Upper trigram
☰
Heaven (Qian) above
Creative force.
FamilyFather
ElementMetal
Hexagram 10 of 64
I Ching hexagram 10 ☰☱ Treading
I Ching hexagram 10, Treading, is heaven above, lake below. In brief: careful conduct in a dangerous position. Its one broken line stands in place 3, counting from the bottom; the other five are solid.
- Lines, bottom up
- ⚊⚊⚋⚊⚊⚊ 110111 · 1 = solid
- Trigrams
- Heaven over Lake Qian ☰ / Dui ☱
- Every line changed
- № 15 Modesty
- In Legge, 1882
- p. 78 Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16
Legge, The Yî King, 1882.
Lower trigram
☱
Lake (Dui) below
Joy and openness.
FamilyYoungest daughter
ElementMetal
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What the text says, in plain terms
The Judgement and the Image of hexagram 10
The Judgement
Treading carefully in a risky position — like stepping on the tail of a tiger that does not bite. Good manners and awareness carry you through where force would not.
The Image
Heaven above a lake: high and low clearly distinguished. The lesson is to know your place in a situation and act appropriately within it.
A summary of meaning written for this site, not a translation — James Legge’s 1882 translation of the full text follows below. How the Judgement and the Image are read, and which translations to use →
Primary source
Hexagram 10 in James Legge’s translation
“(Lî suggests the idea of) one treading on the tail of a tiger, which does not bite him. There will be progress and success.”
“(The trigram representing) the sky above, and below it (that representing the waters of) a marsh, form Lî. The superior man, in accordance with this, discriminates between high and low, and gives settlement to the aims of the people.”
The lines
- Line 1 · bottom The first line, undivided, shows its subject treading his accustomed path. If he go forward, there will be no error.
- Line 2 The second line, undivided, shows its subject treading the path that is level and easy;—a quiet and solitary man, to whom, if he be firm and correct, there will be good fortune.
- Line 3 The third line, divided, shows a one-eyed man (who thinks he) can see; a lame man (who thinks he) can walk well; one who treads on the tail of a tiger and is bitten. (All this indicates) ill fortune. We have a (mere) bravo acting the part of a great ruler.
- Line 4 The fourth line, undivided, shows its subject treading on the tail of a tiger. He becomes full of apprehensive caution, and in the end there will be good fortune.
- Line 5 The fifth line, undivided, shows the resolute tread of its subject. Though he be firm and correct, there will be peril.
- Line 6 · top The sixth line, undivided, tells us to look at (the whole course) that is trodden, and examine the presage which that gives. If it be complete and without failure, there will be great good fortune.
James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 78 — read the original text.
Words in parentheses are Legge’s own: in his preface he explains that they supply what the original writer left unsaid. “Undivided” and “divided” are his terms for yang and yin lines, counted from the bottom. The Image comes from the second appendix of the book, the Treatise on the Symbolism.
Treading for a decision
Proceed, but with care and courtesy, especially toward anyone more powerful. Know the risks and the unwritten rules before making a move.
I Ching 10 in love and relationships
A delicate situation where tact matters. Respect and good conduct keep things safe even when feelings are strong.
Hexagram 10 at work
Dealing with superiors, clients or sensitive politics. Correct conduct and preparation protect you in an exposed position.
The six lines of hexagram 10
Read from the bottom up. This figure runs yang yang yin yang yang yang — what each position means.
Five lines are yang and one is yin. Two of the six stand in their proper place, and the pair 3–6 answers.
What the two trigrams do to each other
Inner and outer
Lake below — joy and openness — is the private, inner side of hexagram 10.
Heaven above — creative force — is the world that side meets.
The five-element relation
Both trigrams are Metal, so nothing in the figure pulls against anything else. That makes the reading unusually single-minded — and unusually short of internal correction.
Read as a family
The father sits above and the youngest daughter below. A parent over a child, which the tradition reads as guidance, authority or constraint depending on the rest of the figure.
Calculated from the lines
Hexagrams connected to hexagram 10
Nuclear hexagram
37 · The Family
What is happening beneath the surface.
Lines 2–4 give Li (Fire) as the lower trigram, lines 3–5 give Xun (Wind) as the upper.
Opposite hexagram
15 · Modesty
The situation turned inside out.
Change all six lines and Heaven over Lake becomes Earth over Mountain.
Inverse hexagram
9 · Small Taming
The situation seen from the other side.
Turn the figure upside down and Heaven over Lake becomes Wind over Heaven.
None of these are assigned by an author — each follows from the arrangement of lines.
The image
Heaven above, Lake below.
Heaven over Lake: creative force meeting joy and openness.
Sources
Statements of fact on this page were checked against these sources in October 2026. How we choose and check sources: editorial policy.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “I Ching Hexagram 10: Treading.” Accessed October 27, 2026. https://astrohot.com/i-ching/hexagram/10/
For Wikipedia
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