1 乾 Qián Heaven

This site's reading

卦辭 The Judgment is four characters, 元亨利貞: a great beginning, a getting-through, a benefit, and holding firm. Their oldest sense is a formula of the divination itself, four marks that say the undertaking is sound. Either way the counsel sits in the fourth word: the strength of this figure is kept by staying correct, not by pressing harder.

彖 The commentary widens it to the sky. Everything takes its start from this force; the sun's course sets the six positions in their times; and change here means each thing finding its own nature. The phrase to keep is 保合太和, harmony kept whole: power that preserves balance rather than overruns it.

大象 The Image is the line everyone knows: heaven moves without stopping, and the noble person, in the same way, keeps strengthening themselves without rest, 自強不息. It describes steadiness, not haste.

爻 The six lines follow a dragon upward: hidden and not yet to be used; appearing in the field; working all day and watchful at night; leaping, or staying in the deep; flying in the sky; and at last too high, with regret. Read your line as a stage on that climb; the sixth says what lies past the top. When all six change, the text adds that a flight of dragons with no head is good: strength with no one claiming to lead it.

Written from the text above and checked against it by Lun (2026-10-24). It is a way of reading the hexagram, not a prediction.

The text, with Legge

Judgment 卦辭

The six lines

1. Line 1 初九

   潛龍勿用。

   qián lóng wù yòng.

   In the first (or lowest) line, undivided, (we see its subject as) the dragon lying hid (in the deep). It is not the time for active doing. (Legge, 1882)

   The Image 小象

   潛龍勿用，陽在下也。

   qián lóng wù yòng, yáng zài xià yě.

   Changing, this line leads to 44 姤 Gòu.

2. Line 2 九二

   見龍在田，利見大人。

   xiàn lóng zài tián, lì jiàn dà rén.

   In the second line, undivided, (we see its subject as) the dragon appearing in the field. It will be advantageous to meet with the great man. (Legge, 1882)

   The Image 小象

   見龍在田，德施普也。

   xiàn lóng zài tián, dé shī pǔ yě.

   Changing, this line leads to 13 同人 Tóng Rén.

3. Line 3 九三

   君子終日乾乾，夕惕若；厲，无咎。

   jūn zǐ zhōng rì qián qián, xī tì ruò; lì, wú jiù.

   In the third line, undivided, (we see its subject as) the superior man active and vigilant all the day, and in the evening still careful and apprehensive. (The position is) dangerous, but there will be no mistake. (Legge, 1882)

   The Image 小象

   終日乾乾，反復道也。

   zhōng rì qián qián, fǎn fù dào yě.

   Changing, this line leads to 10 履 Lǚ.

4. Line 4 九四

   或躍在淵，无咎。

   huò yuè zài yuān, wú jiù.

   In the fourth line, undivided, (we see its subject as the dragon looking) as if he were leaping up, but still in the deep. There will be no mistake. (Legge, 1882)

   The Image 小象

   或躍在淵，進无咎也。

   huò yuè zài yuān, jìn wú jiù yě.

   Changing, this line leads to 9 小畜 Xiǎo Chù.

5. Line 5 九五

   飛龍在天，利見大人。

   fēi lóng zài tiān, lì jiàn dà rén.

   In the fifth line, undivided, (we see its subject as) the dragon on the wing in the sky. It will be advantageous to meet with the great man. (Legge, 1882)

   The Image 小象

   飛龍在天，大人造也。

   fēi lóng zài tiān, dà rén zào yě.

   Changing, this line leads to 14 大有 Dà Yǒu.

6. Line 6 上九

   亢龍，有悔。

   kàng lóng, yǒu huǐ.

   In the sixth (or topmost) line, undivided, (we see its subject as) the dragon exceeding the proper limits. There will be occasion for repentance. (Legge, 1882)

   The Image 小象

   亢龍有悔，盈不可久也。

   kàng lóng yǒu huǐ, yíng bù kě jiǔ yě.

   Changing, this line leads to 43 夬 Guài.

7. All lines 用九

   見羣龍无首，吉。

   jiàn qún lóng wú shǒu, jí.

   (The lines of this hexagram are all strong and undivided, as appears from) the use of the number nine. If the host of dragons (thus) appearing were to divest themselves of their heads, there would be good fortune. (Legge, 1882)

   The Image 小象

   用九，天德不可為首也。

   yòng jiǔ, tiān dé bù kě wèi shǒu yě.

Words that came from it

Phrases a billion people use today began as clauses of this hexagram.

自強不息 zì qiáng bù xī

to keep strengthening oneself without rest. The motto of Tsinghua University and of a thousand school walls; the first half of the pair every Chinese schoolchild knows. From the Image 大象: 自強不息.

潛龍勿用 qián lóng wù yòng

the hidden dragon: do not act yet. Said of talent that is not yet its time; a stock phrase for lying low. From line 1: 潛龍勿用.

飛龍在天 fēi lóng zài tiān

the dragon flying in the sky. The peak of a career or a reign; a name for the emperor's position. From line 5: 飛龍在天.

亢龍有悔 kàng lóng yǒu huǐ

the dragon that flies too high will regret it. A warning against overreach; a martial-arts move in Jin Yong's novels. From line 6: 亢龍，有悔.

群龍無首 qún lóng wú shǒu

a crowd of dragons with no head. Today it means a leaderless rabble; in the text the headless dragons are a good sign. From the line for all six: 見羣龍无首，吉.

In history

The 左傳 and 國語, the chronicles of the sixth to fifth centuries BC, record real casts of the Changes and what came of them. One of them gave this hexagram.

The chronicles' diviners read from oracle texts of their own time; where their words match our clause text the note says so, and where they do not, it says that. None of this is a claim that the text foretold the event.

In the calendar

In the Han dynasty's 卦氣 tradition, which lays the hexagrams over the year, 乾 is one of the twelve sovereign hexagrams 消息卦: it governs the month that begins at 小滿, grain full, and runs until 夏至 (summer solstice), the fourth month of the traditional year, the month of 巳. All six lines yang; the height of light.

The calendar is a later tradition about the hexagrams, not part of the text above.

Related hexagrams

• 2 坤 Kūn, Earth its pair in the King Wen sequence
• 1 乾 Qián, Heaven its nuclear hexagram 互卦, lines 2 to 4 under 3 to 5
• 2 坤 Kūn, Earth its opposite 錯卦, every line flipped
• 1 乾 Qián, Heaven its inverse 綜卦, the figure turned upside down

Where the name comes from

Legge's note (1882)

Legge's title for the hexagram: .

The Text under each hexagram consists of one paragraph by king Wăn, explaining the figure as a whole, and of six (in the case of hexagrams 1 and 2, of seven) paragraphs by the duke of Kâu, explaining the individual lines. The explanatory notices introduced above to this effect will not be repeated. A double space will be used to mark off the portion of king Wăn from that of his son. Each hexagram consists of two of the trigrams of Fû-hsî, the lower being called ‘the inner,’ and the one above ‘the outer.’ The lines, however, are numbered from one to six, commencing with the lowest. To denote the number of it and of the sixth line, the terms for ‘commencing’ and ‘topmost’ are used. The intermediate lines are simply ‘second,’ ‘third,’ &c. As the lines must be either whole or divided, technically called strong and weak, yang and yin, this distinction is indicated by the application to them of the numbers nine and six. All whole lines are nine, all divided lines, six. Two explanations have been proposed of this application of these numbers. The Khien trigram, it is said, contains 3 strokes (==>), and the Khwăn 6 (== =). But the yang contains the yin in itself, and its representative number will be 3+6=9, while the yin, not containing the yang, will only have its own number or 6. This explanation, entirely arbitrary, is now deservedly abandoned. The other is based on the use of the ‘four Hsiang,’ or emblematic figures (the great or old yang, === the young yang, == == the old yin, and === the young yin). To these are assigned (by what process is unimportant for our present purpose) the numbers 9, 8, 7, 6. They were ‘the old yang,’ represented by 9, and ‘the old yin,’ represented by 6, that, in the manipulation of the stalks to form new diagrams, determined the changes of figure; and so 9 and 6 came to be used as the names of a yang line and a yin line respectively. This explanation is now universally acquiesced in. The nomenclature of first nine, nine two, &c., or first six, six two, &c., however, is merely a jargon; and I have preferred to use, instead of it, in the translation, in order to describe the lines, the names ‘undivided’ and ‘divided.’ I. Does king Wăn ascribe four attributes here to Khien, or only two? According to Appendix IV, always by Chinese writers assigned to Confucius, he assigns four, corresponding to the principles of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and knowledge in man’s nature. Kû Hsî held that he assigned only two, and that we should translate, ‘greatly penetrating,’ and ‘requires to be correct and firm,’ two responses in divination. Up and down throughout the Text of the 64 hexagrams, we often find the characters thus coupled together. Both interpretations are possible. I have followed what is accepted as the view of Confucius. It would take pages to give a tithe of what has been written in justification of it, and to reconcile it with the other. ‘The dragon’ is the symbol employed by the duke of Kâu to represent ‘the superior man’ and especially ‘the great man,’ exhibiting the virtues or attributes characteristic of heaven. The creature’s proper home is in the water, but it can disport itself on the land, and also fly and soar aloft. It has been from the earliest time the emblem with the Chinese of the highest dignity and wisdom, of sovereignty and sagehood, the combination of which constitutes ‘the great man.’ One emblem runs through the lines of many of the hexagrams as here. But the dragon appears in the sixth line as going beyond the proper limits. The ruling-sage has gone through all the sphere in which he is called on to display his attributes; it is time for him to relax. The line should not be always pulled tight; the bow should not be always kept drawn. The unchanging use of force will give occasion for repentance. The moral meaning found in the line is that ‘the high shall be abased.’ The meaning given to the supernumerary paragraph is the opposite of that of paragraph 6. The ‘host of dragons without their heads’ would give us the next hexagram, or Khwăn, made up of six divided lines. Force would have given place to submission, and haughtiness to humility; and the result would be good fortune. Such at least is the interpretation of the paragraph given in a narrative of the Ȝo-Kwan under B.C. 513. For further explanation of the duke of Kâu’s meaning, see Appendixes II and IV.

Sources

• Chinese text: 周易, 維基文庫, page (revision 2404991); the text is public domain, the site's edits CC BY-SA 4.0.
• English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI, Oxford 1882 (public domain), where this hexagram is “Khien”.
• Glyph images: 小學堂 字形演變, Academia Sinica (CC0 1.0).
• Pinyin: Unihan (Unicode License v3) with this site's readings for the classical cases. English gloss, relations, the idiom glosses, the English of the chronicle passages and the plain reading: this site.