadily. Do not hurry and do not jump; grow a little each day. When the direction is right, the accumulation becomes height.

In plain words: what this hexagram says

Rising step by step, like a tree out of the ground. Go with people and events and build small into large; there is no need to leap.

The upper trigram is Earth and the lower is Wind: Earth above, Wind 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，用見大人，勿恤，南征吉。

The image

地中生木，升；君子以順德，積小以高大。

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. 初六允升，大吉。
2. 九二孚乃利用禴，無咎。
3. 九三升虛邑。
4. 六四王用亨於岐山，吉無咎。
5. 六五貞吉，升階。
6. 上六冥升，利於不息之貞。

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