In love
Delicacy is the rule: respect the other’s rhythm, choose your words, avoid the clumsiness that bruises.
Hexagram 10
I Ching hexagram 10: Treading (Lu)
Lu, Treading, is the hexagram of the attentive step: you walk close to danger, and tact is what protects.
- caution
- tact
- conduct
The essentials
Lu at a glance
For you, Lu describes a delicate step: move forward with respect and without haste, where one clumsy move would be enough to provoke a reaction.
A strength
The tact of someone who knows how to move near a force without colliding with it, through simplicity and respect.
Something to watch
Thinking yourself above the risks: excess assurance makes you walk faster than the ground allows.
- What it advises
- Move forward with tact and simplicity, respect everyone’s place, and keep your eyes on the path.
- Its opposite
- 15. Modesty (Qian)
The situation
Lu means walking, advancing along a path. The ancient text says it through a striking image: treading on the tiger’s tail, and not being bitten. The danger is real; the way you cross it makes it harmless.
That way is tact. The weak line of the lake sits beneath the strength of heaven and respects it, and the joy it expresses avoids confrontation. The hexagram thus speaks of right conduct: neither boldness nor fear, but attention to the situation and to the other.
It shows one step after another, and the need to watch where you are going.
The image: Heaven above the Lake
- AboveHeaven: the force that creates
- BelowLake: joy that is shared
Heaven above the Lake: high and low are distinguished, each in its place. The ancient commentaries draw from it a taste for discernment, which calms minds and sets common landmarks.
Consult the I Ching
Throw three coins six times: your hexagram, the lines that change, and the direction they point to.
Free, no account · nothing is sent · no predictions
The six lines
- 1st line (bottom) · solidWalking your usual road, with no ulterior motive: advancing this way, you commit no fault.
- 2nd line · solidWalking on a level, easy road: a retired and quiet person stays upright, and the omen is good.
- 3rd line · brokenA one-eyed man who thinks he sees well, a lame man who thinks he walks well: you tread on the tiger’s tail and are bitten. Excess assurance deceives.
- 4th line · solidTreading on the tiger’s tail with great caution and fear: the end is judged favorable.
- 5th line · solidA resolute step: even staying upright, there is danger. You must stay aware of the gravity of your position.
- 6th line (top) · solidLooking back at the road traveled and examining its signs: if everything is complete and nothing missing, the ancient text reads a very good omen.
Lu in your life
At work
Facing a hierarchy or a sensitive subject, tact and clarity are worth more than provocation.
The I Ching helps you reflect on how to act: it does not say what is coming.
How is it built?
- Character
- 履 (lǚ)
- Number
- 10 in the King Wen sequence
- Trigrams
- Heaven (乾) above, Lake (兌) below
- Inner hexagram
- 37. The Family (Jia ren) (lines 2 to 4 and 3 to 5)
- Read upside down
- 9. The Taming Power of the Small (Xiao xu)
- Symbol
- ䷉ (U+4DC9)
The English names are the usual renderings of the Chinese characters; the texts rely on the Chinese and on early public-domain translations (Legge, 1882; Philastre, 1885–1893).
Sources
- Wikipedia (English), “List of hexagrams of the I Ching,” read on October 15, 2026: numbers, characters, pinyin, lower and upper trigrams.
- Wikipedia (English), “Bagua,” read on October 15, 2026: lines of the eight trigrams, from bottom to top.
- James Legge (1815–1897), The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East, vol. XVI, 1882 (Wikisource): public domain.
- Paul-Louis-Félix Philastre (1837–1902), Le Yi King ou Livre des changements de la dynastie des Tsheou, Annales du Musée Guimet, 1885–1893: public domain (the author died more than 70 years ago).
Frequently asked questions about hexagram 10
What does hexagram 10 of the I Ching mean?
Hexagram 10, Lu, means treading carefully: advancing near a danger while keeping tact and simplicity, so as not to provoke a reaction.
Why the tiger in hexagram 10?
It is an image of the danger that a clumsy move can set off. The ancient text says that, treading on the tiger’s tail, you are not bitten when your conduct is right.