I Ching Qian (Modesty) Meaning: Hexagram 15

Among the sixty-four hexagrams, the one that truly deserves “every line still gets through” is Qian (Modesty) 謙, the most famous. Not because it is the most splendid. Because it is best at putting the place right.

Qian (Modesty) is Earth over Mountain, Modesty. Kun 坤 above, earth; Gen 艮 below, mountain. A mountain is high by nature, yet hidden under the earth. You have height; you do not use height to press people. That is Qian (Modesty).

Students easily hear Qian (Modesty) as “you have to keep a low profile, you have to take a loss.” That is saying virtue as grievance. Qian (Modesty) is not telling you to become small. It is telling you, if you have goods, do not pile the goods on other people’s faces.

Why Qian (Modesty) follows Da You 大有

The Xugua says: 「有大者不可以盈，故受之以謙。」 Those who have the great must not fill; therefore Qian (Modesty) follows. Before it is Da You: abundance, success, something truly in the hand. After having, if you fill further, you are full. Full, then it overflows. So what you learn after success is not taking more. It is Qian (Modesty).

This is practical for a reading. People who draw Qian (Modesty) are often not empty-handed. They may just have a result, a name, just finished a matter. The hexagram’s next homework is: do not use this bit of result to buy enemies.

The Tuan says: 「謙，亨，君子有終。」 It opens; the superior person has an ending. Opening is getting through; having an ending is being able to walk it to the finish. Many hexagrams can open a game and cannot close it. Qian (Modesty)’s good is being able to take a matter through to the end, without pride blocking the road in the middle.

Earth over Mountain: what it means in a reading

Ask about career and draw Qian (Modesty): it is not telling you to give up competing. It is telling you to speak with substance, less with posture. A proposal can be made; do not announce the credit three times yourself. A promotion can be sought; in the process report colleagues’ names together. Qian (Modesty)’s wealth is often not a windfall. It is a thin stream that lasts: because people are willing to work with you a second time.

Ask about love and draw Qian (Modesty): leave space in the relationship for the other person. If you are single, put down “my conditions are not bad, they should come,” take the initiative to care once, and the matter will move. If you already have someone, each yielding a step is more effective than each proving who is more right. Qian (Modesty) between spouses is not who kneels to whom. It is that neither has to keep dignity by winning a sentence.

Ask about health and draw Qian (Modesty): the body has to be taken in, not adding another layer of overdraft. Mountain under the earth: energy is stored. Keep being arrogant and it is no longer Qian (Modesty).

Not every line is casually lucky; luck is in “the place is right”

Saying all six lines lucky is relative to other hexagrams. Each line still has its own practice.

Initial six: 謙謙君子. Modest and again modest. At the very bottom, still more modest. New people, those below, those just starting: compete less, do more.

Six in the second: 鳴謙. Modesty that is heard. Not broadcasting yourself. Done enough, and the name comes out by itself. This line reminds: true modesty will have an echo; fake modesty will stink.

Nine in the third: 勞謙. Modest in labor. This is Qian (Modesty)’s ruling line, also the hardest. A person in labor, in merit, being seen, can still put the body low. Draw nine in the third: at work you are often putting in force. What you most must not then is “without me it cannot be done” hanging on the mouth.

Six in the fourth: 無不利，撝謙. Nothing unbeneficial; exercise modesty. Already not the lowest place, still treating modesty as an action to do, not a personality to perform.

Six in the fifth: 不富以其鄰. Not using wealth to press the neighbors. Have resources, use them to bring the people beside you, not to compare.

Upper six: 鳴謙，利用行師. Modesty heard at the top; it is still beneficial to move the army when needed. Qian (Modesty) is not never fighting. When you fight, the army goes out with a name, and not for face.

Read these six lines and you will see: Qian (Modesty) was never weak. It is having force, and not using force to show off.

Two kinds of fake modesty most common now

One is modest in the mouth, arrogant in the heart. In a meeting saying “I will just say a little,” then talking twenty minutes without letting anyone in. The hexagram can read this kind of person. The “sounding” of sounding modesty is name matching fact, not rhetoric.

One is taking Qian (Modesty) as putting yourself down. Letting every opportunity go, not daring to claim any credit, and finally becoming resentful. That is not Qian (Modesty). That is not daring. Qian (Modesty)’s mountain is still there; only the mountain is under the earth. If you do not even have a mountain, that is empty, not Qian (Modesty).

In class I have students distinguish three words:

• Qian (Modesty): you have something, and can put the manner down.
• Hypocrisy: you do not have that much, and first make a manner to buy trust.
• Self-suppression: you have something, and do not allow yourself to use it.

Draw Qian (Modesty) and walk the first. The second people will see through sooner or later. The third will walk “the superior person has an ending” into “the superior person never started.”

Modest in ease, modest in adversity: the use is different

Modesty in ease is guarding against fullness. It matches that sentence after Da You. You are winning; Qian (Modesty) lets you still have a next round.

Modesty in adversity is reducing resistance. Things are already not going well; add a face of “none of you understand,” and the road gets narrower. Pi 否 speaks of thrifty virtue; Qian (Modesty) speaks of putting the body down to walk. The two hexagrams are often used together.

So Qian (Modesty) is not a personality ornament. It is technique. Draw it and see whether you are now too full, or too hard. Too full, take it in. Too hard, bend a little. Bending is not breaking.

Related reading: I Ching Da You Meaning | Hexagram 14 How to Read: Great Possession, How to Hold It, I Ching Yu Meaning | Hexagram 16 How to Read: Enthusiasm Without Getting Drunk, I Ching Tai Meaning | Hexagram 11 How to Read: Advance or Guard in Peace. Order and division of labor at home: I Ching Jia Ren Meaning | Hexagram 37 How to Read.

I Ching Qian (Modesty) FAQ

Is Qian (Modesty) the luckiest, can it solve any question?

It is one of the hexagrams that most advises “doing it this way, you are more likely to walk it to the end.” Ask about speculative windfall, revenge, grabbing a seat: Qian (Modesty) will not cheer you on. However lucky a hexagram, it still has to match the matter asked.

If I keep being modest at work, will I be treated as easy to bully?

Modest in labor is not not speaking of credit. It is having merit and still being able to stand with others. Work that should be reported, report it; names that should be written, write them. Not reporting is not Qian (Modesty). It is letting the record vanish. Qian (Modesty) is in attitude, not in making yourself invisible.

Does drawing Qian (Modesty) suit a proposal, signing?

It suits talking with the manner put low. A proposal is fine; “we go through it together” fits the hexagram better than “you should say yes.” Signing is fine; write the terms clearly, the tone need not press people. Qian (Modesty) is not not signing. It is not signing by force of position.

Qian (Modesty) and Kun 坤 look alike. How do I tell them apart?

Kun is carrying, following, gaining later: the weight is raising a matter and holding it. Qian (Modesty) is having height and hiding it: the weight is putting the place right. Ask “should I be first”: Kun often says carry first; Qian (Modesty) often says you can have force, but do not use a glare to be first.

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