شش خطی 15
تواضع، میانه‌روی، فروتنی (چیئَن Qian)

Humility means possession without dwelling on it. As for the qualities of the hexagram, above is earth , submissive, and below is mountain , still: Firmness still within, flexibility accords without; inwardly firm while outwardly flexible, it is therefore called humility.

This hexagram represents preservation of yang by yin; it follows on the previous hexagram sameness with people. Sameness with people means mixing in with the ordinary world inconspicuously, using strength with clarity, so that strength is not used arbitrarily. Unless one’s development and maturity is quite deep and rich, one cannot do this. The work of deepening development is precisely the work of preserving yang by yin. Preserving yang by yin is that whereby openness is consummated and tranquility pure, staying in the appropriate place.

Mountain is where one kills the self, earth is where one enlivens the self. Those who have not yet died first learn to die; this is the stilling of yang. Nonbirth is eternal life; this is the submission of yin. The stilling of yang is stopping false yang and nurturing true yang; the submission of yin is using true yin to repel false yin. When false yang stops and true yang remains, this is called nurturing; when false yin retreats and true yin appears, this is called submission. When one is able to nurture and to submit, one governs oneself with strictness and responds to others with openness; the mind becomes increasingly humble, while the way becomes increasingly lofty—outwardly one is lacking, inwardly one has more than enough. Submitting to truth and according with people, one rests in the highest good and does not move. This is why the path of humility is beneficial.

However, if one can be humble in the beginning but not in the end, this is having a start but no conclusion. When stillness is not stable and submission is not appropriate, humility is false and not real, so it cannot be developmental. Only superior people who practice the Tao know where to stop, disregard what they have and appear to have nothing; they are single-minded on pure reality, they have a start and a conclusion, following the Tao in their acts, growing ever stronger the longer they go on. Therefore they attain the primordial emptiness, coming from within nothingness, congealing into the elixir.

Those who are not superior people think they have what they have not, think they are fulfilled when in fact they are empty. Self-satisfied, though they be reverent outwardly they are not respectful inwardly; diligent in the beginning, they end up lazy. They inevitably wind up stopping true yang and using false yang, obeying human desires and violating celestial principles. This is not only unfortunate, it is also not developmental. How could it be considered humility?

Modesty means to have endowments but not dwell on them. Above is earth , below is mountain ; this is the existence of mountains in the earth. Originally, mountains are high and earth is low; inwardly concealing high attainments while in a state of lowliness, being outwardly empty yet inwardly fulfilled, is the image of modesty.

What superior people see in this is that people have an abundance of pride and a scarcity of humility; therefore they act presumptuously and are never impartial. Therefore superior people decrease the abundant pride and increase the scarce humility; when handling affairs and dealing with people, they assess the relative importance of things, determine what is appropriate according to the situation, and deal impartially with it.

Superior people capable of modesty have talent but do not presume upon it; they have virtue, but do not dwell on it. They have no conception of self, and no images of others. All pride and arrogance have vanished from them, and their minds are always equanimous. When the mind is equanimous, one is naturally also impartial in one's dealings. Inwardly equanimous, outwardly impartial, one's virtue grows daily more lofty, one's heart grows daily more humble, outwardly appearing to be lacking, inwardly having more than enough. Many are the benefits of modesty.