In love
Simplicity guides the bond: do not try to shine, acknowledge what the other brings, show yourself without staging.
Hexagram 15
I Ching hexagram 15: Modesty (Qian)
Qian, Modesty, is the hexagram of quiet greatness: the mountain stands beneath the earth and has nothing to prove.
- modesty
- balance
- discretion
The essentials
Qian at a glance
For you, Qian invites a modesty that makes you strong: reduce what is too much, complete what is missing, and let your actions speak.
A strength
A real worth that needs no display, and that earns trust precisely because it does not demand it.
Something to watch
Confusing modesty with self-effacement: making yourself too small deprives others of what you can truly bring.
- What it advises
- Stay simple, share the credit, adjust what is too much and what is missing, and let your actions speak.
- Its opposite
- 10. Treading (Lu)
The situation
Qian, not to be confused with the Qian of Heaven, is the hexagram of modesty. The mountain, high, places itself beneath the earth: a greatness that accepts the low place. The ancient text sees success in it, and a good outcome for the person of worth who keeps this attitude to the end.
The single solid line, in the third place, carries the whole: a real strength, surrounded by gentleness. The hexagram does not preach feigned humility, but the balance of not raising yourself higher than you are and giving others their share.
The ancient commentaries see in it a broader law: what is too full empties, what is empty fills.
The image: Earth above the Mountain
- AboveEarth: the welcome that carries
- BelowMountain: the stillness that steadies
Mountain beneath Earth: a height hidden in the plain. The ancient commentaries read in it a rule of balance: take from excess to fill the lack, so as to make things equal.
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) · brokenA modesty upon modesty: the person of worth can thus cross the great river, and the omen is favorable.
- 2nd line · brokenA modesty that makes itself known through its rightness: staying firm and upright leads to good fortune.
- 3rd line · solidA merit recognized without being claimed: the person of worth holds out to the end, with a favorable omen at the key.
- 4th line · brokenNothing that is not favorable, as long as you keep practicing modesty: it extends to every gesture.
- 5th line · brokenWithout great wealth, you gather your neighbors. You may resort to force to discipline, and nothing is unfavorable.
- 6th line (top) · brokenModesty recognized: you may mobilize troops, but only to restore order in your own territory.
Qian in your life
At work
Discreet effort and sharing credit are favored: recognition comes more readily to those who do not demand it.
The I Ching helps you reflect on how to act: it does not say what is coming.
How is it built?
- Character
- 謙 (qiān)
- Number
- 15 in the King Wen sequence
- Trigrams
- Earth (坤) above, Mountain (艮) below
- Inner hexagram
- 40. Deliverance (Jie) (lines 2 to 4 and 3 to 5)
- Read upside down
- 16. Enthusiasm (Yu)
- Symbol
- ䷎ (U+4DCE)
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 15
What does hexagram 15 of the I Ching mean?
Hexagram 15, Qian, means modesty: a quiet greatness that needs no display, and that balances by removing excess and filling lack.
Are Qian the Modesty and Qian the Creative the same?
No, they are two different words that pinyin spells the same way: the character 謙 for modesty, and 乾 for the creative heaven, hexagram 1.