I Ching Lü Meaning: Hexagram 10 Explained

Draw Lü 履 and students often hear two things. One: Lü is shoes, I will go charge. The other: there is a tiger ahead, I will do nothing.

Lü is ritual, walking, where a step lands. The judgment writes 「履虎尾，不咥人，亨」. You can walk beside a tiger’s tail and not be bitten. That opens. The premise is not that you are stronger than the tiger. It is that you walk carefully, measure in place.

Why after Xiao Xu 小畜 is Lü? Things have accumulated a little; next there must be ritual, or even a person with grain will be bitten on the road. After Lü comes Tai 泰. Opening does not fall from the sky. The road is walked right, then opening comes.

The image: Qian above Dui below, Treading

Lü is Qian 乾 above, Dui 兌 below. Heaven above, Lake below: Treading. Qian is hard, the ruler, the force of a tiger; Dui is lake, speech, yielding, joy. The yielding walks behind the hard, like treading a tiger’s tail, and because of yielding, because of ritual, the tiger may not bite.

The Xugua says: 「物畜然後有禮，故受之以履。」 After accumulation there is ritual. Wealth without ritual, strength without ritual, most easily treads a tail that should not be trodden. Draw Lü and the matter is mostly not that you have no ability. You are walking beside someone else’s force: a superior, a regulation, a large player in the market, a partner’s bottom line, an elder in the family. That tail is real. Treat it as not existing and you get bitten. Treat it as a god and dare not walk, and opening will not come either.

The judgment: 「履虎尾，不咥人，亨。」 咥 is bite. Not bitten, therefore it opens. This is not a guarantee the tiger becomes a cat. It is that this way of walking can let danger stay beside you and harm not fall on you.

The Tuan says: 「柔履剛也。」 The yielding treads the hard. Lower Dui treads upper Qian’s hardness with yielding. In a reading this line is the key: Lü is not comparing who is harder. You already cannot match that tiger, and still tread with hardness: that is six in the third, dim of sight yet claiming to see, lame yet claiming to walk, going to tread, and the bite is accurate. The yielding treading the hard is using ritual, caution, a joyful manner, to walk the road beside the hard one.

The Xiang says Heaven above, Lake below, Lü; the superior person distinguishes above and below and settles the people’s will. Before walking, first distinguish: who is above, who is below, what the name is, where hearts should rest. Lü’s most landed meaning in modern life is process, ritual, a job description, traffic rules. Without these, everyone feels they can tread a tiger’s tail. What bites can be the tiger, or the system.

Career and wealth when you draw Lü

Ask about career and draw Lü: good for walking inside the rules, not for showing skill in the grey. Treading a tiger’s tail means this job, this deal, has risk beside it: a large client, a manager’s temper, compliance, safety, media. You can do it, and it can open, if you step on the right squares.

For wealth, Lü rarely is a windfall. It is like salary, payment according to contract, money that comes in after the process is walked. Ask about a side door, stepping on a line, “everyone does it this way,” draw Lü, and the tiger’s tail is right there. The bite often is not immediate. It is a ticket, a contract, a name, after the morning is over. Nine in the fifth, treading with decision, correct yet dangerous: walking in a deciding way, even if the motive is right, still dangerous. Managers, people making decisions, who draw nine in the fifth: the more you feel you can cut in one stroke, the more you slow down.

Interviews, seeing a boss, reporting on stage: Lü is a proper hexagram. Ritual is there, the road is there. Dress, titles, who speaks first, whether a deck overstepped: all are Lü. Some people think these are small things. Lü treats small things as a tiger’s tail. Small steps right, and the large will not bite.

Travel, signing, working on someone else’s ground: Lü is also common. You can go, like walking on someone else’s territory. Not being bitten depends on remembering this is their ground. Arrogant as if at home: six in the third, a military man acting as the great ruler, a soldier doing the Son of Heaven’s work — unlucky very fast.

There is another Lü at work: ability is already enough, but the place is “following behind the tiger.” Deputy, second in the house, succession not yet announced, best technically but no seal. Nine in the second, treading a level road, the secluded person correct and lucky: the road is actually level, suited to being a secluded person, not making a public noise. Walk correctly in quiet, luck. Insist on performing a flying dragon on a level road and the tiger will turn its head once.

Love and people when you draw Lü

Ask about love and draw Lü: there is a measure problem in the relationship. Who speaks first, who yields, how you walk in the other person’s family, how far to go public: all treading a tiger’s tail. You can be close. You cannot be without ritual. Ritual is not cold. It is leaving both people a road they can still walk.

If you are single and draw Lü, meeting often happens in a slightly more formal place: work, a friend’s introduction, a community with rules. You can pursue; the force of pursuing should be like Dui: joyful, not like conquering Qian. Treading the other person’s tiger tail — old wounds, family, money, an ex — the way not to be bitten is to go around, to ask before walking, not to prove you are not afraid.

If you are already together, Lü advises you to distinguish above and below. Not who is whose slave. Whether housework, money, speaking outward have an agreement. No agreement, everyone feels they are treading a level road; hit six in the third, cannot see clearly and still walk hard, and you get bitten. In a quarrel, using a military man’s attitude to be the great ruler, and the home becomes a tiger’s mouth.

Nine in the fourth, treading a tiger’s tail, fearful, luck in the end. 愬愬 is fear, caution so light the steps are light. Very practical in love: you know the other person is in a temper, you know this matter is thunder, and you still have to pass: then pass fearfully. First admit the danger is real, then speak. Luck in the end. Pretend bravery and luck will not end.

People, workplace manners: Lü is an everyday hexagram. Toward superiors, clients, elders: the yielding treads the hard. Not without bone. Bone is not used to push into a tiger’s mouth. Reason that should be fought, fight it in Song 訟; in Lü’s stage first finish walking the road. Many people mix Lü and Song, sue as soon as they are on the road, the tiger’s tail not yet passed, and they slip first.

Five lines of Lü you must know

Nine in the second: 履道坦坦，幽人貞吉. The road you walk is level; be a secluded person, keep correct, luck. A secluded person is not a hermit putting on a show. It is not showing off, not grabbing light. Draw nine in the second: the environment is not as dangerous as you think. You yourself are too bright. Turn the volume down, do the thing right, luck. Suits a solid post, cultivation that is not public, less showing and more living in love.

Six in the third: 眇能視，跛能履，履虎尾，咥人，凶。武人為于大君. Poor of sight yet claiming to see, lame yet claiming to walk, treading a tiger’s tail, bitten, unlucky. A military man acting as the great ruler. Draw six in the third: Lü’s unlucky line you must know. Ability not enough, information not enough, name not enough, and still doing the largest file. A startup touching a red line outside a license, a subordinate issuing an ultimatum for the boss, threatening someone into marriage: all dim of sight, lame of walk. The smartest move then is admitting you are dim and lame, first treating eye and foot, then walking.

Nine in the fourth: 履虎尾，愬愬，終吉. Still a tiger’s tail, but the person is afraid, cautious, luck in the end. Draw nine in the fourth: danger is near, the attitude is right. Checking the draft once more before a meeting, thinking once more who the other person is before posting, checking the process once more before an operating room: all 愬愬. Nine in the fourth already leans hard, and can still be afraid, so luck in the end. Hard until unafraid slides toward nine in the fifth’s danger.

Nine in the fifth: 夬履，貞厲. 夬 is deciding; walking in a deciding way. Correct yet dangerous. Draw nine in the fifth: you may be in position, have power in hand, feel this time must be a fast knife. Lü at the ruler’s place still writes danger: the larger the power, the more the road is like a tiger’s spine, not as simple as a tail. Decisions can be made. Leave a little of Dui’s joy, a seam that can still be changed. Decide until there is no seam, and what bites may be your own decision.

Upper nine: 視履考祥，其旋元吉. Look back at the road you walked, examine the signs of luck and unluck, turn, return, great luck. Draw the upper nine: Lü has reached the end. What you should do is not tread one more step. It is review. Look. Examine the signs clearly. 其旋: able to turn, come back. Great luck is in the turn, not in going on to prove daring. Year-end, a project ending, a relationship coming to a pause: this line is best. Spread the steps out and look: which step was danger, which step had ritual, then decide whether the next hexagram should enter Tai.

Level, bitten, fearful, treading with decision, looking at the treading: five words are enough to walk Lü from luck to unluck and back.

The classroom move I correct most often

Hearing treading a tiger’s tail as motivation: the more danger, the more you go up. The judgment’s point is not being bitten, not performing treading a tiger. You can walk beside danger and not be bitten, provided you are careful. Careful is not fashionable. Six in the third is the look of not being careful: cannot see, cannot walk steadily, still wanting to be the great ruler.

Another error: taking ritual as hypocrisy. Distinguishing above and below is not telling you to kneel. It is telling you not to issue orders from someone else’s seat. Names in a mess, and a tiger’s tail becomes a tiger’s mouth. In class I have students who draw Lü do one earthy thing: write in three lines the person they will see, the rule they will tread, the gate they will pass. Write it out and fear has somewhere to land. Write “whatever” and six in the third is at the door.

After Lü is Tai. The road walked steady, then opening is at ease. Draw Lü and want to jump to Tai’s ease, and the ritual you skipped in the middle will become Pi 否’s seed inside Tai. First finish the tiger’s tail, then talk of Heaven and Earth meeting.

I Ching Lü further reading

Lü follows Xiao Xu; a little accumulation, then ritual. Compare: I Ching Xiao Xu Meaning | Hexagram 9 How to Read: Small Accumulation, Clouds Without Rain. Tread and then Tai, then ease; the next hexagram is: I Ching Tai Meaning | Hexagram 11 How to Read: Advance or Guard in Peace. When the hard wants to go forward, also remember to hold back. Qian 乾’s arrogant dragon can be compared: I Ching Qian Meaning | Hexagram 1 How to Read: Hidden Dragon to Arrogant Dragon.

I Ching Lü FAQ

Treading a tiger’s tail: does it mean there is a small person, a disaster beside me?

It means there is something hard, forceful, that can bite, beside you. It can be a person. It can be a regulation, a machine, a market, your own temper. First name what that tiger is, then decide how to walk. Draw Lü and immediately grab small people: sometimes you grab wrong, and the tiger is still in place.

I drew six in the third. Will this definitely fail?

This line is unlucky because ability, name, and sight do not match and you still tread. Stop this step first. Treat the dimness and lameness: fill information, fill qualifications, return the right to speak to the real great ruler. Stop fast and the bite may not happen. Insist on acting as the great ruler and the failure rate is high.

Nine in the fifth is already in position. Why still dangerous?

A person in position walking in a deciding way: correct and still dangerous. Power in hand, ritual even more has to be there. Lü is not only for those below. Those above need to distinguish above and below even more. If you think you have already passed the tiger-tail stage, the tiger is only something you ride: danger is in that confidence.

How is Lü different from Qian (Modesty) 謙?

Qian (Modesty) is putting the mountain under the earth: you have height and do not use it to press people. Lü is walking beside the hard, using ritual and caution in exchange for not being bitten. Qian (Modesty) leans toward cultivating virtue, usable for life. Lü leans toward where this foot lands, whether the name is right. Draw Lü and only smile modestly, without distinguishing above and below, and the road will still lean. Draw Qian (Modesty) and go tread a tiger’s tail showing skill, and the mountain will not recognize you either.

For an online hexagram, try free love divination and match both birthdays with this reading.