谦 Modesty
Upper trigram: Earth (the earth) · Lower trigram: Mountain (the mountain)
Humility as power — what is balanced cannot be toppled.
Modern interpretation
The most underrated of all hexagrams: modesty wins everywhere. Credit others, stay low, keep working. The mountain does not boast of its height, yet nothing stands above it. This attitude succeeds in every undertaking.
The Judgment · 卦辞
亨。君子有终。
“Khien indicates progress and success. The superior man, (being humble as it implies), will have a (good) issue (to his undertakings).” — James Legge, The Yî King (1882)
The six lines · 爻辞
Read from the bottom line upward. Each line pairs the received Chinese text with Legge's English translation.
谦谦君子，用涉大川，吉。
“The first line, divided, shows us the superior man who adds humility to humility. (Even) the great stream may be crossed with this, and there will be good fortune.”
鸣谦，贞吉。
“The second line, divided, shows us humility that has made itself recognised. With firm correctness there will be good fortune.”
劳谦君子，有终，吉。
“The third line, undivided, shows the superior man of (acknowledged) merit. He will maintain his success to the end, and have good fortune.”
无不利，捴谦。
“The fourth line, divided, shows one, whose action would be in every way advantageous, stirring up (the more) his humility.”
不富以其邻，利用侵伐，无不利。
“The fifth line, divided, shows one who, without being rich, is able to employ his neighbours. He may advantageously use the force of arms. All his movements will be advantageous.”
鸣谦，利用行师征邑国。
“The sixth line, divided, shows us humility that has made itself recognised. The subject of it will with advantage put his hosts in motion ; but (he will only) punish his own towns and state.”
About changing lines
In a real I Ching reading, hexagrams are built by casting coins or yarrow stalks six times, bottom line first. Some lines come out “old” (unstable) — an old yin or old yang flips into its opposite, producing a second hexagram that shows where the situation is heading. The changing lines are the moving parts of your answer: read their individual line statements above, and they point to the direction of change.
Ask a question and cast the coins — free, with a plain-English interpretation grounded in the classical text.
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