观 Contemplation
Upper trigram: Wind (wind) · Lower trigram: Earth (the earth)
Observation before action — see the pattern clearly.
Modern interpretation
Do not act yet — watch. Study the situation from above, the way one observes a ritual, until the pattern reveals itself. Understanding now prevents mistakes later. Let insight ripen; the right move will become obvious.
The Judgment · 卦辞
盥而不荐。有孚颙若。
“Kwan shows (how he whom it represents should be like) the worshipper who has washed his hands, but not (yet) presented his offerings ;---with sincerity and an appearance of dignity (commanding reverent regard).” — 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.
童观，小人无咎，君子吝。
“The first line, divided, shows the looking of a lad ; not blamable in men of inferior rank, but matter for regret in superior men.”
窥观，利女贞。
“The second line, divided, shows one peeping out from a door. It would be advantageous if it were (merely) the firm correctness of a female.”
观我生，进退。
“The third line, divided, shows one looking at (the course of) his own life, to advance or recede (accordingly).”
观国之光，利用宾于王。
“The fourth line, divided, shows one contemplating the glory of the kingdom. It will be advantageous for him, being such as he is, (to seek) to be a guest of the king.”
观我生，君子无咎。
“The fifth line, undivided, shows its subject contemplating his own life(-course). A superior man, he will (thus) fall into no error.”
观其生，君子无咎。
“The sixth line, undivided, shows its subject contemplating his character to see if it be indeed that of a superior man. He will not fall into error.”
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.
Start free reading