Hexagram 19: Approach

Officials in crimson robes, clergy in white surplices, and citizens in dark cloaks process across Venice's Piazza San Marco. Gentile Bellini documented this Corpus Christi ceremony during the Renaissance, showing how the city's political and religious authorities moved in formal procession toward sacred relics housed in the basilica. The crowd advances slowly, deliberately, across stone pavement toward spiritual presence made visible through ritual.

This is Lín (臨), Approach—the character combining elements suggesting "overlooking from above" and "arriving." The hexagram shows Earth (Kūn) above Lake (Duì): the receptive and nourishing positioned over the joyful and open. In Zhou Dynasty court practice, this configuration appeared when a superior visited subordinates, when spring approached after winter, when something greater drew near to something lesser. The procession embodies this dynamic—mortals approach the divine through consecrated ground, following a path laid out by tradition.

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The Judgment text addresses Bellini's scene: "Approach has supreme success. Perseverance furthers. When the eighth month comes, there will be misfortune." The text promises that deliberate, respectful approach brings success—but includes a warning. Ancient diviners knew that approach has a season. The eighth month marks autumn's arrival, when yang energy that grew through spring and summer begins its decline. Even successful approach cannot be sustained indefinitely; what rises will eventually recede. The procession moves toward the basilica, but will also disperse.

The Image Text observes: "The earth above the lake: the image of Approach. Thus the superior man is inexhaustible in his will to teach, and without limits in his tolerance and protection of the people." When those with resources approach those without, proper conduct requires generosity, not condescension. Bellini painted Venetian civic religion—a system where the powerful displayed their piety publicly. In the I-Ching's sequence, Approach follows Work on What Has Been Spoiled: after addressing inherited corruption, fresh energy and attention arrive to restore what was depleted. The next hexagram is Contemplation, when the direction reverses—no longer approaching, but being observed from a distance.