# Hexagram 46: Pushing Upward

Canonical page: https://thefreeiching.com/library/46
Last updated: 2026-10-07

```
━━━  ━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━
━━━  ━━━
```

- **Upper trigram:** [Kun 坤](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/kun), Earth, the receptive, yielding
- **Lower trigram:** [Xun 巽](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/xun), Wind, the gentle, penetrating
- **Lines, bottom to top:** 011000 (1 = solid yang, 0 = broken yin)

## Contemporary judgment

Pushing upward. Steady, unforced growth. The effort does not strain because the pace is correct. Small, regular movements accumulate into something substantial. This is not a time for dramatic leaps; the tree does not hurry, and yet it reaches the sky.

## Image

Wood growing within the earth. The superior person devotes themselves to their character and heaps up small things in order to achieve the high and great.

## Counsel

Keep going at a pace you can sustain. Do not chase shortcuts; they are almost always an illusion at this stage. Small disciplines, kept daily, are how real ascents are made. Trust the quiet accumulation. You are further along than you can see.

## The six lines

*Numbered from the bottom upward. These line texts are read when that line is changing in a cast.*

### Line 1

> A six at the beginning means:
> Pushing upward that meets with trust brings great good fortune.

### Line 2

> A nine in the second place means:
> If one is truthful,
> it is favorable to bring a small sacrifice.
> No blame.

### Line 3

> A nine in the third place means:
> One pushes upward into an empty city.

### Line 4

> A six in the fourth place means:
> The king offers him to Mount Ch'i. Good fortune. No blame.

### Line 5

> A six in the fifth place means:
> Perseverance brings good fortune. One pushes upward by steps.

### Line 6

> A six at the top means:
> Pushing upward in darkness.
> It is favorable to be unremittingly persevering.

## Related hexagrams

- **Nuclear (lines 2 to 5):** [54 The Marrying Maiden](https://thefreeiching.com/library/54)
- **Inverse (turned upside down):** [45 Gathering Together](https://thefreeiching.com/library/45)
- **Opposite (every line flipped):** [25 Innocence](https://thefreeiching.com/library/25)

## If one line changes

| Changing line | Relating hexagram |
| --- | --- |
| Line 1 | [11 Peace](https://thefreeiching.com/library/11) |
| Line 2 | [15 Modesty](https://thefreeiching.com/library/15) |
| Line 3 | [7 The Army](https://thefreeiching.com/library/7) |
| Line 4 | [32 Duration](https://thefreeiching.com/library/32) |
| Line 5 | [48 The Well](https://thefreeiching.com/library/48) |
| Line 6 | [18 Work on the Decayed](https://thefreeiching.com/library/18) |

Previous: [45 Gathering Together](https://thefreeiching.com/library/45). Next: [47 Oppression](https://thefreeiching.com/library/47). [All sixty-four hexagrams](https://thefreeiching.com/library).

*The judgment, image and counsel are original contemporary paraphrases written for The Free I Ching. The line text is the CC0 translation from [jesshewitt/i-ching](https://github.com/jesshewitt/i-ching), derived from Richard Wilhelm's 1924 German edition.*

## Cite this page

The Free I Ching. "Hexagram 46: Pushing Upward." https://thefreeiching.com/library/46 (updated 2026-10-07).

*The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice. Short quotations with a link back are welcome. Please do not republish a page in full. The open data files at [/data](https://thefreeiching.com/data) are licensed CC BY 4.0.*

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Source: The Free I Ching (https://thefreeiching.com/library/46). The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice.