Kun · Earth
Overview
— Three-line symbol
Kun is built from three broken yin lines (000) — the only trigram made of yin alone — and its natural image is the earth. The ground never rushes ahead and never gives orders, yet it carries everything and everything grows from it. From this the tradition distilled Kun's virtue, shun (顺): receptive accord. The Shuogua states it plainly: Kun is compliance. Not weakness — the capacity to follow what is real and bring growth to completion.
In the trigram family Kun is the mother, the counterpart of Qian the father. The King Wen arrangement places Kun in the southwest, matched to the turn from summer into autumn; the Shuogua says 'service is rendered in Kun' — the season when all things draw nourishment from the earth and do their work. In the Fuxi arrangement Kun occupies due north, facing Qian in the south along the axis where 'heaven and earth fix the positions.'
Kun's classical images include cloth, the cooking pot, frugality, the level, the cow with her calf, the great wagon, pattern, the multitude, the handle, and black soil. The list circles one theme: containing and carrying — cloth spreading wide, the pot transforming what it holds, the wagon bearing weight, the crowd holding many. In readings Kun tends to concern inclusion, support, execution, and accumulation; the judgment of the doubled hexagram — 'the steadiness of a mare,' 'going first, one goes astray; following, one finds the master' — names its way of acting: not seizing the lead, but achieving through sustained, directed following.
Trigram Virtue
— Shuogua · the defining quality
Receptive accord (顺 shun)
Shun is the power that receives and completes. Qian initiates; Kun finishes — one gives the direction, the other turns direction into an actual harvest. Kun's accord contains thickness (carrying without picking and choosing), quietness (staying within its role), and duration (small accumulations tamed into great height). Its caution is equally plain: following needs something to follow. Direction-less compliance 'goes astray at first' — only after finding what to serve does receptivity become great.
Classical Source
— Shuogua zhuan (Explaining the Trigrams)
Line Structure
— Bottom to top
Bottom to top, all three lines are broken yin (000) — the perfect inverse of Qian's three solid lines. No firm line takes the lead, so all of Kun's strength expresses itself as capacity: it can receive, it can yield, it can sustain. The risk of pure softness is written into the same structure — without a yang to orient it, receptivity loses its way. Hence Kun's recurring wisdom: 'following, one finds the master.' Softness needs a spine to serve.
In a Reading
— As upper · as lower · overall
As the lower (inner) trigram
As the lower (inner) trigram, Kun marks a grounded, accommodating inner stance: you are willing to cooperate, glad to help others succeed, and you value steady accumulation over show. That is a precious foundation — but ask whether it shades into passivity. Following without your own judgment lets the situation lead you.
As the upper (outer) trigram
As the upper (outer) trigram, Kun marks a broad, mild environment: little resistance, wide support, ground suited to steady advance and concrete delivery. The moment does not call for bold strokes; it calls for persistence and good faith — honoring what was promised, item by item.
Overall
Kun governs carrying, following, and completion. Meeting it usually points to succeeding through the supporting, executing role — accumulate thickly, release slowly. Its caution: find the right direction first, then follow it with everything. Doubled, Kun forms Hexagram 2, whose Image line is the trigram's charter: as the earth's condition is receptive devotion, those who consult it carry the world with broad virtue.
Hexagrams Containing Kun
— Kun as upper or lower trigram
· English renderings and modern readings are original editorial writing, cross-checked against public-domain and classical commentary lineages.
· Hexagram Cast does not predict, score, schedule, ward, or recommend rituals.
· Modern inputs are reproducible; traditional casts can be audited line by line from the stored coin/yarrow trace.