Six Doors · No. 15

第15卦谦 Qiān · Modesty

Essence: The mountain sits below the earth; lowness prevails.

Judgment

Modesty is the one strategy blessed from start to finish here: the mountain that sits below the earth ends up unobstructed everywhere. Leveling what towers and topping up what lacks is how heaven, earth, and people all actually work. This is not a pose—it is the strength that finishes what it starts.

Sixty-four hexagrams, six doors each

Trigrams

Upper

坤 Earth

earth

Lower

艮 Mountain

mountain

III

The lines

Line 1Modesty doubled—unassuming even about being unassuming—is fit to attempt the hardest crossings.
Line 2When humility is real at the core, its reputation grows on its own; you never have to announce it.
Line 3Work hard, claim little: the one with real merit who does not brandish it is carried through to completion.
Line 4Let modesty govern every move—it favors everything—so long as it stays active, not decorative.
Line 5Win your neighbors without riches; and when defiance persists, modesty may strike firmly without losing itself.
Line 6With humility fully voiced, remaining disorder may be disciplined—but only within your own borders.

All the doors

Every single-step transition available from where you stand.

Inverse (綜) · Opposite (錯)

Inverse (綜)

Opposite (錯)

Written on this

Hexagram 15, Qiān (Modesty): The Mountain Beneath the Earth

A close reading of Hexagram 15, Qiān, Modesty: the mountain that sits below the earth, why it holds no unlucky line, its six lines, and how to read it when cast.

6 min read