Pushing Upward
- In Chinese
- 升 shēng
- Above
- The Receptive, earth
- Below
- The Gentle, wind
Did you get this hexagram?
Mark your changing lines and keep your cast.
Mark my castWhat hexagram 46 means
Hexagram 46 is about rising. Legge says its name “is used of advancing in an upward direction”, and its picture is wood growing inside the earth.
The judgment is favorable. In Legge it speaks of “great progress and success”, and it says that the one who seeks the great man “need have no anxiety”.
The rise is made of small things. The image shows a person who attends to his virtue and “accumulates the small developments of it till it is high and great”.
Two whole lines stand in the second and third places. The other four lines are broken. The lower trigram is Xun and the upper trigram is Kun, the earth.
The judgment and the image
The judgment
升元亨。用見大人，勿恤。南征吉。
PUSHING UPWARD has supreme success. One must see the great man. Fear not. Departure toward the south Brings good fortune.
success things flow and come throughgood fortune it goes well
The image
地中生木，升。君子以順德，積小以高大。
Within the earth, wood grows: The image of PUSHING UPWARD. Thus the superior man of devoted character Heaps up small things In order to achieve something high and great.
What the commentaries say
The commentary on the judgment names what makes the rise possible. It opens with a weak line that rises “as it finds the opportunity”. Then it finds here “(the attribute) of flexibility and that of obedience”, together with a strong line below and “its proper correlate above”.
The same commentary takes the two promises of the judgment in turn. Of meeting the great man it says “there will be ground for congratulation”, and of the advance to the south it says “his aim will be carried out”.
The image is wood growing within the earth. From it the commentary draws a rule for a person, who “pays careful attention to his virtue”.
Wilhelm gives the same rule in other words. The superior man “Heaps up small things In order to achieve something high and great”.
Legge reads the hexagram as a career. For him it “denotes the advance of a good officer to the highest pinnacle of distinction”, and that officer has both “the qualities that fit him to advance, and a favourable opportunity to do so”.
Legge also explains the south of the judgment. He calls it “the region of brightness and warmth; advance towards it will be a joyful progress”, and he reports critics for whom the phrase means simply “advancing forwards”.
The six lines
First line
允升，大吉。
Pushing upward that meets with confidence Brings great good fortune.
great good fortune it goes very well
The rise begins at the bottom, and it is welcomed. The commentary says that those of the upper trigram “are of the same mind with him”. Legge reads the broken line as a person who is “humble and docile”, and this is the one line whose text speaks of great good fortune.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 11, Peace
Second line
孚乃利用禴，无咎。
If one is sincere, It furthers one to bring even a small offering. No blame.
it furthers it is favorableno blame there is no mistake in it
This line is about sincerity, and the text finds no error in it. It is a sincerity that makes “even the (small) offerings of the vernal sacrifice acceptable”. Legge takes this line as the representative of the subject of the hexagram and says it shows him “to be possessed of modesty and force”. He pictures “a strong officer serving a weak ruler” and says he could not do so without “a sincere and devoted loyalty”. The commentary adds that this sincerity “affords occasion for joy”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 15, Modesty
Third line
升虛邑。
One pushes upward into an empty city.
no verdict
The subject of this line rises “(as into) an empty city”, and the commentary says “he has no doubt or hesitation”. The text gives this line no word of fortune or of error. Wilhelm has “One pushes upward into an empty city.” Legge sees in the line “the boldness and fearlessness of the advance”. He sides with the editors who find in it “a shade of condemnation”, and he adds “Its subject is too bold.”
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 7, The Army
Fourth line
王用亨于岐山，吉，无咎。
The king offers him Mount Ch’i. Good fortune. No blame.
success things flow and come throughgood fortune it goes wellno blame there is no mistake in it
The subject of this line is employed by the king to present his offerings on a mountain, and the text adds good fortune and no mistake. Legge reads the fourth place as that “of a great minister, in immediate contiguity to his ruler, who confides in him”. He notes that the mention of the mountain seems to take the line “out of the sphere of symbolism into that of history”. Wilhelm words the line another way, “The king offers him Mount Ch’i.”
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 32, Duration
Fifth line
貞吉，升階。
Perseverance brings good fortune. One pushes upward by steps.
good fortune it goes well
Here the rise is at its height. Legge writes that “the advance has reached the highest point of dignity, and firm correctness is specially called for”. The line climbs a stair, and the commentary says “he grandly succeeds in his aim”. Wilhelm has “One pushes upward by steps.” Legge gives two readings of the stair. It may intimate “the ease of the advance” or “its ceremonious manner”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 48, The Well
Sixth line
冥升，利于不息之貞。
Pushing upward in darkness. It furthers one To be unremittingly persevering.
it furthers it is favorable
The top line goes on rising without seeing. Legge asks “What can the subject of the hexagram want more?” and calls the advance “blind and foolish”. The commentary warns that “there is decay in store for him, and he will not (preserve) his riches”, and the text finds advantage only in “a ceaseless maintenance of firm correctness”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 18, Repairing What Was Spoiled
Hexagram 46 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 46 unchanging, what remains is the judgment, which speaks of progress and tells its subject not to be anxious, and the image that builds something high and great out of small things.
Questions people ask
What does hexagram 46 mean?
It describes a rise from below that is welcomed and that succeeds. The judgment speaks of “great progress and success”, and the image builds that rise out of small things.
What does hexagram 46 unchanging mean?
With no moving lines you read only the judgment and the image. For hexagram 46 that is progress without anxiety, and the rule of the one who “Heaps up small things In order to achieve something high and great”.
What does hexagram 46 changing to 11 mean?
It is hexagram 46 with its first line moving. That line shows an advance made “with the welcome (of those above him)”, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 11.
What does hexagram 46 changing to 18 mean?
It is hexagram 46 with its top line moving. That line shows its subject “advancing upwards blindly” and asks for firm correctness without pause. When it changes the hexagram becomes number 18.
What does the advance to the south mean in hexagram 46?
The judgment says “Advance to the south will be fortunate.” Legge explains that the south is “the region of brightness and warmth”, and the commentary on the judgment reads the phrase as an aim that is carried out.
Richard Wilhelm, translated by Cary F. Baynes. Shăng in James Legge. Pushing Upward in Wilhelm and Baynes.
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