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I Ching · Hexagram 20 Contemplation

Hexagram 20 for decisions: Contemplation

觀 Guān · A decision

Do not decide yet; see. Take the widest view available, examine your own motives, and let the decision follow from clarity. The pause is not avoidance; it is the offering before the act.

Earth below, wind above: wind moving across the land, reaching everywhere. The Chinese character means both to observe and to be observed, and the hexagram holds both: a tower from which the whole country can be seen, and a tower that the whole country can see. Contemplation describes a pause for perspective. The tradition's image is of the moment in a ritual after the purification and before the offering, when sincerity is at its highest and nothing has yet been done. The reading asks you to look, honestly, at the whole situation and at yourself, and to understand that you are also being watched.

Advice
Take the wide view, examine yourself honestly, and act only once you have seen the whole.
Warning
Looking without the sincerity to see yourself in the picture is only spectating.

The changing lines, read for decisions

If your cast of Hexagram 20 had changing lines, these are what each one adds to a decision question, and where each leads.

  1. Line 1 · changes into 42 Increase

    Boy-like contemplation. For a lesser person no blame; for the superior person, humiliation. If you are responsible for the situation, look deeper than the surface.

  2. Line 2 · changes into 59 Dispersion

    Contemplation through the crack of the door. Furthering for a woman's persistence. Recognise that your view is partial before you act on it.

  3. Line 3 · changes into 53 Development

    Contemplating my own life decides the choice between advance and retreat. Look at what your actions have produced, and decide from that.

  4. Line 4 · changes into 12 Standstill

    Contemplating the light of the kingdom. It furthers to be the guest of a king. Your understanding is wanted; accept the invitation to use it.

  5. Line 5 · changes into 23 Splitting Apart

    Contemplating my own life. The superior person is without blame. Judge yourself by the effects of your leadership.

  6. Line 6 · changes into 8 Holding Together

    Contemplating one's own life, free of self. The superior person is without blame. See yourself as part of the whole picture, without special pleading.

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