履
“Treading” — King Wen #10
Treading on the tail of the tiger. Proceed with care, courtesy and propriety, and no harm comes.
The Judgment 卦辞
履虎尾，不咥人，亨。
(Lu suggests the idea of) one treading on the tail of a tiger, which does not bite him. There will be progress and success.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
素履，往，無咎。
The first NINE, undivided, shows its subject treading his accustomed path. If he go forward, there will be no error.
履道坦坦，幽人貞吉。
The second NINE, undivided, shows its subject treading the path that is level and easy - a quiet and solitary man, to whom, if he be firm and correct, there will be good fortune.
眇能視，跛能履，履虎尾，咥人，凶；武人為于大君。
The third SIX, divided, shows a one-eyed man (who thinks he) can see; a lame man (who thinks he) can walk well; one who treads on the tail of a tiger and is bitten. (All this indicates) ill fortune. We have a (mere) bravo acting the part of a great ruler.
履虎尾，愬愬，終吉。
The fourth NINE, undivided, shows its subject treading on the tail of a tiger. He becomes full of apprehensive caution, and in the end there will be good fortune.
夬履，貞厲。
The fifth NINE, undivided, shows the resolute tread of its subject. Though he be firm and correct, there will be peril.
視履考祥，其旋元吉。
The sixth NINE, undivided, tells us to look at (the whole course) that is trodden, and examine the presage which that gives. If it be complete and without failure, there will be great good fortune.
Reading the Picture
Hexagram 10 places lake (兑) beneath heaven (乾) —joy lifting what it touches below, creative force pressing upward above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Treading”:treading on the tail of the tiger. Proceed with care, courtesy and propriety, and no harm comes Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
Questions About Hexagram 10
What does 履 (lǚ) mean?
Hexagram 10 of the I Ching is named 履 (lǚ), usually rendered "Treading" in English editions. Its figure pairs lake (兑) below with heaven (乾) above.
Which trigrams form hexagram 10?
乾 (Heaven) sits above and 兑 (Lake) sits below — the classical picture is joy lifting what it touches beneath creative force pressing upward.
How is hexagram 10 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 10 gives hexagram 15 — 謙 (Humbling). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 9 — 小畜 (Small Accumulating). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 37 — 家人 (Dwelling People).
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1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1899), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text. · For reflection and entertainment — not financial, medical, or life advice.