Contemplation, Line 4

Proximity transforms the view at the fourth line. Legge's translation shows one contemplating the glory of the kingdom and says it will be advantageous for such a person to seek to be a guest of the king, while the Little Symbolism confirms that he should be honoured as a guest. After the distant look of the lad and the narrow view through a door, this line sees the whole of what the hexagram has been pointing at, and sees it from inside.

A yielding stroke correctly occupies the fourth, even place at the base of the upper trigram Xun, directly beneath the strong fifth line that rules the figure. Nearness to that ruling position is the entire source of the line's advantage. A guest of the king is not an officeholder and does not need to be; the standing described is that of someone admitted to observe at close range and valued for the quality of what they observe.

Read across the hexagram, this is where contemplation stops being a private act and becomes a public one. The judgment praised the dignity of a rite seen from without, and the fourth line is the first position with a genuine view of it, which is why the text turns immediately from what is seen to the terms on which the seeing should be sought.

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.