Hexagram 19 of 64
Approach
臨 Lín
Upper trigram: 坤 Kūn, earth
Lower trigram: 兌 Duì, lake
The judgment
元亨。利貞。至于八月有凶。
Supreme success. It is fitting to hold firm. On reaching the eighth month there is misfortune.
The Great Image
澤上有地，臨；君子以教思无窮，容保民无疆。
Above the lake there is earth: Approach. In the same way, the noble person teaches and reflects without end, and shelters and protects the people without limit.
The six lines
Lines are counted from the bottom. Read a line closely when it changes in your cast.
Line 1 初九
咸臨，貞吉。
Approaching with shared feeling. Holding firm brings good fortune.
The word paired with approach here suggests being moved by someone. Ask whether something in this person or task has truly stirred you, and whether you could stay steady in it.
Line 2 九二
咸臨，吉无不利。
Approaching with shared feeling. Good fortune; nothing is unfavorable.
The same phrase repeats one line up, this time with no call to hold firm. Consider what could become possible if you and the others involved cared about the same thing.
Line 3 六三
甘臨，无攸利。既憂之，无咎。
Approaching with sweetness. Nothing is favorable. Once you are troubled by it, no blame.
Sweetness is the trouble here: an approach that flatters or offers too easily. The line turns on the moment you start to worry about this, so ask what an honest correction would look like.
Line 4 六四
至臨，无咎。
Approaching all the way. No blame.
This line pictures someone who comes right up close. Consider whether something would go better if you showed up in person and dropped the distance.
Line 5 六五
知臨，大君之宜，吉。
Approaching with knowledge. This is what befits a great ruler. Good fortune.
The line names knowing as the quality proper to a ruler. If you lead anything, ask how well you know those you lead, and whom you could trust to know what you cannot.
Line 6 上六
敦臨，吉无咎。
A wholehearted approach. Good fortune, no blame.
At the top of the figure, the approach is thick and generous. Consider where you might give more than the situation strictly asks of you.
What this hexagram says
This hexagram is lake below and earth above, with two solid lines rising under four broken ones. The earth stands close over the water and reaches down to it. It stands for coming near, whether that is a season drawing on or a person of standing turning toward those below.
The judgment opens with great promise and then sets a date on it: by the eighth month, misfortune. Growth has a season, and the text wants that known while things still look good. Ask what you would prepare now if this good stretch had an end.
If your question is about work, teaching or looking after others, tradition reads this as a time to draw near and pay attention. The lines compare ways of doing it, and the one marked unfavorable is the sweet approach that says what people want to hear.
A hexagram is a prompt for reflection. It cannot promise a result, and it is no substitute for medical, legal or financial advice.
Where this text comes from
The Chinese follows the Wikisource text of the Zhou Yi (its page for this hexagram, 周易/臨), compared with the Project Gutenberg edition. The Great Image comes from the Wikisource page 周易/大象.
- Wikisource, 周易
Retrieved 2026-11-08
- Project Gutenberg eBook 25501, 易經
Retrieved 2026-11-08
Read this hexagram with its traditional commentaries in our library.
The English renderings and the advice are by Cast & Chart. The advice is a modern reading and is not part of the classical text.