I Ching Hexagram 19
Hexagram 19: Lin (临)
Composed of 兑 (Dui) below and 坤 (Kun) above · approach · leadership · nearness · expansion
The Judgment
临：元，亨，利，贞。至于八月有凶。
Lin (Approach): great, it flows, it is favorable, it is held right. And then, come the eighth month, there is misfortune. The four virtues are set down and the warning is appended, which is precisely the shape of the hexagram.
Translation notes
- 元，亨，利，贞: Wilhelm renders "Approach. Success. Perseverance brings good fortune... primal and enduring good fortune" — The received text punctuates these as four separate one-character clauses rather than one flowing phrase, and that matters: the short items are the promise and the long clause that follows is the condition. Read the judgment as a countdown rather than a description. All four virtues hold while the situation is still filling — the tide is at the eighth month, not the first.
- 咸临: Wilhelm renders "influencing and correct brings good fortune (lines 1-2)" — 咸 normally means 'all' or 'entirely', but in the two opening lines it is most often read with 感, to move or affect someone — a character built from heart and 咸. So 临 here is not authority exerted from above but nearness that affects people. The counsel at the bottom of the hexagram is presence, and presence is exactly what a beginning needs.
The judgment above quotes the classical Chinese of the Zhou Yi (public domain); the English gloss and modern reading are our own. Compare with James Legge's The I Ching (Sacred Books of the East, Vol 16) , 1882 (public domain).
Quick Answers
Is hexagram 19 (Lin) good or bad?
One of the twelve auspicious hexagrams, with a time limit written into its own judgment. It is good while it lasts: access to people, decisions that actually get made, influence that works. The 8th-month clause is not a separate bad omen appended to a good reading — it is part of the same reading, telling you the tide is coming in and will go out again. Ask what you want in place when that happens.
What does hexagram 19 (Lin) mean in love?
It means people can be reached, which for a relationship means the conversation is available now. Partnered, this is a period for saying the true thing — the fifth line's governing by understanding rather than by plan, applied at home. Single, the rising tide genuinely helps: meet people, be reachable, be present. The warning line is 3, and it is the one everybody gets wrong, because being sweet and liked is not the same as being known.
What happens when line 3 of hexagram 19 (Lin) changes?
Line 3 is 六三, the sweet nearness, and it is the only yin in the rising pair. Flip it and Lin becomes Hexagram 11 (Tai, Peace): the pleasant, unproductive contact becomes genuine exchange between upper and lower. Concretely, the conversation you have been keeping friendly actually goes somewhere. A relationship, a work arrangement, or a family matter that had stalled at friendliness moves into real negotiation — and the tone of the whole period improves, because something is finally being said.
The Six Lines
Read your line of interest below. Lines are read from the bottom (line 1) to the top (line 6). A changing line means the hexagram is transforming — see the related hexagrams at the bottom.
初九
咸临，贞吉。A nearness that moves them. Constancy is good fortune. Changing into Hexagram 7 (Shi, The Army).
The first yang among five yin, already effective, because early influence in this hexagram comes from being genuinely available and close rather than from title — so start a thing by showing up inside it, since the position of least authority is also the one with the most freedom.
九二
咸临，吉无咎。A nearness that moves them. Good fortune, no blame. Changing into Hexagram 24 (Fu, Return).
The second yang line has found the same way in, with all good fortune and no blame, which makes this the line about things arriving: do not disturb what is working, and let lines 1 and 2 together be the basic instruction — be near, and let the nearness do the rest.
六三
甘临，无攸利。既忧之，无咎。Sweet nearness. Nothing is of benefit. If one worries about it, no blame. Changing into Hexagram 11 (Tai, Peace).
The line that ruins the good mood: speaking sweetly, enjoying the company, enjoying being liked, and the text says nothing is gained by it, because pleasantness substitutes for dealing with the substance while lines 1 and 2 are for the substance.
六四
至临，无咎。Coming to the nearness. No blame. Changing into Hexagram 54 (Gui Mei, The Marrying Maiden).
The central position, and the most neutral one — attending to what is there without adding anything, which is why the instruction is so brief, and this is the line of showing up fully without steering in a meeting, a family, or a project.
六五
知临，大君之宜，吉。Governing by understanding what is there. What suits the great ruler. Good fortune. Changing into Hexagram 60 (Jie-Limitation, Limitation).
The ruler of the hexagram, and the line the judgment's warning is aimed at: the right way to be in charge here is to read the situation accurately and act on that rather than on a plan formed earlier, which is also where the eighth month starts to become visible.
上六
敦临，吉无咎。A nearness that is generous and substantial. Good fortune, no blame. Changing into Hexagram 41 (Sun, Decrease).
At the top the nearness is 敦, solid and giving rather than demanding, though it is still 临 and still the same posture of presence, so the judgment's warning is answered with generosity that costs you something while the position is still full.
Hexagram 19 in Love, Career & Decisions
Love & Relationships
Approachable and forward, with a shelf life. Partnered: this is a good stretch for talking, repairing, and being genuinely with people — the nearness the whole hexagram is about, and 六四's central, unstereotyped presence is what a relationship actually runs on. The line to watch is 3: sweetness that substitutes for substance. When the conversation is pleasant and nothing has actually been said, that is 甘临, and the text says nothing is gained by it. Single: the tide is rising, so making yourself available genuinely works. 初九 is your line, and it is about presence rather than persuasion.
Have the conversation you have been softening for a week, and let it be blunt rather than kind.
Career & Work
Favorable, and good for a specific kind of access. Answer early: yes to the meeting, the introduction, the first conversation, the offer of help. The advantage of this period is that people below you are easy to reach, and the fifth line says leadership in it is done by reading what is actually the case rather than by executing a plan. Two cautions: line 3 warns against substituting charm for substance in a working relationship, and the judgment's own appendix — come the eighth month — says do not build a plan on the current openness being permanent.
Spend this window on the people below you, and put a date on the review so that the openness is never quietly assumed to continue.
Making a Decision
YES, and on a clock. The judgment opens with all four virtues and then tells you the date, so the answer is clearly yes and the useful question is how much time you have. What to watch is line 3 — pleasant, agreeable, and productive of nothing, which is a real risk when the mood in the room is good. Line 5 is the condition for doing it properly: knowing the actual situation rather than your earlier version of it. And the appendix is explicit — something that is expanding now will turn. Take the opening, and plan for the eighth month rather than for a permanent arrangement.
Favorable now and time-limited — take the opening, check the facts before committing, and set your own eighth month.
Health & Wellbeing
Rising and warm. Lin's energy is the tide, an upward gradient in mood and energy that is genuinely pleasant and genuinely finite. The judgment's structure is the useful part: the same sentence that promises the rise also names the month it ends. For entertainment and reflection only, not medical advice.
Spend the good energy on building the habit that will carry you through the flatter weeks, and do not add intensity on top of a good patch.
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