I Ching Hexagram 5: Waiting - Meaning, Changing Lines and Guidance

I Ching Hexagram 5, Waiting (Xu), is water above heaven: clouds that have already gathered but have not yet released their rain. It answers a question with "not yet, and not never," telling you to stay fed and cheerful while the situation ripens. This guide covers the trigrams of Hexagram 5, its Judgement and Image, all six changing lines with the hexagram each produces, and how Hexagram 5 reads for a decision, a relationship and work.

What does I Ching Hexagram 5, Waiting, mean?

I Ching Hexagram 5 means that what you want is already forming but has not yet arrived, and that the correct response is confident, well-supplied patience rather than a push. Its Chinese name is Xu, written with the rain radical on top, and it is translated as Waiting, Waiting (Nourishment), Needing or Attending. The figure is water above heaven: the three unbroken lines of Qian at the bottom, then a broken line, an unbroken line and a broken line above, forming Kan. Read as weather, that is vapor which has already climbed into the sky. The rain exists. It has not fallen. Hexagram 5 meaning turns entirely on that gap. Nothing is missing from your situation except time. The Sequence of the hexagrams places Xu straight after Hexagram 4, Youthful Folly, on the logic that whatever is young must be fed, and it defines Waiting as the way of eating and drinking. So the waiting of Hexagram 5 is not empty stalling and not resignation. It is the interval in which you keep yourself nourished, keep your resources whole, and let a situation ripen without forcing the door. Readers who draw Hexagram 5 are being told, in effect, yes, later.

What makes I Ching waiting difficult in this hexagram is which trigram is being asked to hold still. The lower half is Qian, the pure creative force, three solid yang lines, the most forward-driving figure in the Book of Changes. It is not naturally patient. Above it sits Kan, the abyss, and the commentary on the Judgement makes the point plainly: danger lies ahead, and because the one who waits is strong and firm, he does not get caught in a hopeless position. The strength is the reason the waiting works. A weak position waiting is merely stuck; a strong position waiting is holding fire. When Hexagram 5 appears, the question is rarely whether you can do the thing, and nearly always whether you can sit out the interval without spending your capability early. Xu also contains no counsel to retreat anywhere in its six lines. The direction of travel is forward, toward the water, and even the line that falls into the pit ends in good fortune. What the hexagram polices is speed, not direction.

Does Hexagram 5, Waiting, mean you should do nothing at all?

No. Hexagram 5, Waiting, tells you to stop advancing toward the water, not to stop living. Its Image assigns activity: eat, drink, keep good cheer. Preparation and provisioning continue. What stops is the approach to the danger point, since arriving early is what line 3 punishes.

What is the ruling line of I Ching Hexagram 5?

The ruler of Hexagram 5 is nine in the fifth place, a yang line holding the central position of the upper Kan trigram. Its text, "Waiting at meat and drink," gives the hexagram its second name of Nourishment. The ruler sits inside the water yet keeps a table set, which is the model the hexagram asks you to copy.

How is I Ching waiting in Hexagram 5 different from ordinary delay?

The waiting in Hexagram 5 has a destination, a supply line and a real obstacle: the great water to be crossed, the eating and drinking of the Image, and the Kan trigram overhead. Ordinary delay has none of those.

Which two trigrams form Hexagram 5, and why does their combination mean waiting?

Hexagram 5 is formed by Kan, water, in the upper position and Qian, heaven, in the lower, which is why it is known as the water over heaven hexagram. Kan carries the associations of the abyss, danger, the moon, the middle son, midwinter and the north; it is a single yang line trapped between two yin lines, a hazard with something solid at its center. Qian is the Creative: three unbroken lines, the father, the horse, strength, late autumn, the northwest. Placed underneath, Qian supplies force; placed on top, Kan supplies the pit that force must not blunder into. The combination produces waiting because the strong trigram sees the danger before it reaches it. Strength that cannot see would charge; strength that can see holds. A second reading works at the level of pure image, and it is the one the Image commentary uses. Water located above heaven is not a flood, it is cloud. Vapor has already been lifted, gathered and held in the sky. The whole apparatus of rain is assembled and suspended. That is the visual definition of Hexagram 5 waiting: complete preparation, deferred release.

The line-by-line construction tells the same story. Counting from the bottom, positions one, two and three are unbroken, position four is broken, position five is unbroken and position six is broken. The three yang lines below press upward with nothing to stop them until they reach the yin line in fourth place, where the water begins. Each of the first three line texts measures the distance from that boundary, which is how Hexagram 5 encodes a wait that has stages. Kan on top also means the danger is genuinely ahead rather than surrounding you. In hexagrams where Kan sits below, the trouble is already underfoot. In Hexagram 5 you still have ground to stand on, food to eat and a choice about when to step forward, which is why the hexagram reads as favorable despite containing the abyss.

What does the Kan trigram add to Hexagram 5?

Kan, the upper trigram of Hexagram 5, supplies the danger and the deadline you do not control. It is water, the abyss, the pit that reappears in the sixth line text. Kan is why the hexagram counsels holding rather than charging, and why its rewards go to whoever keeps their nerve near the edge.

What does the Qian trigram add to Hexagram 5?

Qian, the lower trigram of Hexagram 5, supplies the strength that makes waiting a strategy rather than a paralysis. Three unbroken yang lines mean the capacity for the crossing already exists. The same three lines return at the top of the hexagram as the uninvited guests.

Why does water over heaven in Hexagram 5 mean clouds rather than rain?

In Hexagram 5, water sits above heaven, which places it in the sky, and water suspended in the sky is cloud. Rain would mean the water had already fallen and the waiting had ended. The water over heaven hexagram is the loaded, unreleased sky.

What is the Judgement of I Ching Hexagram 5 and what does it ask of you?

The Judgement of Hexagram 5 reads: "Waiting. If you are sincere, you have light and success. Perseverance brings good fortune. It furthers one to cross the great water." That is four promises resting on one condition. The condition is sincerity, and here it means inner confidence rather than moral virtue: an unclouded certainty that the thing you are waiting for is actually coming. Wait with that certainty and the situation has light, meaning it can be seen clearly, and success, meaning it goes through. Wait doubting, and the same interval becomes anxiety, which is what pushes people into the mud of line 3. The second clause promises good fortune specifically to perseverance, which in Hexagram 5 means holding one position over time rather than trying harder. The fourth clause is the one readers underestimate. "It furthers one to cross the great water" authorizes the major undertaking outright. Hexagram 5 is not saying the crossing is wrong. It is saying the crossing is right and the departure time is not yours to set. Sincerity, perseverance and the sanctioned crossing give the hexagram its tone of patient confidence.

The commentary attached to the Judgement builds its case from the structure. Waiting, it says, means holding back in the face of danger, and because the one who waits is strong and does not become exhausted, the situation does not end in defeat. It locates the promise of success in the fifth place, the correct and central position occupied by a strong line, which is why that line is treated as the hexagram's summary rather than one option among six. There is a practical test hidden in the word sincerity. The difference between waiting that works and waiting that rots is whether you would still make the crossing if the opportunity opened tomorrow. If yes, the clause is satisfied. If you have started hoping the opportunity closes so you will not have to move, the waiting has become avoidance and none of the four promises apply.

What does sincerity mean in the Judgement of Hexagram 5?

Sincerity in the Judgement of Hexagram 5 means inner truth and settled confidence, not politeness or honesty toward others. It describes waiting without secret doubt that the outcome is coming. That confidence produces the "light" of the Judgement, since a person who is not anxious sees the situation clearly enough to act well when the moment arrives.

Does "it furthers one to cross the great water" in Hexagram 5 mean go now?

No. In Hexagram 5 the phrase approves the crossing without dating it. The great water is the large irreversible move, and the Judgement confirms both that it is correct and that you have the strength for it. The rest of the hexagram governs timing, which belongs to circumstance.

What does perseverance mean in Hexagram 5 specifically?

Perseverance in Hexagram 5 means keeping the same position and the same standard through an interval you did not choose. It is not extra effort, since extra effort here means moving closer to the water. Holding your price, your terms or your boundary while nothing visible happens is the behavior the Judgement rewards.

What is the Image of Hexagram 5 and why does it tell you to eat and drink?

The Image of Hexagram 5 reads: "Clouds rise up to heaven: the image of Waiting. Thus the superior man eats and drinks, is joyous and of good cheer." It is one of the very few instructions in the Book of Changes that prescribes pleasure. Most Images assign an austere discipline. This one assigns dinner. The reasoning follows the picture. Clouds have gathered and rain will come at its own pace; nothing a person does hastens it. Since the outcome is out of your hands, the only variable left under your control is your own condition when it arrives. So you feed yourself, keep your strength, keep company, and refuse to spend the interval in grinding anxiety. This is also why Xu carries Nourishment as a second name. In a modern reading, the Image of Hexagram 5 covers sleep, money in reserve, food, exercise, friendships and skills kept sharp. Someone who reaches the crossing exhausted and broke has failed the hexagram even if they waited exactly long enough. Hexagram 5 waiting is judged by the condition you are in when the wait ends.

There is a strategic edge to the cheerfulness that is easy to miss. Anxiety in a waiting period discharges itself as premature action: the second follow-up email, the lowered price, the approach that lands you in the mud of line 3. Keeping yourself fed and in good spirits is not consolation, it is the mechanism that prevents the failure this hexagram warns about. A settled person can hold a position for months. An agitated person cannot hold one for a week. The Image also implies the wait should be spent among people, since eating and drinking in the classical sense is shared activity, and the fifth line repeats the motif at the hexagram's high point. Good company is structural here, not a pleasant extra.

Why is the Image of Hexagram 5 unusual among the I Ching images?

The Image of Hexagram 5 is unusual because it prescribes enjoyment where most Images prescribe discipline. Its instruction to eat, drink and stay of good cheer is the only reasonable response to a sky full of cloud that will rain when it rains. Since the timing is not yours, the hexagram assigns you the one job that is.

What does good cheer actually accomplish in Hexagram 5?

Good cheer in Hexagram 5 prevents the premature move. Anxiety during a wait discharges as chasing, discounting and over-contacting, which is the behavior that draws an enemy in the third line. A well-fed person in decent spirits holds a position long enough for the clouds to break.

What is the practical version of the Image of Hexagram 5?

Practically, the Image of Hexagram 5 means protecting sleep, keeping cash reserves intact, eating properly, staying close to people who like you, and sharpening the skill the crossing will require. It rules out crash effort and grim self-denial. You are provisioning for a departure whose date has not been announced.

What do changing lines 1, 2 and 3 of Hexagram 5 mean?

The first three of the Hexagram 5 changing lines measure how close you have moved to the water, and the closer you get, the worse the reading. Nine at the beginning: "Waiting in the meadow. It furthers one to abide in what endures. No blame." You are far out in open country, the danger is not near, and the counsel is to keep to your ordinary routine rather than manufacture activity. Changing this line yields Hexagram 48, The Well, a sign of steady, unglamorous provision. Nine in the second place: "Waiting on the sand. There is some gossip. The end brings good fortune." You have reached the bank, talk starts, minor criticism circulates, and the instruction is to let it pass unanswered. This line changes to Hexagram 63, After Completion. Nine in the third place: "Waiting in the mud brings about the arrival of the enemy." You have pushed to the water's edge, and the proximity itself has provoked opposition. The line does not forbid recovery, but it makes caution and self-restraint the only route back. It changes to Hexagram 60, Limitation.

Read as a sequence, lines 1 to 3 give a diagnostic scale for any wait. Meadow, sand and mud are measurable degrees of encroachment, and most readers can place their own behavior on that scale. Meadow behavior is carrying on with your work and letting the other party come to you. Sand behavior is hovering: checking, refreshing, mentioning it to people, being visibly available. Mud behavior is intervening in a process that was never yours to run, and it reliably produces the enemy the third line names. That enemy is rarely someone who hates you. In practice it is opposition you created by arriving early: the counterparty who hardens their terms because you seemed desperate, the colleague who now guards the project because you reached for it. The resulting hexagrams hold the scale in place, since The Well serves whoever comes to it while Limitation is the image of banks that contain water.

Which of the first three lines of Hexagram 5 is the warning line?

Nine in the third place is the warning line of Hexagram 5: "Waiting in the mud brings about the arrival of the enemy." It is the only one of the first three lines with no favorable clause, and it says the opposition was drawn by the approach itself.

What does the gossip in the second line of Hexagram 5 mean in practice?

The gossip at nine in the second place of Hexagram 5 is low-grade talk that follows visible waiting: comment about why you have not moved on, questions about the delay, minor criticism of your position. The line promises good fortune in the end, which instructs you to leave the talk unanswered rather than defend yourself into a real conflict.

Why does line 3 of Hexagram 5 change to Hexagram 60, Limitation?

Line 3 of Hexagram 5 changes to Hexagram 60, Limitation, because the failure it describes is a failure of boundaries. Waiting in the mud means creeping past the point where you should have stopped, and Limitation answers with the image of banks shaping a body of water.

What do changing lines 4, 5 and 6 of Hexagram 5 mean?

The last three Hexagram 5 changing lines take place inside the water rather than beside it. Six in the fourth place: "Waiting in blood. Get out of the pit." This is the first yin line, the entry into Kan, and it describes a wait that has turned costly. The instruction is escape by yielding rather than by fighting, and the line changes to Hexagram 43, Break-through. Nine in the fifth place: "Waiting at meat and drink. Perseverance brings good fortune." This is the ruler of the hexagram, a strong line correctly placed at the center of the upper trigram, holding a feast in the middle of the danger. It changes to Hexagram 11, Peace, which is why readers treat line 5 as the moment the situation resolves. Six at the top: "One falls into the pit. Three uninvited guests arrive. Honor them, and in the end there will be good fortune." The wait has failed on its own terms, yet help appears in a form you did not ask for and would not have chosen. Received with courtesy, it turns the outcome. This line changes to Hexagram 9, the Taming Power of the Small.

The fourth line deserves its blunt reputation. "Get out of the pit" is the one instruction in Hexagram 5 that is not about patience, and it exists because the hexagram separates waiting that costs time from waiting that costs blood. Once a situation is damaging you rather than delaying you, Hexagram 5 stops counseling endurance, and its change into Break-through confirms the shift in tone. The sixth line holds the most quoted image in Xu. The three uninvited guests are traditionally read as the three yang lines of the lower Qian trigram, which have been climbing the whole time and now arrive. The person at the top has already fallen into the pit, and the force they would not wait for shows up anyway, unannounced. Honoring the guests means accepting help on terms you did not design, and the promised good fortune depends on that courtesy.

Which line of Hexagram 5 is the most favorable to receive?

Nine in the fifth place is the most favorable line of Hexagram 5: "Waiting at meat and drink. Perseverance brings good fortune." It is the ruler of the hexagram and it changes to Hexagram 11, Peace. Receiving it means the hardest part is already behind you and the settlement is close.

Who are the three uninvited guests in the top line of Hexagram 5?

The three uninvited guests at the top of Hexagram 5 are traditionally identified with the three yang lines of the lower Qian trigram, arriving after the fall into the pit. In a reading they represent help or intervention from an unexpected quarter, and the line makes good fortune conditional on honoring them rather than resenting the shape the rescue takes.

What does "waiting in blood" mean in a real situation?

"Waiting in blood" at six in the fourth place of Hexagram 5 describes a wait that has begun to cost you materially: money draining, health going, a relationship doing damage while it stalls. The instruction to get out of the pit overrides the hexagram's usual patience.

What are the nuclear, inverted and opposite hexagrams of Hexagram 5?

Hexagram 5 has three structural relatives, and each exposes something the surface reading hides. The nuclear hexagram is built from lines 2 to 4 and lines 3 to 5, which give Dui, the lake, below and Li, fire, above, producing Hexagram 38, Opposition. That is the hidden content of a long wait: estrangement, small misunderstandings, two parties drifting into different positions while nothing appears to happen. Turn Hexagram 5 upside down and you get Hexagram 6, Conflict, the same six lines with water now beneath heaven. Waiting and Conflict are a matched pair in the King Wen sequence, and the pairing says that an interval which is not held well becomes a dispute. Change every line of Hexagram 5 and you get Hexagram 35, Progress, fire over earth, the sun climbing above the land. Progress is the visible, rapid, publicly recognized advance that Waiting is not, and it is the exact opposite of the water over heaven hexagram. Together these three show why Hexagram 5 asks more of a person than it appears to.

The nuclear pair is the most useful of the three in a live reading. Hexagram 38, Opposition, has fire moving upward and lake water moving downward, two elements sharing one figure while heading in different directions. Applied to Hexagram 5, it warns that during a wait the parties do not stay who they were at the start. The employer's priorities shift, the other person's feelings settle into a new shape, the market moves. Waiting well includes staying in contact enough to notice the drift, which is not the same as chasing. The relationship with Hexagram 6 gives a clean diagnostic. If an obstacle ahead of you might resolve with time, you are in Hexagram 5. If two parties are pulling against each other over a claim, you have crossed into Hexagram 6 and patience is no longer the operative advice.

What does the nuclear hexagram of Hexagram 5 warn about?

The nuclear hexagram of Hexagram 5 is Hexagram 38, Opposition, formed from Dui below and Li above. It warns that waiting quietly separates people: positions harden, assumptions diverge, and two sides that started aligned can face different directions by the end of the interval.

Why are Hexagram 5 and Hexagram 6 considered a pair?

Hexagram 5 and Hexagram 6 are the same figure inverted, since water above heaven becomes water below heaven when Hexagram 5 is turned over. They form one of the paired units of the King Wen sequence, and the pairing carries a meaning: waiting held badly turns into Conflict.

What does the opposite hexagram of Hexagram 5 say about timing?

The opposite of Hexagram 5, produced by changing all six lines, is Hexagram 35, Progress, fire over earth. It represents fast, visible, recognized advancement, and its role is to name what is temporarily unavailable: this is not your season of open progress, and chasing the look of progress now produces the mud of line 3.

What does Hexagram 5, Waiting, mean for a decision you are weighing?

For a decision, Hexagram 5, Waiting, answers not yet, and not never. The Judgement has already approved the crossing, so the hexagram is not asking you to reconsider the substance of the choice. It is telling you that the moment has not opened and that acting before it opens degrades the terms. In practice this favors the option that keeps you solvent, keeps the relationship intact, keeps the door unlocked and lets the other party move first. Where two courses are compared, Hexagram 5 points to the one that costs less to reverse. The hexagram also supplies a test for the wait itself. Genuine waiting under Hexagram 5 has a destination you would still travel to, a supply line that keeps you fed, and a real obstacle overhead rather than an imagined one. When all three hold, the Judgement's promises apply. When the destination has quietly stopped appealing, the waiting is avoidance in costume, and the fourth line applies instead: get out of the pit rather than sit in it.

Reading Hexagram 5 for a decision also means asking which line you are standing on. If nothing has been triggered yet and you are simply early, you are in the meadow at line 1, where the correct behavior is ordinary work rather than an invented reason to make contact. If you have declared your interest and are now visible and hovering, you are on the sand at line 2, where the counsel is to stop answering the noise your position generates. If you have started intervening in a process that belongs to someone else, you are in the mud at line 3 and should expect resistance you caused. That placement matters more to a decision than the hexagram's general theme, since Hexagram 5 rarely tells anyone something they have not suspected. What it adds is a scale for how far the impatience has already gone.

How do you know when the waiting in Hexagram 5 has ended?

The wait in Hexagram 5 ends when the clouds release, meaning something outside you moves: an answer arrives, funds clear, a position opens, an obstacle dissolves. Hexagram 5 authorizes no self-declared end date, so a move made because patience ran out counts as arriving early.

What does Hexagram 5 advise when a deadline forces a decision now?

When a real deadline lands during Hexagram 5, take the option that costs least to reverse and keeps your resources intact, since the hexagram's core instruction is to reach the crossing in good condition. A forced choice should protect the supply line of the Image rather than gamble it on securing the outcome early.

Does Hexagram 5, Waiting, ever mean abandon the plan?

Hexagram 5 counsels abandonment nowhere in its six lines, and the Judgement expressly furthers crossing the great water. The single exit clause is six in the fourth place, waiting in blood, which tells you to leave a position that has begun to damage you. Otherwise Hexagram 5 disputes only the timing.

What does Hexagram 5, Waiting, mean in a relationship reading and at work?

In a relationship reading, Hexagram 5 means the feeling exists but the declaration has not been made. Clouds have gathered: the connection is real, mutual and visible to both people, and something is holding the rain, usually the other person's circumstances or readiness rather than their interest. The advice that follows is specific. Do not chase, because chasing is the mud of line 3, and pressure applied to someone who is not ready hardens them. Expect the second line's gossip, which in love questions is often literal, since visible waiting invites comment from friends and family. Model the fifth line instead: keep your own life full, eat well, see people, be good company. Someone waiting at meat and drink is far better placed than someone waiting at the window. If the situation has reached the fourth line and the waiting is actively costing you, the hexagram stops defending it and tells you to get out of the pit. Waiting for a partner is sanctioned here. Bleeding for one is not.

At work, Hexagram 5 covers the pending offer, the promotion under review, the funding round, the contract in legal, the launch waiting on someone else's schedule. The consistent reading is that the decision has largely been made in your favor and the announcement is stuck behind a process you cannot accelerate. Two instructions follow. First, protect the supply line: keep income, savings, skills and reputation intact rather than spending them on the assumption that the thing is about to land. Second, do not improve your own offer out of impatience, since dropping your rate or taking a worse role to end the uncertainty is the premature arrival Hexagram 5 penalizes. The fifth line changing to Hexagram 11, Peace, is the classic result for a career question.

What does Hexagram 5 mean when you are waiting for someone to commit?

Hexagram 5 reads a commitment question as clouds that have not yet released: the attachment is real, and the timing belongs to the other person. It counsels visible steadiness rather than pursuit, since pressure produces the resistance of line 3, and it sets a limit at line 4, where a wait that has become damaging should be ended.

What does Hexagram 5 mean for a job application or promotion?

For a job application or promotion, Hexagram 5 indicates a decision moving through a process you cannot speed up, with the outcome tilted your way. Keep performing ordinary work well, keep your finances and options intact, and do not accept a lesser arrangement to escape the uncertainty.

What does Hexagram 5 say about launching a business or investing money?

Hexagram 5 approves the venture and withholds the launch date. The Judgement furthers crossing the great water, so the plan is sound, but the hexagram asks you to hold reserves rather than commit capital into an unripe moment. Money spent early under Hexagram 5 tends to buy worse terms.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is I Ching Hexagram 5, Waiting, a good hexagram or a bad one?

Hexagram 5, Waiting, is a favorable hexagram with a condition attached. Its Judgement grants light, success, good fortune through perseverance, and permission to cross the great water. The condition is that you hold position while the danger of the upper Kan trigram is still ahead of you. Hexagram 5 turns unfavorable only through impatience: line 3 waits in the mud and draws an enemy, line 6 falls into the pit.

How long does the waiting in I Ching Hexagram 5 last?

Hexagram 5, Waiting, names no span of time. It gives a signal for the end instead: the clouds of its Image release, meaning the other side moves, the money clears, or the obstacle visibly dissolves. Until then the wait continues. The line positions suggest distance rather than duration: line 1 waits far out in the meadow, line 3 waits in the mud at the water's edge, so a reading that lands on line 1 says the situation is still early.

What is the difference between I Ching Hexagram 5 (Waiting) and Hexagram 6 (Conflict)?

Hexagram 5, Waiting, and Hexagram 6, Conflict, are the same six lines viewed from opposite ends. In Hexagram 5 the water sits above heaven, so the danger is ahead and can be waited out. Turn the figure upside down and water sits below heaven, the two forces move apart, and the situation is a dispute. Hexagram 5 arrives while restraint still works; Hexagram 6 arrives once restraint has failed.

Which changing line of Hexagram 5 is the most favorable?

Nine in the fifth place is the most favorable line of Hexagram 5 and the ruler of the hexagram: "Waiting at meat and drink. Perseverance brings good fortune." It is a strong yang line in the central position of the upper trigram, seated inside the water yet holding a feast there. Changing it produces Hexagram 11, Peace, which is why line 5 is read as the point where the situation settles.

What does "it furthers one to cross the great water" mean in Hexagram 5?

In Hexagram 5, Waiting, that phrase sanctions the major undertaking without scheduling it. The great water is the large, irreversible move: the relocation, the resignation, the launch, the proposal. Hexagram 5 confirms the crossing is correct and that the strength for it sits in the three yang lines of the lower Qian trigram. It withholds only the departure time, which is why Hexagram 5 is never read as abandonment.

What does Hexagram 5 mean as an answer to a yes or no question?

As an answer to a yes or no question, Hexagram 5, Waiting, reads as a yes that is not yet due. The clouds in its Image have already formed, so the conditions are in place and a flat no is rare. If the question was whether to do this, the answer is yes. If it was whether to do it now, the answer is no, hold and stay nourished. If it was whether this will happen, it will, on someone else's timetable.

What is Hexagram 5 called in Chinese and what does the name mean?

Hexagram 5 is called Xu, written with the rain radical at the top of the character. Translators render it as Waiting, Waiting (Nourishment), Needing and Attending. Needing describes the lack that makes the waiting meaningful; nourishment comes from the Sequence of the hexagrams, which explains that what is young must be fed and calls Xu the way of eating and drinking.