Hexagram 10 of 64
履 lǚ
Treading Carefully
乾 (qián, Heaven) above · 兑 (duì, Lake) below
The Judgment 卦辞
You must walk a path that touches power and risk. Courtesy is your armor: behave impeccably, keep your footing, and even the tiger’s tail can be stepped on safely.
The Image 大象
Heaven above, the lake below: treading. The wise person distinguishes high from low and steadies the hearts of the people.
The six lines 爻辞
Each line of 履 has its own classical text. If a line in your cast is changing, its text is the heart of your reading.
Line 1 · 初九
Walk simply, in your ordinary way. Going forward like that does no harm.
「素履，往无咎」
Line 2 · 九二
The path is level and open. The quiet person who keeps to it finds good fortune.
「履道坦坦，幽人贞吉」
Line 3 · 六三
The one-eyed leading the lame, treading on the tiger's tail. Overestimating your footing here gets bitten.
「眇能视，跛能履，履虎尾，咥人，凶」
Line 4 · 九四
You tread the tiger's tail — with trembling care. That fear is exactly what saves you.
「履虎尾，愬愬终吉」
Line 5 · 九五
Decisive, rigid stepping. Certain of your ground — and that certainty is the danger.
「夬履，贞厉」
Line 6 · 上九
Look back at the path walked and weigh it fully. Honest review brings supreme good fortune.
「视履考祥，其旋元吉」
If you drew this in a reading
A pattern of tension and craft. This hexagram belongs to the large middle family of mixed patterns: it works, but only along its own grain. Read the Judgment closely — mixed hexagrams usually name the exact condition on which their promise depends.
In yes/no questions this hexagram reads as “not yet clear” — the answer hinges on timing and execution.
The trigrams give the flavor: 乾 (Heaven) above — creative force — initiative, clarity, persistence — over 兑 (Lake) below — joyous openness — exchange, persuasion, pleasure shared. Where those two energies meet, 履 is born.
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