Waiting
- In Chinese
- 需 xū
- Above
- The Abysmal, water
- Below
- The Creative, heaven
Did you get this hexagram?
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Mark my castWhat hexagram 5 means
Hexagram 5 is about waiting. Water lies above and heaven below. The commentary says the figure “shows peril in front” and credits the inner trigram with firmness and strength.
Legge states the lesson plainly. Strength that meets peril might be expected to advance at once, “but it takes the wiser plan of waiting till success is sure”.
The judgment is favorable. It asks for sincerity and firmness, and it says “it will be advantageous to cross the great stream”.
The judgment and the image
The judgment
需有孚，光亨。貞吉。利涉大川。
WAITING. If you are sincere, You have light and success. Perseverance brings good fortune. It furthers one to cross the great water.
success things flow and come throughgood fortune it goes wellit furthers it is favorable
The image
雲上於天，《需》。君子以飲食宴樂。
Clouds rise up to heaven: The image of WAITING. Thus the superior man eats and drinks, Is joyous and of good cheer.
What the commentaries say
The commentary on the judgment opens with a definition, “Hsü denotes waiting”. It then says why waiting is right here. The figure “shows peril in front”, and its subject “does not allow himself to be involved”.
The same commentary ties the success and the good fortune to the fifth line, which stands “in the place assigned by Heaven”. It also says what crossing the stream comes to. In its words “going forward will be followed by meritorious achievement”.
The image is clouds rising over the sky. The commentary draws a rule from it. The superior man “eats and drinks, feasts and enjoys himself (as if there were nothing else to employ him)”.
Wilhelm gives the same picture in fewer words. The superior man eats and drinks and “Is joyous and of good cheer”.
Legge considers what the great stream is. The phrase “may mean undertaking hazardous enterprises, or encountering great difficulties, without any special reference”. He finds it more natural to think of the Yellow river and of a crossing that “was certainly one of the greatest deeds in the history of China”. That crossing, he adds, also came after long waiting.
Legge also explains where the sincerity of the judgment comes from. It “is proved from the fifth line in the position of honour and authority”. In such a case, he writes, “nothing but firm correctness is necessary to great success”.
The six lines
First line
需于郊，利用恆，无咎。
Waiting in the meadow. It furthers one to abide in what endures. No blame.
it furthers it is favorableno blame there is no mistake in it
The first line waits in the distant border. Legge pictures the subject “at work in his distant fields, not thinking of anything but his daily work”. The commentary adds that “he makes no movement to encounter rashly the difficulties (of the situation)”. The text finds no error in keeping to that.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 48, The Well
Second line
需于沙，小有言，終吉。
Waiting on the sand. There is some gossip. The end brings good fortune.
good fortune it goes well
The second line waits on the sand. Legge notes that it “suggests a nearer approach to the defile, but its subject is still self-restrained and waiting”. He is spoken against, which Wilhelm renders as “some gossip”, and the line still ends in good fortune. The commentary credits “a generous forbearance”. Legge admits he does not see what suggests the idea of being spoken against.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 63, After Completion
Third line
需于泥，致寇至。
Waiting in the mud Brings about the arrival of the enemy.
no verdict
Now the subject stands in the mud, on the brink of the stream. The line names no good fortune. Legge explains that “His advance to that position has provoked resistance, which may result in his injury”. The commentary leaves a way through, since “if he be reverent and careful, he will not be worsted”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 60, Limitation
Fourth line
需于血，出自穴。
Waiting in blood. Get out of the pit.
no verdict
This is the first broken line, and with it the waiting passes into the upper trigram. Legge says it has “entered on the scene of danger and strife”. Its subject is weak but in the correct place, and so he “retreats and escapes from the cavern”. The commentary says “he accommodates himself (to the circumstances of the time)”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 43, Breakthrough
Fifth line
需于酒食，貞吉。
Waiting at meat and drink. Perseverance brings good fortune.
good fortune it goes well
The fifth line waits at a feast. Legge calls it “strong and central, and in its correct place, being that of honour”. The text gives good fortune through firmness and correctness, and the commentary on the line traces both the feast and the good fortune to “the central and correct place”. Legge says of its subject that he “has triumphed, and with firmness will triumph still more”. The commentary on the judgment points to this same line when it explains the success of the whole hexagram.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 11, Peace
Sixth line
入于穴，有不速之客三人來，敬之終吉。
One falls into the pit. Three uninvited guests arrive. Honor them, and in the end there will be good fortune.
good fortune it goes well
The top line is broken and has gone into the cavern. Legge asks “What will become of its subject?” The answer is help that was not asked for. Three guests come, and “If they are respectfully received, that help will prove effectual”. Legge reads them as the strong third line, which “comes with its two companions to his help”. The commentary admits that “the occupant and the place are not suited to each other”, and still finds “no great failure”. Legge mentions a reading that sees three princes in the guests, and answers “I dare not be so confident of any historical reference”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 9, Small Taming
Hexagram 5 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 5 unchanging, what remains is the judgment, which joins sincerity and firmness to good fortune and favors crossing the great stream. With it comes the image of clouds over the sky, where the superior man eats and drinks in good cheer.
Questions people ask
What does hexagram 5 mean?
It means waiting in the face of danger, with sincerity and firmness. Legge puts the lesson as “the wiser plan of waiting till success is sure”, and the judgment says “it will be advantageous to cross the great stream”.
What does hexagram 5 unchanging mean?
With no moving lines you read only the judgment and the image. For hexagram 5 that is sincerity and firmness joined to good fortune, the advantage of crossing the great stream, and the superior man who eats and drinks under the rising clouds.
What does hexagram 5 changing to 63 mean?
It is hexagram 5 with its second line moving. That line shows its subject “waiting on the sand”, spoken against in a small way, and the text says that “in the end there will be good fortune”. When it changes the hexagram becomes number 63.
What does hexagram 5 changing to 11 mean?
It is hexagram 5 with its fifth line moving. That line shows its subject “waiting amidst the appliances of a feast”, with good fortune through firmness and correctness. When it changes the hexagram becomes number 11.
Is hexagram 5 a good sign?
The text is favorable. The judgment speaks of “brilliant success” and of good fortune. The second, fifth and top lines end in good fortune, and the first is without error. The third and fourth lines name no good fortune.
Richard Wilhelm, translated by Cary F. Baynes. Hsü in James Legge. Waiting in Wilhelm and Baynes.
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