Approach, Line 5

Wisdom rather than strength is what the fifth line contributes. Legge's translation describes the advance of wisdom, such as befits a great ruler, and promises good fortune, while the Little Symbolism explains it as the way of pursuing the due mean. In a hexagram built on two strong lines rising into four yielding ones, the ruling position is held by softness, and the text names discernment, not power, as the quality that justifies it.

A yielding stroke occupies the fifth, odd place, incorrect by the letter of the standard rule, yet central in the upper trigram Kun and holding the seat of authority. That combination is the line's whole argument. A ruler of this kind cannot outmatch the strong lines approaching from below and does not attempt to, governing instead by judging correctly who is drawing near and on what terms, which is what the second line's partial independence already implied.

Set against the fourth line, praised only for occupying its place properly, the fifth is praised for the use it makes of a place that does not properly fit it. The due mean the commentary names is the balance between receiving every approach and refusing them all, and holding that balance is what this hexagram treats as the whole art of governing an advance.

Six in the fifth place is drawn on questions of selection, admission and judgment, where the querent is the one being approached rather than the one approaching. The advance of wisdom befitting a great ruler promises good fortune, and the commentary identifies the method as the due mean. The line is favourable, and its favour rests specifically on discrimination, on knowing which approaches to receive and how far to let them come.

Structurally a yielding line holds the fifth place, incorrect for an odd position but central in the upper trigram Kun, and it corresponds to the strong second line below whose independence the hexagram already endorsed. The practical reading follows from that pairing. Authority here does not overpower what comes toward it and does not need to, because its strength lies in assessment and in the capable parties it chooses to let close.

Querents drawing this line are usually being cautioned against two opposite errors at once. Admitting every approach dissipates the position, and refusing all of them isolates it. The due mean is neither, and the text credits the good fortune of this ruling seat to a person who keeps their judgment working while others are still arriving.