20 story

The image of hexagram 20
Guān, observe

Hexagram 20 has trigram Earth below or inside, Wind above or outside. Earth is care, Wind is penetrating or spreading: the earth and its creatures spreading their sounds. Or: your care listening to the wind.

What does it mean, 'inner' and 'outer trigram' (popup)

When trigram Earth is below (popup)

When trigram Wind is above (popup)

Earth below Wind:

The old diviners gave this combination of trigrams a name: Guān. It means to (over)see, regard, display, cause to see, observe, behold, inspect, point of view, divination, aspect, embellish oneself, scene, sight, to travel for pleasure, look-out tower, Daoist monastery or temple or shrine.

Ideogram of the hexagram name: the left part is a bird, a heron, with two eyes and a crest or tufts above them. A heron can watch motionless without missing any movement. The right part (added later) is a kneeling person, which is a worldwide image of praying or imploring, but it is also a picture of seeing (a big eye) without a personal posture.

The 'Great Image' says: The wind blows over the earth: observing. The ancient kings inspected the whole country. They contemplated the people and set up education.

Hex.20 is the contrast of 34, which is about your own convictions.
Hex.20 is about others. Compassion, empathy, consolation. Guān Yin ("Hear Sounds") is the Chinese Madonna, She who hears the prayers and moans of the people. But it is also the overseer who controls the workfloor, or the one who sees the whole of a situation.

  Story:
   The heron sits immovable for hours – and in a split second he grasps a fish.
   In order to see, one’s own inner world has to be still. Every inner sound overrules the signals, or colors them and distorts them. One can only see under water when the surface is quiet. And to be as vigilant after hours like in the first minutes, that too is only possible with inner stillness. Time does not exist, every minute is a new minute.
   Who does not exist himself can see the world, because he does not look, he sees.

The image of hexagram 20Guān, observe

The image of hexagram 20
Guān, observe