易I Ching Notes
46

升

Shēng · Pushing Upward

Rise by accumulation, not by jump.

Read the judgment

Six lines, read from the bottom up.

Upper 坤 Earth · Lower 巽 Wind Tap a line to read it

The judgment

升:元亨,用見大人,勿恤,南征吉。

Pushing upward. Supreme success. It is fit to see a great person; do not worry. Marching south is lucky.

Received text; plain English after the Chinese. Source: 周易經傳 (public-domain). Passage: hex46.judgment.

The image

象曰:地中生木,升。君子以順德,積小以高大。

Wood grows out of the earth: pushing upward. A capable person follows virtue and piles small things into something high.

Received text; plain English after the Chinese. Source: 周易經傳 (public-domain). Passage: hex46.image.

Rise by accumulation, not by jump.

The six lines

Each line is a stage, from the bottom of the hexagram to the top. Open any line to read it in plain English.

初六 允升,大吉。 A trusted rise. Great good fortune: you are lifted because people agree, not because you pushed.

A trusted rise. Great good fortune: you are lifted because people agree, not because you pushed.

九二 孚乃利用禴,無咎。 With sincerity, even a simple offering is enough. No blame.

With sincerity, even a simple offering is enough. No blame.

九三 升虛邑。 Rising into an empty town. The way is open and there is no resistance: do not mistake emptiness for achievement.

Rising into an empty town. The way is open and there is no resistance: do not mistake emptiness for achievement.

六四 王用亨於岐山,吉無咎。 The king offers sacrifice at Mount Qi. Good fortune, no blame: the rise is legitimate and public.

The king offers sacrifice at Mount Qi. Good fortune, no blame: the rise is legitimate and public.

六五 貞吉,升階。 Stay true and it is lucky. Rising step by step: the stairs are the point.

Stay true and it is lucky. Rising step by step: the stairs are the point.

上六 冥升,利於不息之貞。 Rising in the dark. It is favorable only for unceasing constancy: keep climbing without seeing, and do not pretend you can see.

Rising in the dark. It is favorable only for unceasing constancy: keep climbing without seeing, and do not pretend you can see.

Cast six lines

Hold one question in mind. Throw three coins, six times, from the bottom line up.