Upper trigram
☴
Wind (Xun) above
Gentle penetration.
FamilyEldest daughter
ElementWood
Hexagram 53 of 64
I Ching hexagram 53 ☴☶ Development
I Ching hexagram 53, Development, is wind above, mountain below. In brief: slow, orderly progress. Counting from the bottom, its solid lines sit in places 3, 5 and 6 and its broken lines in 1, 2 and 4.
- Lines, bottom up
- ⚋⚋⚊⚋⚊⚊ 001011 · 1 = solid
- Trigrams
- Wind over Mountain Xun ☴ / Gen ☶
- Every line changed
- № 54 The Marrying Maiden
- In Legge, 1882
- p. 178 Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16
Legge, The Yî King, 1882.
Lower trigram
☶
Mountain (Gen) below
Stillness and limit.
FamilyYoungest son
ElementEarth
18 pages · printable
The 2027 Sky Calendar — free PDF
Every retrograde, eclipse, new and full moon of 2027 to the minute, already converted to your city. A month to a page, ready to print.
What the text says, in plain terms
The Judgement and the Image of hexagram 53
The Judgement
Gradual development, like a marriage arranged in its proper stages. Good fortune comes from progress that follows its natural order without skipping steps.
The Image
A tree growing slowly on a mountain. The lesson is that lasting influence and good character are built over time.
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 53 in James Legge’s translation
“Kien suggests to us the marriage of a young lady, and the good fortune (attending it). There will be advantage in being firm and correct.”
“(The trigram representing) a mountain and above it that for a tree form Kien. The superior man, in accordance with this, attains to and maintains his extraordinary virtue, and makes the manners of the people good.”
The lines
- Line 1 · bottom The first line, divided, shows the wild geese gradually approaching the shore. A young officer (in similar circumstances) will be in a position of danger, and be spoken against; but there will be no error.
- Line 2 The second line, divided, shows the geese gradually approaching the large rocks, where they eat and drink joyfully and at ease. There will be good fortune.
- Line 3 The third line, undivided, shows them gradually advanced to the dry plains. (It suggests also the idea of) a husband who goes on an expedition from which he does not return, and of a wife who is pregnant, but will not nourish her child. There will be evil. (The case symbolised) might be advantageous in resisting plunderers.
- Line 4 The fourth line, divided, shows the geese gradually advanced to the trees. They may light on the flat branches. There will be no error.
- Line 5 The fifth line, undivided, shows the geese gradually advanced to the high mound. (It suggests the idea of) a wife who for three years does not become pregnant; but in the end the natural issue cannot be prevented. There will be good fortune.
- Line 6 · top The sixth line, undivided, shows the geese gradually advanced to the large heights (beyond). Their feathers can be used as ornaments. There will be good fortune.
James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 178 — 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.
Development for a decision
Proceed step by step. Rushing the process, however tempting, weakens the result.
I Ching 53 in love and relationships
A relationship developing at a healthy pace, through its natural stages. Patience is part of the commitment.
Hexagram 53 at work
Careers and reputations that grow steadily. Each stage earned properly supports the next.
The six lines of hexagram 53
Read from the bottom up. This figure runs yin yin yang yin yang yang — what each position means.
3 yang and 3 yin lines. Four of the six stand in their proper place, and the pair 2–5 answers.
What the two trigrams do to each other
Inner and outer
Mountain below — stillness and limit — is the private, inner side of hexagram 53.
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 youngest son below. A brother and a sister, the older one on top — siblings rather than parent and child, so the order is one of seniority, not authority.
Calculated from the lines
Hexagrams connected to hexagram 53
Nuclear hexagram
64 · Before Completion
What is happening beneath the surface.
Lines 2–4 give Kan (Water) as the lower trigram, lines 3–5 give Li (Fire) as the upper.
Opposite hexagram
54 · The Marrying Maiden
The situation turned inside out.
Change all six lines and Wind over Mountain becomes Thunder over Lake.
Inverse hexagram
54 · The Marrying Maiden
The situation seen from the other side.
Turn the figure upside down and Wind over Mountain becomes Thunder over Lake.
None of these are assigned by an author — each follows from the arrangement of lines.
The image
Wind above, Mountain below.
Wind over Mountain: gentle penetration meeting stillness and limit.
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 53: Development.” Accessed October 27, 2026. https://astrohot.com/i-ching/hexagram/53/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=I Ching Hexagram 53: Development |url=https://astrohot.com/i-ching/hexagram/53/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-27}}