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Hexagram 23 — Xu, Waiting
Chronological no. 23 (binary-weight order) · King Wen no. (traditional) 5 · 需
By Anibal Edelberto Amiot — Updated October 1, 2026
the middle son
the father
Clouds rise above Heaven: the image of waiting. Everything is in place for the rain to fall, and yet it does not fall yet — the moment is not ripe. This is the figure of silent preparation, one that does not force the hour but lets it come. Thus the noble one eats and drinks, joyful and serene, while awaiting his hour: he does not exhaust himself trying to hasten what has its own rhythm, he nourishes his strength for the moment it will be needed.
The water waits beneath the sky for its rightful hour. To wait is not to do nothing: it is to hold one's position with constancy while conditions form elsewhere, beyond the reach of will. This line teaches that haste destroys what only patience can accomplish — the rain will come when heaven and earth are ready to meet, not before.
The six lines
At the base of the earth, fullness stirs: the yang onset that carried the whole figure now yields its place.
The steadied earth reaches its limit: the solidity that upheld the structure is about to change its nature.
At the threshold between earth and man, force wavers: what acted through firmness hesitates before turning.
In the listening of man, the hollow fills: the openness that received is about to assert itself.
At the sage's seat, fullness hollows out: the force that governed the figure from its center is about to invert.
At the summit, emptiness reaches its fullest extent and closes: the furthest opening turns toward its opposite.
Source: La Livrée d'Hermès, Anibal Amiot — chapter 7.1 (pp. 63–68). French version of this page.
For the notions used here — magic square, layer and casting, the Yi Jing — see the project lexicon.
The patterns of this hexagram
Eight 12×12 Jacquard patterns are generated from this hexagram, one for each admissible family of the system. Each has its own page: cell, tiling, recolourings and data.
Bases — YANG mutant
Bases — YANG
Pair of two — YANG + YIN mutant
Pair of two — YIN mutant + YANG mutant
Pair of two — YIN + YANG
Pair of two — YIN + YANG mutant
Triple — without YANG
Triple — without YANG mutant
Neighbouring hexagrams
22 — Jing, The Well · 24 — Cui, Gathering Together
Hexagrams sharing a trigram
Same upper trigram (☵ Kan): 16 — Bi, Holding Together · 17 — Zhun, Difficulty at the Beginning · 18 — Kan, The Abysmal · 19 — Jie, Limitation · 20 — Jian, Obstruction · 21 — Ji Ji, After Completion · 22 — Jing, The Well
Same lower trigram (☰ Qian): 7 — Tai, Peace · 15 — Da Zhuang, The Power of the Great · 31 — Guai, Breakthrough · 39 — Da Chu, The Taming Power of the Great · 47 — Da You, Possession in Great Measure · 55 — Xiao Chu, The Taming Power of the Small · 63 — Qian, The Creative
