TL;DR: The Earth Water Shi (Army) hexagram (師) is the 7th of the 64 I Ching hexagrams, with Kun (Earth) above and Kan (Water) below. The hexagram statement reads: "師：貞丈人吉，无咎。" (Shi: zhen zhang ren ji, wu jiu), meaning that if the army remains upright and steadfast and uses a person of mature virtue, there is good fortune and no fault. The six line statements discuss discipline when the army sets out, the leader being in the center of the army, places of retreat, places of assignment, and the time of distributing rewards. Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion: this hexagram can be read as a framework for self-reflection on organizational roles and leadership, not as a guarantee of outcomes.
What number is the Earth Water Army hexagram among the 64 hexagrams?
The Earth Water Army hexagram (地水師) is the 7th of the 64 hexagrams in the Zhou Yi sequence. The hexagram consists of Kun (Earth) above and Kan (Water) below, that is, the upper trigram is Kun and the lower trigram is Kan. The name of the hexagram 師 (Army) originally means army, a crowd, and is also used to mean a teacher.
Hexagram structure and name
In structure, the Earth Water Army hexagram has Water (Kan) below and Earth (Kun) above. The Nine in the Second line is the only yang line, sitting at the central position of the inner trigram Kan, while the remaining lines are all yin lines. The common reading takes that yang line as the image of a commander, and the five yin lines as the crowd that follows.
As for origins, tradition attributes the drawing of the hexagrams to Fu Xi, the naming and writing of the hexagram statements to King Wen, the writing of the line statements to the Duke of Zhou, and the Ten Wings to Confucius; modern scholarship does not regard this as proven and usually places the classic portion of the Zhou Yi in the Western Zhou period, around the late 9th century BCE, and the Ten Wings around the 5th to 2nd century BCE.
How is the original text of the Earth Water Army hexagram written?
Below is the classic text according to the traditional Chinese character version on Wikisource, together with the Sino-Vietnamese reading according to those exact characters and a close translation of the meaning.
Hexagram statement:
師：貞丈人吉，无咎。
Army: steadfast, a venerable person brings good fortune, no blame.
Meaning: An army: if it holds to correctness and steadfastness, and employs a venerable person, that is good, without blame.
First line, six at the beginning:
初六：師出以律，否臧，凶。
Six at the beginning: The army marches out according to discipline; if not good (disorderly), misfortune.
Meaning: When the army marches out it must follow discipline; if it is not good (loses discipline), misfortune.
Nine in the second place:
九二：在師中吉，无咎；王三錫命。
Nine in the second: Being in the army and holding the center is good, no blame; the king three times bestows command.
Meaning: Being in the army and holding to the center is good, no blame; the king three times bestows command.
Six in the third place:
六三：師或輿尸，凶。
Six in the third: The army may have to cart back corpses, misfortune.
Meaning: The army may have to cart back corpses, misfortune.
Six in the fourth place:
六四：師左次，无咎。
Six in the fourth: The army encamps to the left (temporary retreat), no blame.
Meaning: The army encamps to the left (temporarily withdraws), no blame.
Six in the fifth place:
六五：田有禽，利執言，无咎。長子帥師，弟子輿尸，貞凶。
Six in the fifth: The field has birds, it is favorable to seize and speak out, no blame. The eldest son leads the army, the younger son carts back corpses, even if correct and steadfast, misfortune.
Meaning: The field has birds, it is favorable to capture and speak of it, no blame. The eldest son commands the army, the younger son carts back corpses, even if correct and steadfast, misfortune.
Six at the top:
上六：大君有命，開國承家，小人勿用。
Six at the top: The great ruler issues commands, founds states and establishes families; petty people are not to be employed.
Meaning: The great ruler issues commands, founds states and continues families; petty people are not to be employed.
Tuan Zhuan (part of the Ten Wings, traditionally attributed to Confucius; modern scholarship places it around the 5th to 2nd century BCE):
師，眾也。貞，正也。能以眾正，可以王矣。剛中而應，行險而順，以此毒天下，而民從之，吉又何咎矣。
The Army means the masses. Correctness means rectitude. One who can use the masses to achieve rectitude can become a king. Firm and central and responsive, moving through danger yet compliant, using this to govern all under heaven, and the people follow him, good fortune, what blame could there be.
Meaning: The Army means the masses. Correctness means rectitude. One who can use the masses to achieve rectitude can become a king. Firm and central and responsive, moving through danger yet compliant, using this to govern all under heaven, and the people follow him, good fortune, what blame could there be.
Da Xiang Zhuan:
地中有水，師；君子以容民畜衆。
Water within the earth, the Army; the noble person thereby tolerates the people and nurtures the masses.
Meaning: Water within the earth is the Army hexagram; the noble person thereby tolerates the people and nurtures the masses.
Xiao Xiang Zhuan for each line:
- Six at the beginning: 師出以律；失律，凶也。 (The army marches out according to discipline; losing discipline, misfortune. When the army marches out it must follow discipline; losing discipline means misfortune.)
- Nine in the second: 在師中吉，承天寵也。王三錫命，懷萬邦也。 (Being in the army and holding the center is good, receiving heaven's favor. The king three times bestows command, to pacify the myriad states. Being in the army and holding the center is good, that is receiving heaven's favor. The king three times bestows command, that is to pacify the myriad states.)
- Six in the third: 師或輿尸，大无功也。 (The army may have to cart back corpses, greatly without merit. The army may have to cart back corpses, that is having no great merit.)
- Six in the fourth: 左次无咎，未失常也。 (Encamping to the left is no blame, not yet losing the constant. Encamping to the left is no blame, that is not yet losing the constant way.)
- Six in the fifth: 長子帥師，以中行也。弟子輿尸，使不當也。 (The eldest son leads the army, acting through the center. The younger son carts back corpses, the employment is not fitting. The eldest son commands the army, that is acting through the center. The younger son carts back corpses, that is employing the wrong person.)
- Six at the top: 大君有命，以正功也。小人勿用，必亂邦也。 (The great ruler issues commands, to set merit right. Petty people are not to be employed, for they will surely throw the state into disorder. The great ruler issues commands, that is to determine merit. Petty people are not to be employed, because they will surely throw the state into disorder.)
How did Wang Bi and Zhu Xi comment on the Earth Water Army hexagram?
Below are the commentaries of the two scholars, translated closely according to the collated edition.
Wang Bi's commentary (in the Zhou Yi Zhengyi):
- On the hexagram statement: "A venerable person is the term for one who is solemn. To serve as general of an army and obtain correctness, one must employ a venerable person for it to be good. To raise a matter and mobilize the masses without merit is to have blame, and so only good is without blame."
- On the first line, six at the beginning: "This is the time when one first becomes a general, and one must make the army orderly. To order the masses by discipline: lose discipline and they scatter. And so when the army marches out it must follow discipline, and discipline must not be lost. To lose discipline and yet call it good, how is that different from not good? To disobey orders and yet have merit, the law does not pardon. And so when the army marches out without following discipline, whether good or not good, both are misfortune."
- On the nine in the second line: "Firm and dwelling in the center, and further responsive to the one above, this is one who is in the army and holds to the center. Receiving favor from above, serving as master of a whole army, bearing a great task, if there is no merit then there is blame, and so only good is without blame. In conducting a campaign, nothing is better than pacifying the states; when the states are pacified the people submit, and in granting rewards nothing is more weighty, and so command is completed."
- On the six in the third line: "Yin in a yang place, soft riding over firm, advancing with no response, retreating with no place to hold, employing an army like this must meet the misfortune of 'carting back corpses'."
- On the six in the fourth line: "It obtains the place but has no response; with no response it cannot advance, obtaining the place it can remain, and so it encamps to the left without blame. The rules of campaigning want the right to rest on high ground, and so it encamps to the left."
- On the six in the fifth line: "In the time of armies, soft yet obtaining the honored place, yin does not initiate first, soft does not encroach on things, and only responds after being encroached upon, and when it moves it surely obtains uprightness, and so 'the field has birds'. A thing encroaches on oneself first, and so one can seize and speak out without blame. Soft is not the general, yin is not firm martiality, and so it does not go itself but must entrust to another. If it entrusts and does not get the right person, then the masses do not follow, and so 'the eldest son leads the army' is good. The misfortune of the younger son is a matter of course."
- On the six at the top line: "At the extreme of the way of armies, this is the time when military affairs conclude. The command of the great ruler is not to let merit be lost. Founding states and continuing families is to pacify the state. Petty people are not employed, because it is not their way."
Zhu Xi's commentary (Zhou Yi Benyi):
- On the hexagram statement: "The Army means troops and masses. Below Kan and above Kun: Kan is danger, Kun is compliance; Kan is water, Kun is earth. The ancients lodged troops in agriculture, hiding the extremely dangerous within the greatly compliant, storing the unfathomable within the utterly still. Moreover, the hexagram has only one yang line, the nine in the second, at the center of the lower trigram, which is the image of serving as general; the five yin lines above and below comply and follow, which is the image of the masses; the nine in the second is firm below and does the work, the six in the fifth is soft above and entrusts it, which is the image of the king sending out a general. And so this hexagram is called the Army. A venerable person is the term for an elder. The way of employing an army benefits from obtaining correctness and entrusting it to an experienced person, only then obtaining good fortune without blame; the warning to those who consult the hexagram is likewise this."
- On the first line, six at the beginning: "Discipline is the rule. 'Not good' means speaking of what is not good. Mr. Tiao said: the character 'not', most earlier scholars wrote it as 'not'. At the head of the hexagram is the time when military affairs begin; the way of sending out an army must be careful from the start, following discipline is good, not good is misfortune; the warning to those who consult the hexagram is to be careful from the start and keep the rules."
- On the nine in the second line: "The nine in the second is below, and the yin lines return to it, and it has the virtue of firmness and centrality, and above is responsive to the fifth line and gains trust and employment, and so its image and prognostic are like this."
- On the six in the third line: "Carting back corpses means the troops are routed and defeated, carting corpses back. Yin in a yang place, weak in ability but firm in will, neither central nor correct, and further encroaching on what is not its proper duty, and so its image and prognostic are like this."
- On the six in the fourth line: "Encamping to the left means withdrawing the army. Soft yin and not central, yet in a yin place obtaining correctness, and so its image is like this; withdrawing while keeping the whole army intact is far better than the six in the third, and so its prognostic is like this."
- On the six in the fifth line: "The six in the fifth is the master of employing the army, soft and compliant and central, not one who provokes war. The enemy adds to oneself, and one only responds when there is no other choice, and so there is the image of 'the field has birds', and its prognostic is favorable for seizing without blame. 'Words' means speech. The eldest son is the nine in the second. The younger son is the third and fourth lines. Again it warns those who consult the hexagram to be single-minded in what they entrust; if one has a noble person do the work and yet lets a petty person intrude, then one causes them to cart back corpses, and so even if correct and steadfast, misfortune cannot be avoided."
- On the six at the top line: "This is the time when military affairs conclude, the extreme of compliance, the time for discussing merit and granting rewards. Kun is earth, and so there is the image of founding states and continuing families. But petty people, even if they have merit, must not be given land and title; it is enough to reward them with gold and silk; the warning to those who grant rewards is that for petty people they cannot be employed; and petty people who meet this hexagram likewise must not use this line."
How Nhật Nguyệt understands the Earth Water Army hexagram
In Nhật Nguyệt's understanding, the Army hexagram is the only one of the 64 hexagrams whose original text speaks directly about organizing a large body of people. The image "water within the earth" shows a latent strength that needs to be guided. The hexagram statement sets two conditions: hold to correctness and steadfastness, and entrust matters to a venerable person. The six lines sketch a life cycle of an organization: the beginning must have discipline, the middle must have a worthy leader, employing the wrong person brings failure, knowing when to retreat brings safety, entrusting to the right person brings good fortune, and the end must clearly distinguish merit and fault.
This understanding is not confined to military matters. Any collective, from a family to a business, will meet these same situations. What Nhật Nguyệt stresses is that the hexagram offers no guarantee about outcomes; the original text only says which conditions are good and which are bad, and leaves the reader to compare them with their own circumstances.
When you draw the Earth Water Army hexagram asking about work, how should you understand it?
Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion: if you are asking about work, look at the following three points as a reminder. First, discipline and process from the very start, corresponding to the six at the beginning. Second, the role of the leader, corresponding to the nine in the second: there needs to be someone capable at the central position, and that person needs the trust of those above. Third, the place of retreat, corresponding to the six in the fourth: there are times when preserving your strength is wiser than forcing an advance.
What about drawing the Earth Water Army hexagram asking about love?
Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion: the original text of the Army hexagram does not speak about romantic love. If you draw this hexagram when asking about love, the reasonable reading is to borrow the structure of the hexagram: one person at the central position, others following, and the need for discipline and for clear roles. This is Nhật Nguyệt's understanding, not the word of the hexagram.
What about drawing the Earth Water Army hexagram asking about money?
Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion: the Army hexagram does not speak about personal finance. If you draw this hexagram when asking about money, you can read it in the general spirit of the hexagram: managing the resources of many people requires clear rules, a trustworthy person at the head, and knowing when to stop when circumstances are unfavorable. Nhật Nguyệt offers no guarantee about financial outcomes.
What about drawing the Earth Water Army hexagram asking about health?
Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion: the original text of the Army hexagram has nothing to do with illness. Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion: if you draw this hexagram when asking about health, see it as a reminder about a disciplined daily routine and about seeking someone with expertise. Decisions about health belong to doctors, not to the hexagram.
What about drawing the Earth Water Army hexagram asking about leadership?
Nhật Nguyệt's suggestion: this is the topic the original text of the Army hexagram addresses most directly. The hexagram statement sets the condition of the "venerable person", that is, an adult who is solemn and carries authority. The nine in the second speaks of one who is in the middle of the army and holds to the center. The six in the fifth speaks of the one above entrusting matters to the one below. The six at the top speaks of the time of assigning roles and granting rewards. These lines can be read as markers to examine your own leadership role, not as a promise of success.
Historical context of the norms in the Army hexagram
Some line statements carry the social norms of ancient times. For example, the six in the fifth distinguishes the "eldest son" and the "younger son", and the six at the top speaks of "founding states and continuing families" and of "petty people". This is the historical context of a feudal society, where family rank and title were tied to duties in public affairs. Presenting these lines is for understanding the text, not for turning them into advice for life today.
What connection does the Earth Water Army hexagram have with other hexagrams?
In the sequence of the 64 hexagrams, the Army hexagram stands after the Song hexagram (訟, litigation, number 6) and before the Bi hexagram (比, number 8). Tradition reads this order as a thread: where there is dispute, litigation arises; when litigation cannot resolve it, the raising of arms arises; once arms are raised, one must then think of closeness and alliance. This is the traditional reading; modern scholarship does not regard that order as a proven chain of cause and effect.
Quick reference table: the Earth Water Army hexagram
| Aspect | Content |
|---|---|
| Position among the 64 hexagrams | 7 |
| Chinese character name | 師 |
| Symbol | ䷆ |
| English name | The Army |
| Upper trigram (outer trigram) | Kun (Earth) |
| Lower trigram (inner trigram) | Kan (Water) |
| Six lines, the first line at the bottom | first yin, second yang, third yin, fourth yin, fifth yin, top yin |
| Image | Water within the earth, an image of the masses |
| Interpretation | Speaks of gathering and mobilizing large numbers of people. What is stressed is discipline and a leader with authority. Collective strength without organization easily becomes chaos. |
The figures in the table match the results of the lookup tools on Nhật Nguyệt.
The mutual hexagram and changing hexagram of the Earth Water Army
| Type | Upper trigram | Lower trigram | Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original hexagram | Kun (Earth) | Kan (Water) | Earth Water Army |
| Mutual hexagram | Kun (Earth) | Zhen (Thunder) | Earth Thunder Yu |
| Changing hexagram when the nine in the second moves | Kun (Earth) | Kun (Earth) | Kun for Earth |
*The mutual hexagram takes the three middle lines (lines 2, 3, 4 as the inner trigram and lines 3, 4, 5 as the outer trigram). The changing hexagram takes the moving line and changes yin to yang. This table matches the lookup tool on Nhật Nguyệt.*
Overview article on the topic: The 64 I Ching hexagrams.
