Treading — stepping carefully on the tail of a tiger.
Proceed with courtesy and alertness where a single misstep is costly. Right, cheerful, careful conduct disarms the danger. Tread lightly and you pass through unharmed.
cautionconductcourtesycare
Treading places Heaven (strong, creative) above Lake (joyous, open). The interplay of these two trigrams gives the hexagram its character.
The Classical Textoriginal Chinese
The Judgment · 卦辞
履虎尾，不咥人，亨。
The Image · 大象
上天下泽，履；君子以辨上下，定民志。
The Six Lines · 爻辞
- 初九素履，往无咎。象曰：素履之往，独行愿也。
- 九二履道坦坦，幽人贞吉。象曰：幽人贞吉，中不自乱也。
- 六三眇能视，跛能履，履虎尾，咥人，凶。武人为于大君。象曰：眇能视，不足以有明也。跛能履，不足以与行也。咥人 凶，位不当也。武人为于大君，志刚也。
- 九四履虎尾，愬愬，终吉。象曰：愬愬终吉，志行也。
- 九五夬履，贞厉。象曰：夬履贞厉，位正当也。
- 上九视履考祥，其旋元吉。象曰：元吉在上，大有庆也。
The judgment, image and line texts above are quoted from the original Zhou Yi. A modern Chinese translation of the full classic is available on the original-text page.