King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Hexagram 56 旅 changing to hexagram 15 謙

lǚ
→
qiān

Changing lines (counted from the bottom): 4, 6.

What to read

Two changing lines: read both line texts of the original hexagram; the upper one is the main one. (Rule set out by Zhu Xi in the Yixue qimeng.)

Hexagram 56 旅, line 6

鳥焚其巢,旅人先笑後號咷。喪牛于易,凶。

The sixth line, undivided, suggests the idea of a bird burning its nest. The stranger, (thus represented), first laughs and then cries out. He has lost his ox(-like docility) too readily and easily. There will be evil.

Hexagram 56 旅, line 4

旅于處,得其資斧,我心不快。

The fourth line, undivided, shows the traveller in a resting-place, having (also) the means of livelihood and the axe, (but still saying), 'I am not at ease in my mind'

The two hexagrams

Hexagram 56 旅 — judgment

小亨,旅貞吉。

Lii intimates that (in the condition which it denotes) there may be some little attainment and progress. If the stranger or traveller be firm and correct as he ought to be, there will be good fortune.

Hexagram 15 謙 — judgment

亨,君子有終。

Khien indicates progress and success. The superior man, (being humble as it implies), will have a (good) issue (to his undertakings).

The changing lines of hexagram 56

LineChineseLegge
4旅于處,得其資斧,我心不快。The fourth line, undivided, shows the traveller in a resting-place, having (also) the means of livelihood and the axe, (but still saying), 'I am not at ease in my mind'
6鳥焚其巢,旅人先笑後號咷。喪牛于易,凶。The sixth line, undivided, suggests the idea of a bird burning its nest. The stranger, (thus represented), first laughs and then cries out. He has lost his ox(-like docility) too readily and easily. There will be evil.

English: James Legge (1882), public domain. Chinese: Zhou Yi.

Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0); Chinese Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.