I Ching Hexagram 35
Hexagram 35: Jin (晋)
Composed of 坤 (Kun) below and 离 (Li) above · progress · advancement · brilliance · ascent
The Judgment
晋：康侯用锡马蕃庶，昼日三接。
Jin (jìn), Progress: the sun rising above the earth. A marquis is favoured with a gift of horses, more and more of them, and given audience three times in a single day. The hexagram is ascent by being noticed - its picture of promotion is a ruler being given access, repeatedly, in one day.
Translation notes
- 锡马: Wilhelm renders "The bestowed horses" — 锡 is a gift from above, imperial bestowal, and 康侯 is a feudal lord whose rank is being honoured. The point of the horses is quantity and repetition, which is why the text adds 蕃庶 and why the whole judgment measures progress by how much attention is coming down to meet it - not by whether any is coming.
- 晋: Wilhelm renders "Progress" — 晋 is the same character as the name of the dynasty founded in the third century BC by the family the Sima name descends from, and the commentaries use the rising sun almost exclusively. The nuance worth carrying into English is that 晋 is repeatedly paired with a word meaning crushed or rejected - 摧如, 愁如, 鼫鼠 - so progress in this hexagram includes advancing through a system that has not yet decided you deserve it.
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 35 (Jin) good or bad?
Good - it is a favourable hexagram and the judgment is entirely about a marquis being given more honour, more horses and more audience. The balance sits in the line texts: three of the six pair rising with something unpleasant, and one of them calls you a fat rat. This hexagram says advancement is real and available, and that it is also where people get careless.
What does hexagram 35 (Jin) mean in love?
It means the situation is moving upward and it favours becoming more visible to each other. The early lines say advance and worry arrive together and both are fine, so do not read your own discomfort as evidence that it is going badly. The line to avoid is 上9, the horn, which is what it looks like when two people keep pushing at something that has stopped moving.
What happens when line 6 of hexagram 35 (Jin) changes?
上九 turning yin gives Hexagram 16 (Yu, Enthusiasm). The present line is progress carried to the horn - power with nothing left to bite, an ugly small fight at the ceiling of the rise. The changed picture is enthusiasm, which is energy with the status frame removed. Concretely it fits somebody who has been chasing a next step and finds, once the step stops mattering, that they actually want the work itself.
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.
初六
晋如，摧如，贞吉。罔孚，裕无咎。Advancing, and being crushed; correct conduct is good. Not yet trusted, so be generous with margin and there is no blame. Changes into Hexagram 21 (Shi He) if this line is the changing line.
Both things at once: you are moving and being pushed down. The line says that is a normal way to start, and advises 裕, room to spare - since nobody believes you yet, do not spend credibility proving yourself. Give it time and there is no blame.
六二
晋如，愁如，贞吉。受兹介福，于其王母。Advancing, and anxious; correct conduct is good. Receiving this great blessing, from her royal grandmother. Changes into Hexagram 64 (Wei Ji) if this line is the changing line.
The same pairing as the line below it - advance with worry - and this time it is called good, with the blessing arriving through the king's mother, the female authority in the palace who opens doors. So the line describes promotion accompanied by real anxiety and by support from someone senior to your actual manager.
六三
众允，悔亡。All concur, and remorse is gone. Changes into Hexagram 56 (Lu-Wanderer) if this line is the changing line.
The agreement of the group does the work. 六3 is the only strong line among three weak ones, which is why the position functions: enough strength to hold the middle, not enough to be its own idea. If you are waiting for permission, this line says stop asking individuals and go and get the group.
九四
晋如鼫鼠，贞厉。Advancing like a fat rat; correct conduct is dangerous. Changes into Hexagram 23 (Bo) if this line is the changing line.
A rat that has got fat. The image is someone who has been given plenty and now takes more than their share by stealth in the middle of a rising organisation. The line calls it dangerous even with correct conduct, which is a blunt statement that being shrewd about position eventually stops being shrewd.
六五
悔亡，失得勿恤，往吉，无不利。Remorse gone; do not fret over loss or gain; going forward is good, nothing unfavourable. Changes into Hexagram 12 (Pi) if this line is the changing line.
This is the line to have when you are doing well and cannot stop checking. It is the best line in the hexagram and it is entirely about attention: the position is favourable, so stop measuring whether you are winning. Nothing here requires caution - it requires less anxiety about results.
上九
晋其角，维用伐邑，厉吉，无咎，贞吝。Advancing to the point of the horn; there is nothing for it but to attack the small town. Urgent, and then good; no blame, but it stands to reason that regret is coming. Changes into Hexagram 16 (Yu) if this line is the changing line.
The horn is the hardest and least useful part of an animal - progress that has nothing left to bite. So the top line arrives at the ceiling of power: a big job, a small target, an ugly fight. It is marked urgent but right for clearing out your own house, and it warns of regret. It is the point at which advancement stops being progress.
Hexagram 35 in Love, Career & Decisions
Love & Relationships
Judgment: rising, and it favours being seen. This hexagram's picture of progress is a ruler given audience three times in one day, which is about visibility and access, and in relationships that reads as someone becoming more present rather than more demanding. Single: 初6 is the honest early version - you put yourself forward and get pushed back, so do not spend your credibility proving yourself, and 九4 is the caution against becoming someone who takes more as they go. Partnered: 六2 describes advance with real anxiety plus support from an authority in your life, which is often how a relationship actually moves forward. 上9 warns about pushing at something that has already stopped.
Make yourself easier to find for the person you like, and let the early awkwardness stand instead of over-explaining it.
Career & Work
Judgment: yes - this hexagram is about promotion and it reads well for it. The judgment's image is a marquis receiving more horses and more audience, which is how favour actually shows up at work. Signal: 六3 is the practical line, because the group's agreement is what moves this, so get your peers visibly onside rather than lobbying one person; and 六5 is the healthiest one, telling you to stop checking the numbers once the position is good. 九4 is the warning to take seriously in competitive environments - the fat rat gets comfortable and then gets noticed.
Build visible agreement among your peers before you ask for the role, then treat the win as settled instead of continuing to justify it.
Making a Decision
Yes, with one condition: go forward on the strength of what other people can see, not on your own private read. The judgment gives you access and an audience, which describes being brought in rather than winning a fight. The condition comes from 九4, where the person who has got fat on the position is called dangerous - so if your plan depends on claiming more than your current contribution justifies, the text is against it. Watch 六5, which says not to fret over loss or gain: if you are deliberating mainly to check that you chose correctly, the answer is already go.
Proceed and stop re-checking the decision, but keep your contribution ahead of the position you are claiming.
Health & Wellbeing
Tone: bright and a bit pushy. Jin is the sun coming up, so read as wellbeing it describes good days - energy returning, mood improving, more light in a situation that was dim - and it carries the hexagram's own warning that bright days are when people overreach. The line to sit with is 六5, which says do not fret over loss or gain, because it is aimed squarely at the feeling of having to keep checking on yourself. And 上9, the horn, is the picture of a day when you cannot find anything left to push against. For entertainment and reflection only, not medical advice.
On good days keep your load the same as on the hard ones, and spend the extra capacity on recovering rather than on proving anything.
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