Upper trigram
☴
Wind · Xun
Gentle penetration.
FamilyEldest daughter
ElementWood
Hexagram 20 of 64
☴☷ Contemplation
Hexagram 20 of the 64, Contemplation, is wind above, earth below — read as standing back to see the whole. Its six lines are 000110, counted from the bottom up, where a broken line is yielding and a solid one firm.
Lower trigram
☷
Earth · Kun
Receptive yielding.
FamilyMother
ElementEarth
From the Book of Changes itself
The Judgement and the Image
The Judgement
Contemplation. The ablution has been made but not yet the offering. Full of trust, they look up.
The Image
The wind moves over the earth. The ancient kings visited the regions of the world and gave instruction.
These two texts are the hexagram. Everything else — the trigram analysis, the line positions, the modern keyword — is commentary built on top of them. The Judgement states the situation and its outlook; the Image draws the practical conclusion, and by convention begins with what the trigrams show in nature.
Rendered in plain English from the canonical text rather than copied from any one translation. If you want a specific scholarly version, Wilhelm-Baynes and Lynn are the two usually recommended.
The six lines
Read from the bottom up. This figure runs yin yin yin yang yang yin — what each position means.
| Line | This hexagram | What the position means |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | ▬▬ ▬▬ yin | the situation past its peak — completion, or overreach |
| 5 | ▬▬▬▬▬ yang | the ruling position, usually the most favourable in the hexagram |
| 4 | ▬▬▬▬▬ yang | entering the outer sphere — proximity to authority, exposure |
| 3 | ▬▬ ▬▬ yin | the transition point, and the most dangerous position in the figure |
| 2 | ▬▬ ▬▬ yin | the inner sphere — home, private life, what you are among your own |
| 1 | ▬▬ ▬▬ yin | the beginning of the situation, still hidden and barely formed |
What the two trigrams do to each other
Inner and outer
The lower trigram is the inner situation — Earth, receptive yielding. This is what is happening in you, or in the private side of the matter.
The upper trigram is the outer situation — Wind, gentle penetration. This is the world the inner position 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
Read as family, this is Eldest daughter above and 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.
The eight trigrams are traditionally assigned family roles — Heaven is the father, Earth the mother, and the remaining six are three sons and three daughters. Which one sits above which is part of how a hexagram is read.
Calculated from the lines
Hexagrams connected to this one
Nuclear hexagram
17 · Following
Built from lines 2-3-4 and 3-4-5 of this figure — the hexagram hidden inside it. Read as what is happening beneath the surface of the situation.
Opposite hexagram
34 · Great Power
Every line flipped. The same situation turned inside out — useful for seeing what you are not currently considering.
Inverse hexagram
19 · Approach
The same figure turned upside down — traditionally read as the situation seen from the other party's side.
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.
That combination is the whole meaning of hexagram 20. Nothing about it is arbitrary — change either trigram and you get a different hexagram with a different reading, which is why the 64 form a system rather than a list.