《易经》第一卦：乾卦
Qian: the 1st hexagram in The Book of Changes
1.乾卦
乾：乾为天
【原文】
（乾下乾上）乾(1)：元亨，利贞(2)。
初九(3)：潜龙勿用(4)。
九二：见龙在田，利见大人(5)。
九三：君子终日乾乾(6)，夕惕若厉，无咎(7)。
九四：或跃在渊，无咎(8)。
九五：飞龙(9)在天，利见大人。
上九：亢龙有悔(10)。
用九(11):：见群龙无首(12)，吉。
【注释】
(1)乾是本卦标题。乾指北斗星，用来代表天。本卦的内容主要与天有关。
(2)元亨、利贞是两个表示吉祥的贞兆辞，表明是两个吉占。元亨的意思约等于大吉。利贞的意思是吉利的贞卜。
(3)初九是本卦第一爻名称，以下“九二”、“九三”等也是。“九”代表陽性“——”，“六”代表陰性 “——”。一个卦画由六爻组成，从下向上排列，依次用初、二、三、四、五、 上表示，如“六三”、“上六”、“九二”、“上九”等。它们都是表示爻的陰陽性和排列顺序的名称。
(4)潜龙指秋分时的龙星。性和排列顺序的名称。勿用：不利。
(5)见 (xian): 出现。龙:龙星。田:天田。大人：指王公贵族。
(6)君子: 指有才德的贵族。乾乾：勤勉努力。
(7)夕: 夜晚。惕：敬惧。厉：危险。咎：过失，灾难。
(8)或: 有人，指贵族。跃在渊: 跳进深潭。
(9)飞龙: 龙星。
(10)亢：龙升腾到极高处的龙星．有梅：不吉利的占筮。
(11)用九: 乾卦特有的爻名。《易经》的乾卦和坤卦都多一爻（坤卦为‘用六），专门表示这两卦是全陽、全陰。“用九”表示乾卦的全陽爻将尽变为全陰爻。
(12) 群龙: 等于说卷龙。龙卷曲起来时就见不到头。
【译文】
初九: 龙星秋分时潜隐不见，不吉利。
九二: 龙星出现在天田星旁，对王公贵族有利。
九三：有才德的君子整天勤勉努力，夜里也要提防危险，但最终不会有灾难。
九四：有些大人君子跳进深潭自杀，并不是他们本身的过失。
九五：龙星春分时出现在天上，对王公贵族有利。
上九：龙星上升到极高的地方，是不吉利的征兆。
用九：卷曲的龙见不到头，是吉利的兆头。
Qian: Prosperous, auspicious divination.
Ninth: Lone star is latent in the autumnal equinox, bad luck.
Nine-two: Lone star appears beside Amada star, good for the nobles.
Nine-three: With equal stress on integrity and ability, gentlemen have hard days and nights and are also beware of danger even at the night, but in the end there will be no disaster.
Nine-four: Some lords and gentlemen jumped into deep pools of suicide, which is not their own fault.
Nine-five: Lone star appears in the sky in spring equinox, good for the nobles.
On nine: As an unlucky omen, Lone star rises to the highest place.
With nine: As an auspicious omen, the head of a curly dragon cannot be seen.
【读解】
把天上的星象同人间世事的吉凶联系起来，对此作出带有某种神秘色彩的解释，并且进一步把天象看作神的意志的体现，对天顶礼膜拜，这是中国古人的思维习惯。那时没有天文望远镜，没 有相关的科学知识（在西方，这方面的知识和技术到 16、 17世纪 才有较大发展），按古人的思维习惯，绝不可能把顶礼膜拜的对象当作认识、研究和探索的对象。在今天看来简单明了的自然现象，对古人来说意义却非同寻常。神的意志通过自然现象表现出来，便成为对人的行为举止的启示。大凡自然界和人类社会中超出人们想象力和理解力的事物，都可以按这种“天人感应”的思路来解释。这样一来，人们的行为举止就有了依据。掌握着财富、权力、知识的王公贵族需要这样，普通的平民百姓也需要这样。
天文望远镜早把自然奥秘和神的实质看透了，但人在现实生活里需要某种精神支撑，却是天文望远镜无法解决的问题。我们大可不必再像古人那样信奉“天人感应”的教条，也不信上天只 对“大人”、“君子”显灵。然而，好人得好报，上天保佑善良的好人们，恐怕是许许多多善良的普通人宁可坚信的理想吧！从这 个意义上来理解“吉人自有天象”，不也很好吗？
Connecting stars with good or bad human affairs, giving it an explanation tinged with mystery, considering the heaven as a manifestation of god's will and paying homage to the heaven, all these are the very thinking habit of the ancient Chinese people. At the time, there was neither astronomical telescope nor relevant scientific knowledge. According to the thinking habit of the ancient people, they could absolutely not take the object of worship as the one of understanding, researching and exploring. As for the natural phenomena considered simple and obvious by the present people, they had extraordinary significance to the ancient people. The will of god is to be expressed through natural phenomena. This has already become the enlightenment to human behavior. Everything beyond people's imagination and understanding in nature and human society can be explained by the way of thinking of “heaven-human induction”. Therefore, human behavior found basis. It is necessary to everyone including either kings, princes and aristocrats with wealth, power and knowledge or the common people.
The mystery of nature and the essence of god have already been seen through by astronomical telescope. But our people need some spiritual support in our real life, which cannot be obtained through astronomical telescope. It is totally unnecessary for us to believe as the ancient people in the doctrine of heaven-human induction and believe that God gives clear sign only to “lords” or “gentlemen”. Nevertheless, what goes around comes around. God blesses the kind and good people. This is probably the ideal in which many a kind common people believe! Fortune knocks once at least at every man's door. Isn’t it very good for us to understand this saying in this sense?
