← The I Ching
Hexagram 15 · ☷ over ☶
Modesty
Qian
The judgment
The mountain beneath the earth — what is great holds itself low. Modesty is not false humility but the genuine understanding that what is full can afford to yield, and that the one who doesn't grasp for position often attracts it anyway. The earth levels what is too high and raises what is too low.
The image. Mountain beneath the earth — what is high resting below what is broad.
Guidance
Let your accomplishments speak without amplification. Yield where you can, stay consistent, and your substance will be recognized without the need for fanfare.
How it’s built
Every hexagram is two trigrams — the lower one beneath the upper. This one is Gèn below Kūn.
☷Upper · Earththe Receptive — yielding, devotion, the nourishing ground, the mother
☶Lower · MountainKeeping Still — stillness, limits, meditation, the youngest son