In love
As a couple, Sheng emphasizes patient building: win trust in small touches, and let the bond rise at its own pace.
Hexagram 46
I Ching hexagram 46: Pushing Upward (Sheng)
Sheng means pushing upward, gentle progress: rising step by step, like a growing tree, leaning on your supports.
- progress
- slow growth
- supports
The essentials
Sheng at a glance
For you, Sheng describes a steady climb: your advance comes through small heights gained, without jolts, with supports that count.
A strength
A patient growth that leans on the right encounter, and that goes far because it does not skip steps.
Something to watch
Wanting to climb faster than your roots: height without a base holds poorly.
- What it advises
- Advance step by step, accept the help of an experienced person, and accumulate small gains rather than aim for a leap.
- Its opposite
- 25. Innocence (Wu wang)
The situation
Sheng places Wind beneath Earth: a shoot pushing through the soil and rising slowly. The Judgment says that great success is possible, that you must see a person of great worth, that there is no cause for worry, and that heading south is a good omen.
The hexagram values the gentle climb, that of a tree growing without noise: no leap, no flash, but continuous progress. The support of an experienced person makes each step easier.
It invites you to advance steadily, to accept help, and to accumulate modest gains that together form a real height.
The image: Earth above Wind
- AboveEarth: the welcome that carries
- BelowWind: gentleness that penetrates
Wind beneath Earth: wood growing in the soil. The image is glossed this way: cultivate your virtue with docility, accumulate the small to reach the great.
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) · brokenRising with the agreement of those above: great good fortune. A progress welcomed from the outset.
- 2nd line · solidA sincerity that makes even a modest offering acceptable: no fault. Few means are enough when the heart is in it.
- 3rd line · solidRising as into an empty city: nothing stands in the way. A clear road, which you should not take for granted.
- 4th line · brokenThe king charges you with presenting the offerings on Mount Qi: a good outcome, no fault. A place found in a service greater than yourself.
- 5th line · brokenIntegrity held leads to the good outcome: you climb the steps with the fitting ceremony, stage by stage.
- 6th line (top) · brokenRising blindly: a momentum that no longer sees where it is going. But unrelenting perseverance remains useful.
Sheng in your life
At work
At work, Sheng supports growth by stages: a career built on solid foundations, with a mentor as guide.
The I Ching helps you reflect on how to act: it does not say what is coming.
How is it built?
- Character
- 升 (shēng)
- Number
- 46 in the King Wen sequence
- Trigrams
- Earth (坤) above, Wind (巽) below
- Inner hexagram
- 54. The Marrying Maiden (Gui mei) (lines 2 to 4 and 3 to 5)
- Read upside down
- 45. Gathering Together (Cui)
- Symbol
- ䷭ (U+4DED)
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 46
What does I Ching hexagram 46 mean?
Hexagram 46, Sheng, means pushing upward: patient, steady progress, like a growing tree, with the support of the right people.
Why the image of a tree?
The trigram of Wind is also the trigram of Wood. Sheng shows a tree pushing through the earth: its strength is slowness, and it gains height only as it takes root.