Hexagram 10 — Treading
King Wen #10 · plain-language meaning, the Image, and the classical text
Treading on the tail of the tiger. Proceed with care, courtesy and propriety, and no harm comes.
What Hexagram 10 Means 白话解读
Hexagram 10 places lake (兑) beneath heaven (乾) — joy lifting what it touches below, creative force pressing upward above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Treading”: treading on the tail of the tiger. Proceed with care, courtesy and propriety, and no harm comes. Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
The Image 象傳
上天下澤，履；君子以辨上下，定民志。
(The trigram representing) the sky above, and below it (that representing the waters of) a marsh, form Lî. The superior man, in accordance with this, discriminates between high and low, and gives settlement to the aims of the people.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
Heaven above, marsh below: treading carefully. The wise keep the order of rank clear, and hearts settle accordingly.— plain-English rendering by The Hexagrams2
Hexagram 10 in Real Questions 實問實答
With money and work
Treading describes treading on the tail of the tiger. Proceed with care, courtesy and propriety, and no harm comes — and that is the posture the tradition recommends for practical matters under this figure: joy lifting what it touches, held inside a larger setting of creative force pressing upward. It names a shape of timing, not a sum.
For a decision
If you cast Treading about a choice, the figure's counsel is the same movement it pictures: treading on the tail of the tiger. Proceed with care, courtesy and propriety, and no harm comes. When lines move in your cast, read them against this base — the moving lines show which part of the figure is awake for you, and the changed hexagram shows where it is heading.
Questions About Hexagram 10
What does 履 (lǚ) mean?
Hexagram 10 of the I Ching is named 履 (lǚ), usually rendered "Treading" in English editions. Its figure is built from lake (兑) below and heaven (乾) above — joy lifting what it touches beneath creative force pressing upward.
Is hexagram 10 a good omen?
The received text of hexagram 10 is warm: it contains 3 occurrences of 吉 (good fortune), 1 of 凶 (misfortune), and 1 of 無咎 (no blame). The classical verdict is broadly favourable — with the lines' own conditions attached.
What does hexagram 10 mean in love?
In a relationship reading, Treading points to treading on the tail of the tiger. Proceed with care, courtesy and propriety, and no harm comes. The figure pairs lake (兑) beneath heaven (乾) — joy lifting what it touches meeting creative force pressing upward — which is the traditional picture of how this energy behaves between two people. For how to phrase a love question before casting, see our guide to asking the I Ching about love.
What does hexagram 10 mean for career and money?
Career and money questions read Treading through the figure itself: lake (兑) below, heaven (乾) above — joy lifting what it touches held inside creative force pressing upward. The plain reading: Treading on the tail of the tiger. Proceed with care, courtesy and propriety, and no harm comes. The text carries 3 mentions of 吉 (good fortune) and 1 of 凶 (misfortune), so it is read as workable — provided the conduct the lines describe is kept.
What do the changing lines of hexagram 10 mean?
A cast of hexagram 10 can produce moving lines. Each of the six lines has its own statement (爻辭) in the classical text below, read from the bottom up, and a moving line is read as the part of the figure that is awake for your question. When a line moves it turns into its opposite, and the whole figure becomes a second hexagram: changing every line of 10 gives hexagram 15, 謙 (Humbling). Every line also has a page of its own on this site — Line 1 through Line 6 under this hexagram — with the classical Chinese and Legge's translation side by side.
How is hexagram 10 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 10 gives hexagram 15 — 謙 (Humbling). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 9 — 小畜 (Small Accumulating). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 37 — 家人 (Dwelling People).
Cast it yourself
Shake the tube, watch your own coins fall.
- The hexagram's classical meaning — judgment and all six lines
- Moving lines marked — but not read for you
- No account, no email, nothing to pay
Get the reading, not just the text
Same cast, read all the way through:
- Every line read for you — what each moving line means inside your question
- The changed hexagram — where your situation is heading, and how to read the turn
- A closing that answers you directly — act, wait, or say it out loud
New to casting? How it works · All 64 hexagrams
Related Hexagrams 錯綜互
The Classical Text 經文
履虎尾，不咥人，亨。
(Lu suggests the idea of) one treading on the tail of a tiger, which does not bite him. There will be progress and success.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
素履，往，無咎。
The first NINE, undivided, shows its subject treading his accustomed path. If he go forward, there will be no error.
履道坦坦，幽人貞吉。
The second NINE, undivided, shows its subject treading the path that is level and easy - a quiet and solitary man, to whom, if he be firm and correct, there will be good fortune.
眇能視，跛能履，履虎尾，咥人，凶；武人為于大君。
The third SIX, divided, shows a one-eyed man (who thinks he) can see; a lame man (who thinks he) can walk well; one who treads on the tail of a tiger and is bitten. (All this indicates) ill fortune. We have a (mere) bravo acting the part of a great ruler.
履虎尾，愬愬，終吉。
The fourth NINE, undivided, shows its subject treading on the tail of a tiger. He becomes full of apprehensive caution, and in the end there will be good fortune.
夬履，貞厲。
The fifth NINE, undivided, shows the resolute tread of its subject. Though he be firm and correct, there will be peril.
視履考祥，其旋元吉。
The sixth NINE, undivided, tells us to look at (the whole course) that is trodden, and examine the presage which that gives. If it be complete and without failure, there will be great good fortune.
Line by Line 逐爻细读
1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1899), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text.2 The Image (象傳) is an ancient text in the public domain; its plain-English gloss here is original to The Hexagrams, not a quotation from any copyrighted edition. · For reflection and entertainment — not financial, medical, or life advice.