漸Jian · Gradual Progress
In one sentence
Go in order, one step at a time, and the outcome will be good.
Like wild geese flying one stage at a time, like a marriage carried out step by step according to the rites: slow, but every step is steady. Do not skip steps, and do not be in a hurry. Stay true and take your time.
Asking about work, love or money
- Work
- Like wild geese flying stage by stage: promotion, a career change, your studies all have to go step by step, with no shortcut. Go through the process that has to be gone through, and put in the time that has to be put in. It's slow, but every step lands on solid ground. Trying to skip a level or get there in one move will spoil things.
- Love
- This hexagram takes a wedding as its very image: a relationship that moves forward in proper order, step by step, is a good one. Meeting, getting to know each other, meeting the family, settling down: don't leave out any step. Don't rush the pace, and don't skip the courtesies that are due. A relationship that is walked into slowly is the one that holds.
- Money
- Money is saved up bit by bit, like a tree growing slowly on a mountain. Build it through steady, proper income, and don't think about turning everything around in one stroke. Don't borrow fast money, and don't take crooked paths. Slow is fine for now, as long as it doesn't stop.
This is the hexagram as a whole. If your cast has changing lines, the line text governs; each line's page has its own reading for work, love and money.
The judgment
In plain wordsLike a woman going to be married, do it step by step according to the proper rites: good fortune. It is favorable to stay true.
The Tuan commentary
漸之進也，女歸吉也。進得位，往有功也。進以正，可以正邦也。其位剛，得中也。止而巽，動不窮也。
The advancing of Jian: "the woman goes to be married: good fortune." Advancing, one gains one's place: going brings achievement. Advancing by what is correct, one can set the state right. Its place is firm, and it holds the center. Still and gentle: the movement is never exhausted.
The Tuan (“judgment”) commentary is one of the Ten Wings. It explains the hexagram name and the judgment from the two trigrams and the positions of the lines.
The image
山上有木，漸。君子以居賢德善俗。
A tree on the mountain: Jian (Gradual Progress). The noble one abides in worth and virtue and improves the customs of the people.
The lines
Six at the beginning
Text鴻漸于干，小子厲，有言，无咎。The wild goose moves gradually to the water's edge. For the young one, danger. There is talk. No blame.In plain wordsThe wild goose has flown to the water's edge. You are just starting out, with nowhere yet to settle and nobody above looking out for you. A young person will find it dangerous, and people will have a few things to say. But in principle there is no blame. More on this line →
Six in the second place
Text鴻漸于磐，飲食衎衎，吉。The wild goose moves gradually to the great rock. It eats and drinks in contentment. Good fortune.In plain wordsThe wild goose has flown to a big rock, where it eats and drinks safely and happily. Good fortune. More on this line →
Nine in the third place
Text鴻漸于陸，夫征不復，婦孕不育，凶。利禦寇。The wild goose moves gradually to the dry land. The husband marches out and does not return. The wife conceives but does not raise the child. Misfortune. It is favorable to fend off robbers.In plain wordsThe wild goose has flown to the dry plain, which is no place for a water bird. The husband goes to war and does not come back; the wife is with child but cannot bring it up. Misfortune. Your temper is too hard, and by pushing ahead rashly you have left the right path. This hard strength is only good for fending off outside enemies. More on this line →
Six in the fourth place
Text鴻漸于木，或得其桷，无咎。The wild goose moves gradually to the trees. Perhaps it finds a flat branch. No blame.In plain wordsThe wild goose has flown into the trees, though it was never made to grip a branch. Perhaps it can find a flat, level bough, and then it can settle. No blame. More on this line →
Nine in the fifth place
Text鴻漸于陵，婦三歲不孕，終莫之勝，吉。The wild goose moves gradually to the hill. For three years the wife does not conceive. In the end nothing can overcome her. Good fortune.In plain wordsThe wild goose has flown to the high hill. For three years the wife cannot conceive: two who belong together are kept apart by those in between. But in the end nobody can take away what is right. Good fortune. More on this line →
Nine at the top
Text鴻漸于陸，其羽可用為儀，吉。The wild goose moves gradually to the heights. Its feathers can be used for the ceremony. Good fortune.In plain wordsThe wild goose has flown up to the great road among the clouds. Its feathers can be used to adorn the ceremonial regalia. Good fortune. Your position may already be above and outside it all, yet you are not a useless person. More on this line →
Lines are counted from the bottom. “Nine” is a yang (solid) line, “six” a yin (broken) line. A line applies to your reading only when it is a changing line.
Related hexagrams
Primary, resulting, nuclear, opposite and inverted hexagrams explained →
In the hexagram calendar
In the Tang monk Yixing’s Dayan calendar, Jian belongs to the first pentad of Rain Water, “Otters lay out their fish” (February 19 to February 23, 2027).