Hexagram 1: The Creative
Qian · 乾
The Judgment
You're initiating, not reacting. Success comes through sustained commitment to what's right. Creative force aligned with natural law brings transformation—perseverance is the method.
The Image
Heaven's movement never stops—one day follows another without pause. Match this: continuous self-strengthening, eliminating what degrades, renewing what empowers. Don't slack.
「天行，健。」天的運行從不停止，所以君子要自強不息。這話聽過太多次，聽到有點麻木。但想想：一日接一日，沒有暫停鍵。大部分人做不到。我也做不到。但方向大概是對的。
The Six Lines
You have the power but not the moment. Wait. Premature force wastes what you're building.
You're becoming visible. Influence manifests through natural presence, not forced effort. Seek those of moral stature—alignment compounds when the principled meet.
You're visible now—fame brings crowds who can corrupt through flattery or pull you off course. Stay vigilant. Self-examination is the only defense. No fault if you maintain the axis.
Here's the choice: advance into the world or withdraw to develop yourself. Either path is blameless if you're true to your nature, not external pressure.
Peak influence. Those aligned with you will find you—no need to search. What you are draws what accords with your nature. Water to water, fire to fire.
Here's the danger: climb too high and you lose connection with those you serve. Isolation follows. Power without ground leads to inevitable collapse.
Artwork & Treatise
The Ancient of Days
William Blake, 1794
William Blake's divine geometer bends forward from clouds of radiant gold, compass extended to measure the abyss below. The Ancient of Days, etched in 1794 as the frontispiece to Europe: A Prophecy, depicts the moment before creation—pure potential gathering itself to impose order on chaos. Blake's bearded figure crouches within a solar disk, his instrument poised to inscribe circles onto the darkness beneath. The muscular form radiates outward in concentric waves of yellow and orange light, energy made visible.
This is Qián (乾), the first hexagram. Six unbroken lines—Heaven (☰) doubled—form the I-Ching's opening statement. The character 乾 originally depicted the sun's rising energy, yang principle in its most concentrated expression. In Zhou Dynasty divination, this configuration appeared when circumstances favored bold initiative, when creative force moved without obstruction. Blake's compass-wielding creator embodies this: active, strong, light-giving, the movement that initiates rather than receives.
{artwork_reasoning}
The Judgment declares: "The Creative works sublime success, furthering through perseverance." Blake painted a god who perseveres in measurement, who sustains the act of creation through focused will. Ancient diviners associated Qián with the dragon—not the European monster but the Chinese symbol of awakening spring energy. The Image Text counsels: "The movement of heaven is full of power. Thus the superior man makes himself strong and untiring." Six unbroken lines demand sustained effort, the muscular tension visible in Blake's figure as he holds his position against the infinite. In the I-Ching's sequence, Qián stands first because all other hexagrams derive from the interplay of yang and yin that begins here—pure creative force seeking form.
Yilin Verse
道陟石阪，胡言連蹇。譯瘖且聾，莫使道通。請謁不行，求事無功。
Jiao Yanshou's Forest of Changes (焦氏易林) — Unchanging verse for 乾 (Qián)
Character-by-Character Breakdown
Classical Chinese text with pinyin and English meanings