What this change means
The one-eyed think they can see, the lame think they can walk, and the tiger bites: the third line is the danger at the center of this reading. It's the only soft line in Treading Carefully, and when it moves the figure becomes pure Heaven, 1 Activity. The line warns that overestimating your abilities can lead you to take on tasks you're not ready for, and that misfortune follows; the image of a warrior acting for a great prince shows force outrunning its place. The resulting hexagram speaks of new beginnings and the qualities that carry an undertaking through. That makes the warning sharper, not softer. The energy is real, and so is the temptation to ride it past your actual skill. Before you commit, measure honestly what you can do. Train, prepare, ask for what you lack. Strength that knows its limits is creative; strength that ignores them gets bitten.
What to read, in order
Marked ● is what Zhu Xi's tradition puts at the center for this number of moving lines.
- Line 3 of 10 Treading Carefully
By overestimating your abilities, you may take on tasks you're not prepared for.
The one-eyed can see, the lame can walk. Stepping on the tiger's tail, and it bites. Misfortune. A warrior acts for the great prince.
- The judgment of 10 Treading Carefully
You're facing a difficult situation. If you know how to conduct yourself properly, moving with awareness and gentleness, even people who could be rivals and stand in your way will give ground, and may even become your allies.
Stepping on the tiger's tail; it does not bite. Success.
- The judgment of 1 Activity
The creative principle. Activity. New beginnings, flourishing, and the qualities you need to carry any undertaking or project through to success.
Great success. Constancy is favorable.
The trigrams
The way back
1 Activity → 10 Treading Carefullyline 3
Other transformations of Treading Carefully
Make your own cast
The answer changes with the question. Toss the coins and see which lines move for you.