The Book of Changes · Xian

Hexagram 31: Influence

Lake (still water held in a hollow) over Mountain (the peak)

Mutual attraction, and the figure of courtship. The tradition is precise that influence works by keeping still inside while remaining open outside, and that pursuit closes the thing it wants.

The image

A lake on the mountain. The reading is that a person keeps their mind receptive by staying empty of assumptions about the other.

Lake, above

Openness, pleasure, and what is said out loud.

Mountain, below

Stillness, limit, and the place where a thing stops.

The six lines

Read from the bottom up.

1. Line 1An intention, and nothing more than that yet.
2. Line 2Moving before the rest of you agrees. Staying put is better.
3. Line 3Following whatever moves. Going along with it will embarrass you.
4. Line 4Constancy is what makes this good. Restlessness reaches only the people already close to you.
5. Line 5Firm, unglamorous, nothing to regret.
6. Line 6Talk, and only talk. Influence that got as far as the tongue.

The same figure in Human Design

Human Design took its sixty four gates from this book, in this numbering, so hexagram 31 is Gate 31, Influence.