The Book of Changes · Jian

Hexagram 53: Development

Wind (wind, and wood growing) over Mountain (the peak)

Gradual progress, the way a tree grows on a mountain: slow, in stages, and impossible to hurry without ruining. The tradition uses the wild goose's migration for it, one landing at a time.

The image

A tree on the mountain. The reading is that a person abides in dignity and virtue in order to improve the general customs, which is itself a slow business.

Wind, above

Penetration, patience, and what works by not stopping.

Mountain, below

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

The six lines

Read from the bottom up.

1. Line 1The goose reaches the shore. The young one is exposed, and there is talk, and no fault.
2. Line 2The goose reaches the cliff. Eating and drinking in peace. Good fortune.
3. Line 3The goose reaches the plateau, and the pair are separated. Misfortune. Fend off what is circling.
4. Line 4The goose reaches the tree, and may find a flat branch on it. No fault: an unnatural perch that holds.
5. Line 5The goose reaches the summit. Three years of nothing, and in the end nothing prevents it.
6. Line 6The goose reaches the cloud heights. What it leaves behind is used in the ceremony.

The same figure in Human Design

Human Design took its sixty four gates from this book, in this numbering, so hexagram 53 is Gate 53, Beginnings.