旅
“Sojourning” — King Wen #56
The wanderer. On strange ground, keep humble, careful and correct in small things.
The Judgment 卦辞
小亨，旅貞吉。
Lu 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.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
旅瑣瑣，斯其所取災。
The first SIX, divided, shows the stranger mean and meanly occupied. It is thus that he brings on himself (further) calamity.
旅即次，懷其資，得童僕，貞。
The second SIX, divided, shows the stranger, occupying his lodging-house, carrying with him his means of livelihood, and provided with good and trusty servants.
旅焚其次，喪其童僕，貞厲。
The third NINE, undivided, shows the stranger, burning his lodging-house, and having lost his servants. However firm and correct he (try to) be, he will be in peril.
旅于處，得其資斧，我心不快。
The fourth NINE, 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.'
射雉，一矢亡；終以譽命。
The fifth SIX, divided, shows its subject shooting a pheasant. He will lose his arrow, but in the end he will obtain praise and a (high) charge.
鳥焚其巢，旅人先笑後號啕；喪牛于易，凶。
The sixth NINE, 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.
Reading the Picture
Hexagram 56 places mountain (艮) beneath fire (离) —stillness holding its ground below, light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Sojourning”:the wanderer. On strange ground, keep humble, careful and correct in small things Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
Questions About Hexagram 56
What does 旅 (lǚ) mean?
Hexagram 56 of the I Ching is named 旅 (lǚ), usually rendered "Sojourning" in English editions. Its figure pairs mountain (艮) below with fire (离) above.
Which trigrams form hexagram 56?
离 (Fire) sits above and 艮 (Mountain) sits below — the classical picture is stillness holding its ground beneath light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates.
How is hexagram 56 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 56 gives hexagram 60 — 節 (Articulating). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 55 — 豐 (Abounding). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 28 — 大過 (Great Exceeding).
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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.