Contemplation
- In Chinese
- 觀 guān
- Above
- The Gentle, wind
- Below
- The Receptive, earth
Did you get this hexagram?
Mark your changing lines and keep your cast.
Mark my castWhat hexagram 20 means
Hexagram 20 is about looking and being looked at. Wind moves over the earth, and two whole lines stand above four broken ones.
Legge explains that the name carries two senses. In some places “it denotes showing, manifesting”, and in all the others “it denotes contemplating, looking at”.
The judgment shows a worshipper who has washed his hands and has not yet presented his offerings. In Legge he stands “with sincerity and an appearance of dignity (commanding reverent regard)”.
The judgment and the image
The judgment
觀盥而不薦。有孚顒若。
CONTEMPLATION. The ablution has been made, But not yet the offering. Full of trust they look up to him.
no verdict
The image
風行地上，《觀》。先王以省方觀民設教。
The wind blows over the earth: The image of CONTEMPLATION. Thus the kings of old visited the regions of the world, Contemplated the people, And gave them instruction.
What the commentaries say
The commentary on the judgment begins with the shape of the figure. “The great Manifester occupies an upper place (in the figure)”, above trigrams whose attributes are “docility and flexibility”. From his central and correct place he “exhibits (his lessons) to all under heaven”.
The same commentary says what the sight of such a person does to others. In its words “(all) beneath look to him and are transformed”.
It then takes heaven as the model. When we contemplate its way, “we see how the four seasons proceed without error”, and the sages laid down their instructions in accordance with that way.
The image is wind moving above the earth. From it the commentary draws the conduct of the ancient kings, who “examined the (different) regions (of the kingdom), to see the (ways of the) people, and set forth their instructions”. In Wilhelm the kings of old “visited the regions of the world, Contemplated the people, And gave them instruction”.
Legge names the subject of the hexagram. It is “the sovereign and his subjects, how he manifests himself to them, and how they contemplate him”. The two whole lines at the top belong to the sovereign, and the four broken lines below are those who look up at him. Legge adds that this “is the hexagram of the eighth month”.
He also explains the worshipper of the judgment. The sovereign is pictured as a worshipper “when he is most solemn in his religious service, at the commencement of it”.
The six lines
First line
童觀，小人无咎，君子吝。
Boylike contemplation. For an inferior man, no blame. For a superior man, humiliation.
no blame there is no mistake in ithumiliation it leads to embarrassment
The first line looks as a boy looks. Legge calls it “the symbol of a thoughtless lad, who cannot see far, and takes only superficial views”. The text does not blame this in men of inferior rank, but in superior men it is “matter for regret”. The commentary says such looking “indicates the way of the inferior people”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 42, Increase
Second line
闚觀，利女貞。
Contemplation through the crack of the door. Furthering for the perseverance of a woman.
it furthers it is favorable
The second line looks from behind a door. The text shows “one peeping out from a door”, and Legge's note pictures a woman living retired who can only peep at the subject of the fifth line. The text finds advantage only if this were “(merely) the firm correctness of a female”. The commentary calls such a view “also a thing to be ashamed of (in a superior man)”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 59, Dispersion
Third line
觀我生進退。
Contemplation of my life Decides the choice Between advance and retreat.
no verdict
Here the look turns to oneself. The subject looks at the course of his own life “to advance or recede (accordingly)”. The commentary approves, since “he will not err in the path (to be pursued)”. Legge reads a subject “of the utmost docility”, who will wish to act “only according to the exigency of time and circumstances”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 53, Development
Fourth line
觀國之光，利用賓于王。
Contemplation of the light of the kingdom. It furthers one to exert influence as the guest of a king.
it furthers it is favorable
The fourth line stands right below the fifth, which represents the sovereign. Its subject is “contemplating the glory of the kingdom”, and the text finds advantage in seeking to be a guest of the king. Legge says this subject is “moved accordingly, and stirred to ambition”. The commentary says that from this sight “arises the wish to be a guest (at court)”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 12, Standstill
Fifth line
觀我生，君子无咎。
Contemplation of my life. The superior man is without blame.
no blame there is no mistake in it
The fifth line is whole and holds the place of the ruler. He contemplates his own life, and the text says he falls into no error. Legge notes that being a superior man “does not relieve him from the duty of self-contemplation or examination”. The commentary says where he looks to do it. He “should (for this purpose) contemplate (the condition of) the people”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 23, Splitting Apart
Sixth line
觀其生，君子无咎。
Contemplation of his life. The superior man is without blame.
no blame there is no mistake in it
The top line is also whole. Its subject examines his character “to see if it be indeed that of a superior man”, and the text says he “will not fall into error”. Legge places him outside the work of the hexagram, yet “still possessed by the spirit of its idea”. The commentary adds that “he cannot even yet let his mind be at rest”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 8, Holding Together
Hexagram 20 unchanging
If none of your six lines is moving, you read the hexagram as a whole. That is the judgment and the image above, without any of the line texts.
The book gives the reason. Lines that do not move are “non-moving lines, which serve only as structural matter in the hexagram, without intrinsic meaning of their own”.
For hexagram 20 unchanging, what remains is the worshipper of the judgment, sincere and dignified between the washing and the offering, and the image of kings who go to see the people and then set forth their instructions.
Questions people ask
What does hexagram 20 mean?
It is about looking and being seen. The judgment shows a worshipper “with sincerity and an appearance of dignity (commanding reverent regard)”, and the commentary says that those beneath “look to him and are transformed”.
What does hexagram 20 unchanging mean?
With no moving lines you read only the judgment and the image. For hexagram 20 that is the worshipper who has washed his hands and not yet presented his offerings, and the kings who see the people and then instruct them.
What does hexagram 20 changing to 23 mean?
It is hexagram 20 with its fifth line moving. That line shows a ruler “contemplating his own life(-course)”, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 23.
What does hexagram 20 changing to 12 mean?
It is hexagram 20 with its fourth line moving. That line shows one “contemplating the glory of the kingdom”, with advantage in seeking to be a guest of the king, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 12.
Richard Wilhelm, translated by Cary F. Baynes. Kwân in James Legge. Contemplation in Wilhelm and Baynes.
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