Hexagram 35 of 64
Advance
晉 Jìn
Upper trigram: 離 Lí, fire
Lower trigram: 坤 Kūn, earth
The judgment
康侯用錫馬蕃庶，晝日三接。
The Marquis of Kang, with the horses bestowed on him, breeds them in great numbers. Within the daylight hours he is received three times.
The Great Image
明出地上，晉；君子以自昭明德。
Brightness comes out above the earth: Advance. In the same way, the noble person makes bright character shine by their own effort.
The six lines
Lines are counted from the bottom. Read a line closely when it changes in your cast.
Line 1 初六
晉如，摧如，貞吉。罔孚，裕无咎。
Advancing, then pushed back. Holding firm brings good fortune. Trust is lacking. With ease of mind, no blame.
You may step forward and meet a quick rebuff, and others may not trust you yet. Consider staying unhurried and letting your conduct earn that trust over time.
Line 2 六二
晉如，愁如，貞吉。受茲介福，于其王母。
Advancing and full of grief. Holding firm brings good fortune. This great blessing is received from the royal grandmother.
Moving ahead may bring sadness along with it. Ask who older in your life has backed you quietly, as the grandmother in this line gives her blessing.
Line 3 六三
眾允，悔亡。
The crowd agrees. Regret goes.
Here the people around you agree. Ask whether you have really consulted them, and what your next step looks like with their support.
Line 4 九四
晉如鼫鼠，貞厲。
Advancing like a field rat. Holding firm brings danger.
A rat moves forward by taking what it can and keeping out of sight. Ask whether any part of your own progress depends on not being looked at closely.
Line 5 六五
悔亡，矢得勿恤，往吉无不利。
Regret goes. The arrow is gained: do not worry. Going brings good fortune, and nothing is unfavorable.
An arrow recovered after a hunt is a small gain, and the line tells you to stop fretting over it. Consider whether counting each win and loss is slowing you down.
Line 6 上九
晉其角，維用伐邑，厲吉无咎，貞吝。
Advancing with the horns. It serves only for attacking the town. Danger, good fortune, no blame. Holding firm brings shame.
Horns are the furthest point of the animal, and the line allows them only against one town. If you are pushing hard, consider keeping that force for a narrow target close to home.
What this hexagram says
This hexagram shows fire above earth, the sun risen over the ground. The three lower lines are broken and yielding, with the bright trigram on top. It stands for visible progress and for recognition that arrives in daylight.
The judgment pictures a lord given horses, who breeds them in numbers and is received at court three times in one day. Favor is given and then put to use. Ask what you have been given lately, and whether you have made it grow.
If your question is about a career step or public work, tradition reads this as a time when effort can be seen. The lines are less cheerful than the judgment: early advances meet pushback and the rat on the fourth line moves in a way that could not bear scrutiny. The top line cautions against pressing forward once you have reached the limit.
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/晉), 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.
Where the sources differ
- In the fifth line, Wikisource (A) reads 矢得勿恤 (the arrow is gained, do not worry) and notes that another text has 失. Project Gutenberg (B) reads 失得勿恤 (loss and gain, do not worry). B also writes 無 where A has 无, variant forms of the same word.
- In the fourth line, Wikisource (A) keeps 鼫 (鼫鼠, a kind of rodent) and notes that another text has 碩 (large, which would give a big rat).
The English renderings and the advice are by Cast & Chart. The advice is a modern reading and is not part of the classical text.