Other languages: Français · Español · ไทย
Hexagram 48 — Guan, Contemplation
Chronological no. 48 (binary-weight order) · King Wen no. (traditional) 20 · 觀
By Anibal Edelberto Amiot — Updated October 1, 2026
the eldest daughter
the mother
Wind travels across the Earth: the image of contemplation. The wind touches every corner of the ground without lingering long anywhere — a gaze that embraces widely rather than a gesture that dwells. This is the figure of observation that precedes action. Thus the ancient kings visited the regions, observed the people, and established their teaching: before acting on the world, one must first learn to see it as it is, without haste or bias.
Looking into the distance from the tower gathers what was scattered. A broad vision does not scatter attention, it gathers it: it is by rising above that one discovers the invisible links between things that, up close, seemed unrelated. This line says that understanding always precedes the power to act rightly.
The six lines
At the base of the earth, emptiness closes over: what was still an opening begins to fill.
The receptive earth reaches its fullness: the silent welcome that carried the lower figure is about to assert itself.
At the threshold between earth and man, suppleness gathers weight: what once yielded by nature is about to harden.
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, fullness completes its course and breaks: what had culminated cannot go further without turning back.
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
This hexagram is the binary complement of hexagram 15 — Da Zhuang, The Power of the Great (63 − 48 = 15): its patterns have exactly the same shape, only their colours are permuted. Here are the eight patterns of hexagram 15, one for each admissible family.
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
47 — Da You, Possession in Great Measure · 49 — Yi, Increase
Hexagrams sharing a trigram
Same upper trigram (☴ Xun): 49 — Yi, Increase · 50 — Huan, Dispersion · 51 — Zhong Fu, Inner Truth · 52 — Jian, Development · 53 — Jia Ren, The Family · 54 — Xun, The Gentle, Wind · 55 — Xiao Chu, The Taming Power of the Small
Same lower trigram (☷ Kun): 0 — Kun, The Receptive · 8 — Yu, Enthusiasm · 16 — Bi, Holding Together · 24 — Cui, Gathering Together · 32 — Bo, Splitting Apart · 40 — Jin, Progress · 56 — Pi, Standstill
