Hexagram 7 · ䷆
This hexagram is about organizing and leading a multitude. Success depends on right command, right discipline, and a trustworthy senior leader.
Judgment
This hexagram is about organizing and leading a multitude. Success depends on right command, right discipline, and a trustworthy senior leader.
Image
Water hidden within the earth suggests resources and force held together beneath the surface. The noble person gathers people through tolerance and steadies them through discipline...
Lines
If an army moves without discipline, defeat follows. Order comes first. When command is properly centered, the army can act with good fortune and without blame. If the army starts...
Perseverance. The seasoned leader brings good fortune. No blame.
This hexagram is about organizing and leading a multitude. Success depends on right command, right discipline, and a trustworthy senior leader.
The Army means a multitude. Perseverance means what is right. To lead the many rightly is to be fit to rule. Firmness is in the center and receives response; one moves through danger with obedience. By this one can discipline the world, and the people will follow. What blame could there be?
The army must be governed by justice, not by impulse. When strong leadership is centered, responsive, and orderly, even danger can be navigated and the people will follow.
Water is within the earth: the image of The Army. The noble person tolerates the people and gathers the multitude.
Water hidden within the earth suggests resources and force held together beneath the surface. The noble person gathers people through tolerance and steadies them through discipline.
The army goes forth according to discipline. Otherwise, misfortune.
If an army moves without discipline, defeat follows. Order comes first.
Small Image
When the army goes forth by discipline, error can be avoided.
The opening warning is about military discipline.
In the midst of the army, good fortune. No blame. The king confers command repeatedly.
When command is properly centered, the army can act with good fortune and without blame.
Small Image
In the midst of the army, good fortune comes from receiving the king's charge.
Centered command is what makes the army auspicious.
Perhaps the army carries corpses in the wagon. Misfortune.
If the army starts carrying its dead instead of advancing its purpose, the campaign has turned unfortunate.
Small Image
Carrying corpses in the wagon means the army has lost the right way.
Carrying corpses shows the campaign has gone wrong.
The army withdraws and encamps. No blame.
A timely withdrawal can preserve the force. Retreat is not always failure.
Small Image
The army withdraws and encamps because it has not yet lost order.
Withdrawal can still preserve order.
There is game in the field. It is favorable to seize it. No blame. The eldest son leads the army; the younger son carries corpses in the wagon. Perseverance brings misfortune.
When there is clear game in the field, action is justified, but command must remain in the right hands. Misplaced leadership turns success into loss.
Small Image
The eldest son leads the army because it is fitting to delegate responsibility correctly.
Right action in the field depends on right delegation.
The great ruler issues commands, establishes states, and grants families. Small men should not be employed.
After victory, rewards and titles must be distributed with care. Petty people should not be raised to power.
Small Image
The great ruler grants states because merit must be properly settled. Small men should not be used.
After success, political settlement matters as much as battle.
What does Shih / The Army mean in the I Ching?
This hexagram is about organizing and leading a multitude. Success depends on right command, right discipline, and a trustworthy senior leader.
How should I study Hexagram 7 on this page?
Start with the judgment and image, then read the line statements in sequence. If an army moves without discipline, defeat follows. Order comes first. When command is properly centered, the army can act with good fortune and without blame. If the army starts...
How can this hexagram be applied in a modern reading?
The army must be governed by justice, not by impulse. When strong leadership is centered, responsive, and orderly, even danger can be navigated and the people will follow.
Primary text: Zhouyi / I Ching, including the Judgment, Image, line texts, and related commentaries.
Translation basis: public-domain and modern study references, with AI used only as a learning aid.