Hexagram 10: Treading Carefully
履Lǚ
Stepping lightly past the tiger.
The passages below are historical language. Their references to fortune, danger, and the exemplary person belong to the text’s world. Our modern explanation is an invitation to reflect on your situation.
The Judgment
Classical Chinese
履。 履虎尾，不咥人，亨。
Our English rendering
Treading Carefully. One treads on a tiger's tail; it does not bite the person. Success.
The Image
Classical Chinese
象曰：上天下澤，履。君子以辨上下，定民志。
Our English rendering
Heaven above, the lake below: Treading Carefully. A person of integrity therefore distinguishes higher and lower ranks and steadies the people's purpose.
Translation note: The Image explicitly refers to higher and lower social ranks. That historical hierarchy is retained in the translation and distinguished from the modern reflection.
A modern reading
The tiger's tail makes the danger in a step unusually vivid. A person has entered a space where their movement can provoke something much stronger than themselves. The Judgment records a successful passage in the old oracle's voice. For a present reflection, the image brings attention to the actual encounter: what is sensitive, how close you are to it, and what understanding of the situation your next movement requires.
The Image places heaven above a lake and connects that arrangement with rank and settled purpose. It speaks from a hierarchical society in which distinctions were part of public order. A contemporary reader can examine the roles in a difficult interaction without adopting that whole social system. Knowing who can decide, whose consent matters, and what responsibility each person carries may make careful conduct more concrete than a general intention to be polite.
A question to sit with
What boundary or role do you need to understand before taking your next step in this sensitive situation?
Source and method
The Judgment and Image are classical passages from the Book of Changes. The English rendering and modern explanation are Meow Ching’s editorial work. This page covers these two passages; it does not translate the six individual line texts.
Read the classical text on Wikisource · Our sources and method