The 64 hexagrams · Hexagram 7

What does I Ching hexagram 7, The Army, mean?

The judgment

師：貞丈人吉，无咎。The army: holding firm under a seasoned leader brings good fortune, with no blame.Zhou Yi 周易, 師, judgment. Source

The image

地中有水，師；君子以容民畜衆。Water within the earth. The noble person makes room for people and looks after the many.Zhou Yi 周易, 師, image. Source

The six lines

Read from the bottom up. In a cast, only the lines that move are read, and they turn the hexagram into another one. Here they are in the original; a reading translates the moving lines and reads them for the question asked.

1. First line初六：師出以律，否臧，凶。
2. Second line九二：在師中吉，无咎；王三錫命。
3. Third line六三：師或輿尸，凶。
4. Fourth line六四：師左次，无咎。
5. Fifth line六五：田有禽，利執言，无咎。長子帥師，弟子輿尸，貞凶。
6. Top line上六：大君有命，開國承家，小人勿用。

The Chinese is the received text of the Zhou Yi; the English is ours. Lines and images that speak of punishments, prisons, illness or money are left out. For entertainment and self-reflection.

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