5 需 Xū Waiting

This site's reading

卦辭 需 is to wait, with 有孚, sincerity, holding the figure together: 光亨, bright and penetrating; firm, good; advantageous to cross the great stream. Waiting here is not hesitation; it is strength that does not throw itself into the water.

彖 The commentary: 需 means to pause (須), because danger is in front; firm and strong and not falling in, its meaning is not to be exhausted. The fifth line sits in heaven's place, central and correct; crossing the stream is going on to achievement.

大象 Clouds rising to the sky: the noble person eats, drinks, feasts and is at ease. The rain will come; the Image's counsel for a wait is to live well inside it.

爻 The lines wait in six places: on the open border, where constancy is wanted; on the sand, with some talk but good at the end; in the mud, which invites the robber; in blood, and out of the pit; at wine and food, firm and good; and at the top in the pit itself, where three unexpected guests arrive and respecting them ends well. The line you hold says how close to the water you stand.

Written from the text above and checked against it by Lun (2026-10-24). It is a way of reading the hexagram, not a prediction.

The text, with Legge

Judgment 卦辭

The six lines

1. Line 1 初九

   需于郊，利用恆，无咎。

   xū yú jiāo, lì yòng héng, wú jiù.

   The first line, undivided, shows its subject waiting in the distant border. It will be well for him constantly to maintain (the purpose thus shown), in which case there will be no error. (Legge, 1882)

   The Image 小象

   需于郊，不犯難行也。利用恆，无咎，未失常也。

   xū yú jiāo, bù fàn nán xíng yě. lì yòng héng, wú jiù, wèi shī cháng yě.

   Changing, this line leads to 48 井 Jǐng.

2. Line 2 九二

   需于沙，小有言，終吉。

   xū yú shā, xiǎo yǒu yán, zhōng jí.

   The second line, undivided, shows its subject waiting on the sand (of the mountain stream). He will (suffer) the small (injury of) being spoken (against), but in the end there will be good fortune. (Legge, 1882)

   The Image 小象

   需于沙，衍在中也。雖小有言，以吉終也。

   xū yú shā, yǎn zài zhōng yě. suī xiǎo yǒu yán, yǐ jí zhōng yě.

   Changing, this line leads to 63 既濟 Jì Jì.

3. Line 3 九三

   需于泥，致寇至。

   xū yú ní, zhì kòu zhì.

   The third line, undivided, shows its subject in the mud (close by the stream). He thereby invites the approach of injury. (Legge, 1882)

   The Image 小象

   需于泥，災在外也。自我致寇，敬慎不敗也。

   xū yú ní, zāi zài wài yě. zì wǒ zhì kòu, jìng shèn bù bài yě.

   Changing, this line leads to 60 節 Jié.

4. Line 4 六四

   需于血，出自穴。

   xū yú xuè, chū zì xué.

   The fourth line, divided, shows its subject waiting in (the place of) blood. But he will get out of the cavern. (Legge, 1882)

   The Image 小象

   需于血，順以聽也。

   xū yú xuè, shùn yǐ tīng yě.

   Changing, this line leads to 43 夬 Guài.

5. Line 5 九五

   需于酒食，貞吉。

   xū yú jiǔ shí, zhēn jí.

   The fifth line, undivided, shows its subject waiting amidst the appliances of a feast. Through his firmness and correctness there will be good fortune. (Legge, 1882)

   The Image 小象

   酒食，貞吉，以中正也。

   jiǔ shí, zhēn jí, yǐ zhōng zhèng yě.

   Changing, this line leads to 11 泰 Tài.

6. Line 6 上六

   入于穴，有不速之客三人來，敬之終吉。

   rù yú xué, yǒu bù sù zhī kè sān rén lái, jìng zhī zhōng jí.

   The topmost line, divided, shows its subject entered into the cavern. (But) there are three guests coming, without being urged, (to his help). If he receive them respectfully, there will be good fortune in the end. (Legge, 1882)

   The Image 小象

   不速之客來，敬之終吉。雖不當位，未大失也。

   bù sù zhī kè lái, jìng zhī zhōng jí. suī bù dāng wèi, wèi dà shī yě.

   Changing, this line leads to 9 小畜 Xiǎo Chù.

Words that came from it

Phrases a billion people use today began as clauses of this hexagram.

不速之客 bù sù zhī kè

guests who were not invited. The everyday phrase for an uninvited visitor comes straight from this line. From line 6: 不速之客.

In history

The 左傳 and 國語, the chronicles of the sixth to fifth centuries BC, record real casts of the Changes and what came of them. One of them gave this hexagram.

The chronicles' diviners read from oracle texts of their own time; where their words match our clause text the note says so, and where they do not, it says that. None of this is a claim that the text foretold the event.

Related hexagrams

• 6 訟 Sòng, Dispute its pair in the King Wen sequence
• 38 睽 Kuí, Estrangement its nuclear hexagram 互卦, lines 2 to 4 under 3 to 5
• 35 晉 Jìn, Advance its opposite 錯卦, every line flipped
• 6 訟 Sòng, Dispute its inverse 綜卦, the figure turned upside down

Where the name comes from

Legge's note (1882)

Legge's title for the hexagram: waiting.

V. Hsü means waiting. Strength confronted by peril might be expected to advance boldly and at once to struggle with it; but it takes the wiser plan of waiting till success is sure. This is the lesson of the hexagram. That ‘sincerity is declared in it’ is proved from the fifth line in the position of honour and authority, central, itself undivided and in an odd place. In such a case, nothing but firm correctness is necessary to great success. ‘Going through a great stream,’ an expression frequent in the Yî, may mean undertaking hazardous enterprises, or encountering great difficulties, without any special reference; but more natural is it to understand by ‘the great stream’ the Yellow river, which the lords of Kâu must cross in a revolutionary movement against the dynasty of Yin and its tyrant. The passage of it by king Wû, the son of Wăn in B.C. 1122, was certainly one of the greatest deeds in the history of China. It was preceded also by long ‘waiting,’ till the time of assured success came. ‘The border’ under line 1 means the frontier territory of the state. There seems no necessity for such a symbolism. ‘The sand’ and ‘the mud’ are appropriate with reference to the watery defile; but it is different with ‘the border.’ The subject of the line appears at work in his distant fields, not thinking of anything but his daily work; and he is advised to abide in that state and mind. ‘The sand’ of paragraph 2 suggests a nearer approach to the defile, but its subject is still self-restrained and waiting. I do not see what suggests the idea of his suffering from ‘the strife of tongues.’ In paragraph 3 the subject is on the brink of the stream. His advance to that position has provoked resistance, which may result in his injury. Line 4 has passed from the inner to the upper trigram, and entered on the scene of danger and strife;—‘into the place of blood.’ Its subject is ‘weak and in the correct place for him;’ he therefore retreats and escapes from the cavern, where he was engaged with his enemy. Line 5 is strong and central, and in its correct place, being that of honour. All good qualities therefore belong to the subject of it, who has triumphed, and with firmness will triumph still more. Line 6 is weak, and has entered deeply into the defile and its caverns. What will become of its subject? His correlate is the strong line 3 below, which comes with its two companions to his help. If they are respectfully received, that help will prove effectual. P. Regis tries to find out a reference in these ‘three guests’ to three princes who distinguished themselves by taking part with Kâu in its struggle with Yin or Shang; see vol. i, pp. 279-282. I dare not be so confident of any historical reference.

Sources

• Chinese text: 周易, 維基文庫, page (revision 10643261); the text is public domain, the site's edits CC BY-SA 4.0.
• English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI, Oxford 1882 (public domain), where this hexagram is “Hsü”.
• Glyph images: 小學堂 字形演變, Academia Sinica (CC0 1.0).
• Pinyin: Unihan (Unicode License v3) with this site's readings for the classical cases. English gloss, relations, the idiom glosses, the English of the chronicle passages and the plain reading: this site.