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I Ching hexagram 20 ☴☷ Contemplation

I Ching hexagram 20, Contemplation, is wind above, earth below. In brief: standing back to see the whole. Counting from the bottom, its solid lines sit in places 5 and 6 and its broken lines in 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Lines, bottom up
⚋⚋⚋⚋⚊⚊ 000011 · 1 = solid
Trigrams
Wind over Earth Xun ☴ / Kun ☷
Every line changed
№ 34 Great Power
In Legge, 1882
p. 99 Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16

Legge, The Yî King, 1882.

Paired with it line by line — changed, turned over or read from the inner lines: 34, Great Power, 19, Approach and 23, Splitting Apart.

Also with Wind above: 9, Small Taming, 37, The Family and 42, Increase.

Also with Earth below: 2, The Receptive, 8, Holding Together and 12, Standstill.

To draw a hexagram of your own, cast the I Ching with three coins.

I Ching Hexagram 20: Contemplation

Upper trigram

☴

Wind (Xun) above

Gentle penetration.

FamilyEldest daughter
ElementWood

Lower trigram

☷

Earth (Kun) below

Receptive yielding.

FamilyMother
ElementEarth

What the text says, in plain terms

The Judgement and the Image of hexagram 20

The Judgement

Contemplation: looking carefully, and being looked at. People are influenced by sincere example more than by instructions, so conduct matters as much as words.

The Image

Wind moving over the earth, reaching everywhere. The lesson is to observe widely, understand people's situation and set an example that others can see.

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 20 in James Legge’s translation

The Judgement
“Kwân shows (how he whom it represents should be like) the worshipper who has washed his hands, but not (yet) presented his offerings;—with sincerity and an appearance of dignity (commanding reverent regard).”
The Image
“(The trigram representing) the earth, and that for wind moving above it, form Kwan. The ancient kings, in accordance with this, examined the (different) regions (of the kingdom), to see the (ways of the) people, and set forth their instructions.”

The lines

  1. Line 1 · bottom The first line, divided, shows the looking of a lad;—not blamable in men of inferior rank, but matter for regret in superior men.
  2. Line 2 The second line, divided, shows one peeping out from a door. It would be advantageous if it were (merely) the firm correctness of a female.
  3. Line 3 The third line, divided, shows one looking at (the course of) his own life, to advance or recede (accordingly).
  4. Line 4 The fourth line, divided, shows one contemplating the glory of the kingdom. It will be advantageous for him, being such as he is, (to seek) to be a guest of the king.
  5. Line 5 The fifth line, undivided, shows its subject contemplating his own life(-course). A superior man, he will (thus) fall into no error.
  6. Line 6 · top The sixth line, undivided, shows its subject contemplating his character to see if it be indeed that of a superior man. He will not fall into error.
James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 99 — 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.

Contemplation for a decision

Step back and observe before acting. Understand the whole picture — and remember that others are watching how you behave while you decide.

I Ching 20 in love and relationships

Seeing the other person clearly and being seen honestly. Reflection helps more than action right now.

Hexagram 20 at work

Reviewing, researching and leading by example. Visibility means your integrity is part of the message.

The six lines of hexagram 20

Read from the bottom up. This figure runs yin yin yin yin yang yang — what each position means.

Hexagram 20: Wind over Earth
Hexagram 20, Contemplation, line by line from the bottomlineplace · answer1Line 1 · yin, brokenout of placeno answer from 42Line 2 · yin, brokenin its placeanswered by 53Line 3 · yin, brokenout of placeanswered by 64Line 4 · yin, brokenin its placeno answer from 15Line 5 · yang, solidin its placeanswered by 26Line 6 · yang, solidout of placeanswered by 3LowerKunEarthUpperXunWindKing Wen sequence · read bottom to topastrohot.com

2 yang and 4 yin lines. Three of the six stand in their proper place, and the pairs 2–5 and 3–6 answer.

What the two trigrams do to each other

Inner and outer

Earth below — receptive yielding — is the private, inner side of hexagram 20.

Wind above — gentle penetration — is the world that side meets.

The five-element relation

Wood above controls Earth below. Circumstance restrains the inner position — pressure comes from the situation, not from within.

Read as a family

The eldest daughter sits above and the mother below. A child over a parent — an inversion of the expected order, and usually read as a situation where the junior position carries the initiative.

Calculated from the lines

Hexagrams connected to hexagram 20

Hexagram 23, Splitting Apart

Nuclear hexagram

23 · Splitting Apart

What is happening beneath the surface.

Lines 2–4 give Kun (Earth) as the lower trigram, lines 3–5 give Gen (Mountain) as the upper.

Hexagram 34, Great Power

Opposite hexagram

34 · Great Power

The situation turned inside out.

Change all six lines and Wind over Earth becomes Thunder over Heaven.

Hexagram 19, Approach

Inverse hexagram

19 · Approach

The situation seen from the other side.

Turn the figure upside down and Wind over Earth becomes Earth over Lake.

None of these are assigned by an author — each follows from the arrangement of lines.

The image

Wind above, Earth below.

Wind over Earth: gentle penetration meeting receptive yielding.

← 19 · All 64 · 21 →

16 Enthusiasm 17 Following 18 Work on the Decayed 19 Approach 21 Biting Through 22 Grace 23 Splitting Apart

Sources

  1. James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 99

Statements of fact on this page were checked against these sources in October 2026. How we choose and check sources: editorial policy.

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