All six lines are yang: strength at its fullest, like heaven circling day after day. Zhu Xi reads great success here, kept to the end only by steady correctness.
Both trigrams are Qian ☰, heaven, whose quality is strength (健) and whose family role is the father. With every line yang, Zhu Xi calls this yang in its pure form and strength at its utmost. He reads the judgment as King Wen's verdict that the way of Qian goes through greatly and is perfectly correct, so the one who casts it does well by staying correct and firm to the end.
Judgment (卦辭)
The text attached to the whole hexagram, read when no line is changing.
乾，元亨，利貞。
Qian. Things go through greatly. It is fitting to stay correct and firm.
Zhu Xi glosses each word: yuan is great, heng is going through, li is fitting, zhen is correct and firm. He takes the words as King Wen's verdict on the whole hexagram: the way of Qian goes through greatly and is perfectly correct. For a cast with no changing lines, he reads the prognosis as great success, with the benefit lying in correctness held firmly; only that keeps the outcome secure to the end. Great momentum, in this reading, still needs a sound aim.
Image (大象)
The Image commentary (象傳) reads the whole hexagram from its two trigrams.
天行健，君子以自強不息。
Heaven's course is strong. The noble person, taking this as a model, keeps growing strong by their own effort and never stops.
Doubled hexagrams usually take meaning from the doubling, Zhu Xi observes, but there is only one heaven. Here the doubling is heaven going round once today and once again tomorrow, which only the utmost strength could do. The noble person copies this by keeping personal cravings from damaging the firm strength that heaven gives.
Lines (爻辭)
From the bottom line to the top. In the line names, nine (九) marks a yang line and six (六) a yin line.
Line 1, yang (初九)changing line in the shared reading
潛龍勿用。
A dragon lying hidden. Do not put it to use.
Lines are counted from the bottom, and yang lines are called nine because nine is old yang, the kind that changes. A dragon is a creature of yang; set at the very bottom, its yang cannot yet be put to work, so the picture is a dragon in hiding and the counsel is not to use it. Zhu Xi adds that anyone who receives this changing line should study the image and weigh its warning.
Line 2, yang (九二)changing line in the shared reading
見龍在田，利見大人。
The dragon appears in the field. It is favorable to see the great person.
Out of the depths, the dragon now stands in the open. Zhu Xi sees a firm, central line whose benefit reaches others, so people gain by seeing it. It does not yet hold a ruling place, but its virtue is plain, so for an ordinary inquirer the text means it helps to meet such a person: a great one still in a low position. If the inquirer has this dragon's virtue, the great person to see is the fifth line above.
Line 3, yang (九三)changing line in the shared reading
君子終日乾乾，夕惕若厲，无咎。
The noble person is strong and active all day long, and at evening still wary. Danger. No blame.
A yang line in a yang place, doubly firm, off-center, at the top of the lower trigram: Zhu Xi calls it a dangerous spot. Yet its nature is strong, so the picture is tireless work by day and watchfulness at night. The noble person here means the inquirer. Anxious care of this kind is what allows the text to say no blame even where danger is real.
Line 4, yang (九四)changing line in the shared reading
或躍在淵，无咎。
Perhaps it leaps, there in the deep. No blame.
Zhu Xi glosses “perhaps” as doubt not yet settled, and the leap as leaving the ground without yet flying. The deep is empty above and hollow below, hard to fathom. A yang line in a yin place, at the base of the upper trigram, this is a moment of change when advance and retreat are both still open. No blame comes from moving forward or holding back as the time requires.
Line 5, yang (九五)changing line in the shared reading
飛龍在天，利見大人。
A dragon flying in the sky. It is favorable to see the great person.
Firm, strong, central and correct, this line sits in the ruler's seat, which Zhu Xi likens to a sage's virtue in a sage's position: hence the dragon in flight. The prognosis matches the second line, except that the great person to be seen is the one above. If the inquirer holds such a position, the fitting meeting is with the great person below, the second line.
Top line, yang (上九)changing line in the shared reading
亢龍有悔。
A dragon that has gone too high. There is regret.
Kang means rising so far that one cannot come back down. Yang has reached its limit at the top, and Zhu Xi says any movement from there is bound to bring regret. The image is of strength that has outrun its place. A reader might ask where pressing on has stopped serving the purpose it began with.
Use of nines (用九)
見羣龍无首，吉。
A flock of dragons appears, with none at the head. Good fortune.
Zhu Xi explains “using nines” as a rule for all 192 yang lines: a yang line cast as nine changes, one cast as seven does not. It is stated here because Qian is pure yang and comes first. When all six lines change, firmness becomes able to yield, which he calls the way of good fortune; hence dragons with no one at the head. He cites the Chunqiu zhuan using these words for Qian turning into Kun.
If you drew this hexagram
Which text to read depends on how many lines are changing. With none, read the judgment; with one, read that line; with more, follow Zhu Xi's rules in the Yixue qimeng.
Text: Zhu Xi, Yuanben Zhouyi benyi (原本周易本義), Siku Quanshu Wenyuange copy, as transcribed by the Kanseki Repository (KR1a0031), corrected and punctuated by K-magpie. Translation and explanation: written by AI (Claude) from Zhu Xi's commentary and checked against the text and commentary. Sources and the list of corrections are on the Today's Hexagram page.