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Home · The 64 Hexagrams · Hexagram 44
Hexagram 44 · Gòu

Coming to Meet

姤 · gòu
A tempting encounter; recognize what approaches.
Qián · Heaven
above
Xùn · Wind
below

Core Meaning

The Judgment: Coming to Meet: the maiden is bold and strong. Do not bind yourself to such a one.
The Image: Wind moves under heaven, reaching everywhere. So the ruler sends commands to the four quarters of the realm.

Wind moving under heaven, reaching everything: Gòu is coming to meet — the unexpected encounter, the seemingly small element that arrives charming and grows by welcome.

Its counsel is discernment at the threshold: what comes to meet you must be judged while it is still small — the lean pig that will someday rage, checked with a brake of bronze on day one. Not all arrivals are threats; but influence granted casually compounds, and the tank with no fish in it marks the people disdained until they were needed.

Coming to Meet in Your Question

Love & Relationships

Gòu is the hexagram of the compelling encounter — magnetic, sudden, and demanding judgment precisely because it is delightful. Its counsel is neither cynicism nor surrender: enjoy the meeting, and measure the character early, while boundaries still cost little. Bold charm that requires you to abandon your own terms, the Judgment warns plainly, should not be married.

Career & Money

Professionally, Gòu covers the unexpected arrival: the opportunity from nowhere, the persuasive newcomer, the small irregularity everyone tolerates. Its rule is early containment — evaluate at the first meeting, set the brake of bronze while the thing is lean. And tend the tank: neglecting the ordinary people around you leaves no fish the day you need them.

Personal Growth

Inwardly, Gòu names how small indulgences gain office: each begins as a chance meeting, charming and voteless, and grows by unexamined welcome. The practice is threshold attention — noticing what you let in while it is still noticeable. The melon sheltered under willow leaves shows the alternative: excellence protected quietly, until what is meant for you falls of itself.

The Six Lines

A line speaks only when it is a changing line in your own casting.

Line 1
Check it at once with a brake of bronze. Steadfastness brings good fortune; let it run on, and misfortune follows. Even a lean pig rages once it is grown.
Line 2
A fish in the tank, quietly contained: no blame. But it must not be served to guests — do not let the influence circulate.
Line 3
Restless flesh and a driven gait; sorely tempted to meet what should be avoided. Mindfulness of the danger prevents the great mistake.
Line 4
No fish in the tank: the people one disdained are gone when they are needed. From this comes misfortune.
Line 5
A melon sheltered beneath willow leaves: hidden excellence, protected without force. What is meant for one falls, in time, from heaven itself.
Line 6
He meets the encroachment with his horns — proud, withdrawn, and scorned for it. Humiliation, but no blame.

Related Hexagrams

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