No. 20 Contemplation
风地观 · Guān · Earth under Wind
“Step back and look properly. What you see depends on where you stand.”
Lower trigram ☷ Earth 坤 — receptivity & support
Upper trigram ☴ Wind 巽 — gentle persistence & penetration
Trigram: a three-line symbolic figure that forms one half of an I Ching hexagram.
- Observation
- Wide view
- Example set
- Looking closely
- Quiet witness
Introduction
Wind moves over the earth and reaches everywhere. Contemplation pictures someone standing high and being watched from below.
In practice, this names a stretch for looking rather than acting. Notice what you are seeing from, and notice who is watching you.
The judgement
“Contemplation. The washing has been done, the offering not yet made. Full of trust, they look up to him.”
In plain words: the preparation is complete and the act has not begun. People are watching the stillness, and it carries weight.
Read it as a note about example. What you do while being watched is itself the offering here.
Core themes
- Looking well is the work. Acting can wait a beat.
- Where you stand decides what you can see.
- You are also being watched. That is part of the situation.
Line-by-line overview
Six lines, read bottom to top — matching the figure above.
Each line describes one stage in an evolving situation. Line 1 marks the earliest, foundational beginning; line 6 shows where the pattern has run its course. Open a line to read it.
Line 1 初六
At the base, the looking is shallow, and a small aim can live with that.
A larger aim finds a shallow view humbling.
Ask what your position is hiding from you.
Line 2 六二
Here the view comes through a crack, and it suits a narrow purpose.
A partial view is fine for a partial question, and useless for a large one.
Step outside if the question is large.
Line 3 六三
At this level the looking turns inward, and that is what decides the next move.
The old line uses this self-view to choose between advancing and withdrawing.
A honest look at your own pattern tends to answer it.
Line 4 六四
Here the view widens to the whole arrangement, and it furthers you to be close to it.
Seeing how the larger thing works is worth more than any local advantage.
Line 5 九五
At the centre, the self-view is steady and carries no fault.
A person who watches their own conduct tends to need less correcting later.
The watching is the safeguard.
Line 6 上九
At the top, the looking goes beyond your own situation entirely.
The old line finds no fault in a person who keeps watching after the work is done.
Attention that outlasts the result is rare and useful.
Summary
Read as a whole, this figure asks you to look before moving, and to notice your own position. Watch your own conduct too, because the same stretch has others watching you.
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Hexagram 20 · Contemplation 观
A way to look at what is moving around you now, not a fixed answer. Notice your inner state, then decide how to act.
This is a stretch for watching the bond rather than steering it.
What you notice without interfering tends to be more accurate.
People often act on the first reading of a mood. A second look tends to be truer.
Notice your own part in the pattern. It is the part you can change.
Ultimately, your real-world facts and personal choices will shape how things unfold.
This hexagram contains 1 changing line. You may read detailed line interpretations inside the full hexagram-knowledge page. If you want to deepen your understanding of changing lines and line positions, please visit our I-Ching six-line learning page.
Read the full guide →- Notice what your position keeps you from seeing. Naming the blind spot tends to shrink it. Assuming you see everything tends to keep it.
- Ask what the other person watches in you. Your conduct is being read even when nothing is said. Forgetting that tends to send the wrong signal.
Related reading
Short reads from the blog. A changing line is a line that may shift as a situation moves.
Working with changing lines
Learn about changing lines and how to interpret them
Expectation & inner honesty
Set proper expectations before your reflection reading
Using the I Ching for self-reflection
Watching before you act.
Related hexagrams
Approach · 临
Read it the other way up
No. 21Biting Through · 噬嗑
The hexagram after this one
No. 18Work on the Decayed · 蛊
The hexagram before this one
If you would like to browse all 64 hexagrams, visit All 64 Hexagrams.
If you would like to learn about static hexagrams and the interpretation rules for changing lines within I-Ching, please visit our general guide: Understanding Changing & Static Lines.