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Chapter 46 of 68
易经
The Hexagram of Pushing Upward symbolizes 🌱 rising, advancement, and growth. The upper trigram is Kūn ☷ (Earth), and the lower trigram is Xùn ☴ (Wind/Wood), presenting the image of "wood growing from within the earth" — a tree breaking through the soil and continuously growing upward.
The Judgment says: The hexagram of Pushing Upward signifies great prosperity. It is favorable to seek an audience with a person of high position and authority. There is no need for concern. Journeying southward brings good fortune. 🔥
The Commentary on the Judgment explains: The yielding follows the path of timeliness and rises upward. The lower trigram Xùn represents modesty and compliance, while the upper trigram Kūn represents tolerance and support. The firm line in the second position occupies the center and finds resonance with the sixth line in the fifth position (the yin ruler), and thus there is "great prosperity." "Seek audience with the great person; have no concern" — because there will be cause for celebration. "Journeying southward brings good fortune" — because the aspiration of the heart can thus be carried forward. 🌬
The Commentary on the Image says: Wood grows from within the earth — this is the image of Pushing Upward. The superior person, contemplating this, understands the need to comply with virtue, accumulating from small and subtle beginnings to gradually accomplish great and lofty achievements. ⛰
Six Lines in Plain Language:
The core of the Hexagram of Pushing Upward lies in two dimensions: "Yielding Ascent" and "Gradual Accumulation":
The Yielding Rises in Its Own Time: The ascent emphasized in this hexagram is not a forceful or aggressive breakthrough, but rather a natural upward growth achieved through a humble and compliant attitude, awaiting the ripeness of时机. The lower trigram Xùn is Wind/Wood, whose essential nature is "penetrating while yielding" — advancing gradually through infiltration. This is like a tree whose roots first take firm hold deep underground before the trunk rises upward.
Accumulating the Small to Reach Great Heights: The Commentary on the Image explicitly states: "Comply with virtue; accumulate what is small to reach greatness" — all great achievements are not accomplished overnight but are built from countless微小 incremental advances. The Initial Six's "sincere ascent" is the first step of trustworthy beginning, while the Six in the Fifth's "ascending stairs" is the result of climbing one step at a time.
Firmness in the Center with Correspondence: The Nine in the Second, a yang line dwelling in the central position of the lower trigram, finds proper response with the Six in the Fifth, a yin line — forming a structure of "upper and lower resonance." This reveals that in the process of rising, inner strength (firmness in the center) and external support (resonant response) are both indispensable.
The Hexagram of Pushing Upward offers remarkably rich insights in contemporary contexts:
Career Development: This hexagram depicts a healthy career advancement path — not based on shortcuts or opportunism, but on "following virtue" (aligning with natural principles, cultivating inner competence) and "accumulating small steps" (continually building achievements and capabilities). The Initial Six teaches that the starting phase relies on authenticity and trust; Nine in the Second reminds us that when resources are limited (the "yue" sacrifice being a modest offering), integrity matters more than ostentation; Nine in the Third's "entering an empty city" serves as a warning that when promotion comes too easily, one should beware of superficiality and hollowness; Six in the Fifth's "ascending stairs" shows that genuine advancement is progressive and well-grounded, with each step measured and reliable.
Psychological Growth: The Top Six's "dark ascent" is particularly profound. It portrays a state: even when lost and unsure of direction ("obscurity"), one continues to strive ("perseverance without ceasing"). In modern psychology, this corresponds to a growth mindset — not ceasing self-improvement due to temporary setbacks, recognizing that the state of "sustained advancement" itself holds value.
Organizational Management: The structure of Earth above and Wind below suggests that excellent leaders should embody "Earth-like tolerance" and "Wind-like penetrative power." When driving organizational change, managers are advised to adopt the "yielding ascent" strategy — first allowing new ideas to permeate every corner of the organization like wind, then accommodating diverse viewpoints like the earth bearing all things, ultimately achieving holistic organizational elevation.
The Hexagram of Pushing Upward provides a practical action guide:
| Situation | Recommendation | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Job seeking/Promotion | Demonstrate capabilities with sincerity — no exaggeration, no impulsiveness; proactively connect with key decision-makers ("seek audience with those in high positions") | Judgment, Initial Six |
| Entrepreneurial beginnings | When resources are scarce, focus on building credibility; integrity is the most powerful leverage | Nine in the Second |
| During favorable circumstances | Guard against the false prosperity of "ascending into an empty city"; remain clear-eyed, ensuring each step has substantive support | Nine in the Third |
| Team management | Learn from "The king offers sacrifice at Mount Qi" — unify people through gratitude and meaningful rituals, rather than mere command-and-control | Six in the Fourth |
| Long-term planning | Adopt the "ascending stairs" strategy: set staged goals and climb progressively; avoid blind advancement of "dark ascent" | Six in the Fifth, Top Six |
Action Methodology: The hexagram can be translated into an "Assess—Act—Reflect" model:
The philosophical depth of the Hexagram of Pushing Upward lies in its inquiry into the "essence of ascent":
The Paradox of Ascent: A tree grows upward, but its roots must strike deep downward. The hexagram presents the image of "wood growing from within the earth," suggesting that downward rooting and upward growth are two sides of the same process. Modern people often focus solely on the outcome of "rising," neglecting the necessity of "sinking deep" — without profound accumulation, height is merely illusory elevation.
The Dialectic of Yielding Ascent vs. Forceful Ascent: The hexagram begins with a yin line (Initial Six) and ends with a yin line (Top Six), with "yielding" as its central thread throughout. This resonates with the thought of the Dao De Jing that "the yielding overcomes the unyielding; the weak overcomes the strong." True ascent is not a conquering and violent breakthrough, but a natural process like water seeping through or wood growing. In this sense, the Hexagram of Pushing Upward offers a third path distinct from both "lying flat" (giving up) and "rat-race intensity" (fierce competition): ascending without contending — through sustained inner growth, allowing external advancement to become the natural byproduct.
Existential Reading of "Dark Ascent": The Top Six's "ascending in obscurity" raises a profoundly modern question: When the goal itself becomes blurry and unclear ("dark"), does continuous striving ("ascending") still hold meaning? The I Ching's answer is "favorable for perseverance without ceasing" — the meaning lies precisely in "not ceasing" itself. This bears striking resonance with Camus's Sisyphus: the very posture of pushing the boulder is itself the transcendence of the absurd.
The Relationship between Gathering Together (Hexagram 45) and Pushing Upward: Hexagram 45 speaks of "gathering," while Hexagram 46 speaks of "rising." The Sequence of the Hexagrams says: "Gathering Together means assembling. What assembles and then rises upward is called Pushing Upward. Hence it follows." After things converge, they necessarily develop upward — the two hexagrams form a relationship of causality and succession. Gathering is the accumulation of power; Pushing Upward is the release of that power in upward ascent.
The Yin-Yang Way of Advancement: The Nine in the Second (firm) finds proper correspondence with the Six in the Fifth (yielding) in the Hexagram of Pushing Upward, forming a model of "firm-yielding mutual response." This shares an intrinsic consistency with the T'ai Hexagram (Peace), which speaks of "heaven and earth in communion, and all things flourish" — both emphasize the importance of unhindered exchange between upper and lower, and dynamic interaction between firmness and yielding.
The Symbolic Direction of "Marching Southward": In the eight-trigram directional system, the south corresponds to the Lí (Fire) trigram, which represents light, civilization, and ritual order. "Marching southward brings good fortune" thus metaphorically signifies advancing toward the direction of light and culture, rather than being merely a literal directional instruction.
The Yue (Summer) Sacrifice: This is the most modest among the four seasonal ancestral sacrifices in ancient times, conducted in summer, without animal offerings, only vegetables and simple grains. In Nine in the Second, "yue" is used as a metaphor: what matters is sincerity of heart; formal extravagance is secondary.
Positive Psychology Perspective: The philosophy of "accumulating the small to reach greatness" in the Hexagram of Pushing Upward closely aligns with contemporary "Atomic Habits" theory. Researchers have found that consistent微小 incremental progress produces more lasting behavioral change and achievement accumulation than sporadic, intense efforts.
Organizational Behavior Studies: The "firmness in the center with resonance" structure in this hexagram has been interpreted by modern management scholars as a model of beneficial interaction between leaders and followers. The firm competence of Nine in the Second (mid-level backbone) complements the yielding all-embracing leadership of Six in the Fifth (top management), creating an organizational state of "shared aspirations from top to bottom" — a defining characteristic of high-performing teams.
Career Development Research: The "ascending stairs" imagery in the Hexagram of Pushing Upward parallels Career Ladder Theory. Contemporary career development research emphasizes that healthy career advancement should—like "ascending stairs"—have solid capability support behind each step, rather than the "ascending into an empty city" pattern of parachuting or泡沫化 promotion that lacks substance. The latter often leads to the predicament described by the "Peter Principle": personnel being promoted to their level of incompetence.