The Close View from Beside the Throne and the Guest Who Earns It

Six in the fourth place is among the most practically useful lines in the hexagram, because it names a course of action rather than a quality of perception. Contemplating the glory of the kingdom is favourable, and the querent is told it will be advantageous to seek to be a guest of the king. Readings landing here concern access: proximity to a person, an institution or a body of work worth observing closely.

The status the line describes is specific and easily misread. A guest is not an appointee, and the advantage lies in being admitted rather than installed. Querents who take this line as a promise of office usually find the office does not appear, while those who take it as an invitation to place themselves where they can see and be seen find both the text and the commentary behind them, since the commentary says the guest should be honoured as such.

Yielding and correctly placed in an even position at the base of the upper trigram Xun, immediately below the strong ruling line, this stroke has no strength of its own and does not need any. Its whole advantage is where it stands. The counsel is to seek the vantage point first and to let whatever follows follow from what is learned there.