The Ruler Who Contemplates His Own Life as the Standard

At the ruling position contemplation reverses direction. Legge's translation shows the fifth line contemplating the course of his own life and finding, as a superior man, no error in it, while the Little Symbolism supplies the method: he should contemplate the ways of the people. The line the whole hexagram has been looking toward turns its scrutiny back on itself, and the commentary makes the condition of those below the measure by which it does so.

Strong and correctly placed in the odd fifth position, central in the upper trigram Xun and holding the seat of authority, this is the one stroke in Contemplation with nothing structurally wrong with it. That soundness is what makes the self examination credible rather than anxious. A ruler in an unstable position examining himself would be looking for reassurance; this one is applying a standard.

The method named in the commentary is the line's real contribution. The ways of the people are the evidence, so the ruler is not asked to consult his intentions but to read the condition of those his conduct has actually shaped. Contemplation, which began as a question of who can see a rite properly, arrives at this position as a question of who is fit to be seen.