Six Doors · No. 5

第5卦需 Xū · Waiting

Essence: The rain will come; wait nourished and unhurried.

Judgment

What you are waiting for will arrive on its own schedule. The work now is confident waiting—no forcing, no fretting; eat well, rest, keep your strength up. Held with inner certainty, this pause is what makes the big crossing possible later.

Sixty-four hexagrams, six doors each

Trigrams

Upper

坎 Water

water

Lower

乾 Heaven

heaven

III

The lines

Line 1The trouble is still far off; stay in open, ordinary ground and do not drift toward it.
Line 2Closer now, you attract some talk; let it pass unanswered and it ends well.
Line 3Waiting in the mud invites the attack itself; you put yourself here, so stay doubly alert.
Line 4In the pit and bleeding, do not thrash—compose yourself and climb out the way circumstances allow.
Line 5Waiting done well looks like a good meal: replenish yourself in the lull, and fortune follows.
Line 6Three uninvited guests arrive at the low point; receive them with respect, and the ending turns in your favor.

All the doors

Every single-step transition available from where you stand.

Inverse (綜) · Opposite (錯)

Inverse (綜)

Opposite (錯)

Written on this

Hexagram 5, Xu (Waiting): How to Read the Sign of the Unfallen Rain

A close reading of Hexagram 5, Xu, Waiting: water above heaven, the certainty its judgment demands, the six lines from field to pit, and how to read it when cast.

5 min read