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The I Ching, in plain words

Good Sign studio · Updated

You don't need to know anything about the I Ching to sit down with it. Here is what it is, how a reading with Lin goes, and all sixty-four of its figures, each in a line.

What the I Ching is

The I Ching (易经, yì jīng), the Book of Changes, is one of the oldest books in China. Its core was written down close to three thousand years ago, and people have brought it their questions ever since: about love, about work, about a choice they keep putting off.

The book is built around sixty-four hexagrams. A hexagram (卦, guà) is a figure of six lines stacked one above another, each line solid or broken, read from the bottom up. Each hexagram has a name, a short verdict called the Judgment, and an Image, the picture from nature behind it. Each of its six lines carries a message of its own as well.

A reading puts two things together: your question and a cast. The cast is how your hexagram is found: three coins thrown six times, one throw for each line, from the bottom up. A throw can also make its line a changing line, a line in motion that adds its own message to the reading. The book doesn't tell your future. It gives you a picture of where you stand, and a way to think about your next step.

How a reading with Lin goes

Lin (琳, "a fine jade") is the house reader at Good Sign. A sitting with her is a quiet conversation across a table.

  1. You tell her what's keeping you up. She asks a few questions, one at a time, and anything you'd rather not say, you can leave out.
  2. She throws the coins. Six throws on her table build your hexagram, line by line, from the bottom up.
  3. She tells you what she sees. Her first words are about you and the question you brought, before she names the figure.
  4. Then she reads it with you, page by page, holding the old text up against what you told her.

The 64 hexagrams

All sixty-four in the book's traditional order. Each line names the hexagram's two trigrams, the three-line halves it is made of, upper over lower, and the picture they make together.

  1. 1 · The Creative — Heaven over Heaven — upright, active force
  2. 2 · The Receptive — Earth over Earth — vast support, deep endurance
  3. 3 · Sprouting Difficulty — Water over Thunder — what begins meets resistance
  4. 4 · Youthful Learning — Mountain over Water — clouded mind asking for light
  5. 5 · Waiting with Purpose — Water over Heaven — prepare, wait, hold the line
  6. 6 · Conflict — Heaven over Water — opposing currents, contested ground
  7. 7 · The Army — Earth over Water — gather and lead with discipline
  8. 8 · Union — Water over Earth — natural gathering, mutual support
  9. 9 · Small Restraint — Wind over Heaven — gentle restraint shapes great force
  10. 10 · Treading Carefully — Heaven over Lake — walking near the edge, mindful step
  11. 11 · Peace — Earth over Heaven — small and great in honest exchange
  12. 12 · Stagnation — Heaven over Earth — separation, channels closed
  13. 13 · Fellowship — Heaven over Fire — common purpose, open meeting
  14. 14 · Great Possession — Fire over Heaven — great holding, light overhead
  15. 15 · Modesty — Earth over Mountain — high ground kept low
  16. 16 · Enthusiasm — Thunder over Earth — gathered energy, timely move
  17. 17 · Following — Lake over Thunder — yielding leads to advantage
  18. 18 · Renewal — Mountain over Wind — repair what has decayed
  19. 19 · Approach — Earth over Lake — drawing near, fully present
  20. 20 · Contemplation — Wind over Earth — stand back, watch the whole
  21. 21 · Biting Through — Fire over Thunder — break through the obstacle
  22. 22 · Adorning — Mountain over Fire — form lit by inner clarity
  23. 23 · Splitting Apart — Mountain over Earth — wearing thin, keep the root
  24. 24 · Return — Earth over Thunder — light returns, small and sure
  25. 25 · Innocence — Heaven over Thunder — natural action, no hidden agenda
  26. 26 · Great Accumulation — Mountain over Heaven — vast strength held in
  27. 27 · Nourishment — Mountain over Thunder — what feeds you shapes you
  28. 28 · Great Exceeding — Lake over Wind — weight at the center, ridgepole bending
  29. 29 · Deep Water — Water over Water — depth meets depth, hold to truth
  30. 30 · Clinging Fire — Fire over Fire — what burns brightly also depends
  31. 31 · Mutual Resonance — Lake over Mountain — sincere influence, mutual feeling
  32. 32 · Duration — Thunder over Wind — sustained motion, steady through time
  33. 33 · Retreat — Heaven over Mountain — strategic retreat, dignified withdrawal
  34. 34 · Great Power — Thunder over Heaven — great force needing restraint
  35. 35 · Progress — Fire over Earth — rising into visibility
  36. 36 · Darkening of the Light — Earth over Fire — light obscured, inwardness preserved
  37. 37 · The Family — Wind over Fire — household ordered by warmth
  38. 38 · Opposition — Fire over Lake — going different ways, agreeing on small things
  39. 39 · Obstruction — Water over Mountain — barrier ahead, pause and reroute
  40. 40 · Release — Thunder over Water — tension breaks, things move
  41. 41 · Decrease — Mountain over Lake — giving up the lesser for the greater
  42. 42 · Increase — Wind over Thunder — flow downward, abundance shared
  43. 43 · Breakthrough — Lake over Heaven — resolute break, decisive cut
  44. 44 · Coming to Meet — Heaven over Wind — an unexpected meeting, watch closely
  45. 45 · Gathering — Lake over Earth — people coming together, shared purpose
  46. 46 · Pushing Upward — Earth over Wind — steady ascent, root by root
  47. 47 · Oppression — Lake over Water — pressed in, still oneself
  48. 48 · The Well — Water over Wind — the well, source kept clear
  49. 49 · Revolution — Lake over Fire — molting, the old shed for the new
  50. 50 · The Cauldron — Fire over Wind — the cauldron, transformation by sustained heat
  51. 51 · Shock — Thunder over Thunder — a startle, then composure
  52. 52 · Keeping Still — Mountain over Mountain — keeping still, finding the center
  53. 53 · Gradual Progress — Wind over Mountain — gradual advance, step by careful step
  54. 54 · The Marrying Maiden — Thunder over Lake — entering a complicated relation, mind the position
  55. 55 · Abundance — Thunder over Fire — abundance, light at its noon
  56. 56 · The Wanderer — Fire over Mountain — passing through, modest carriage
  57. 57 · Penetration — Wind over Wind — gentle, persistent influence
  58. 58 · Joy — Lake over Lake — open joy, honest exchange
  59. 59 · Dispersion — Wind over Water — dispersion, dissolving what blocks
  60. 60 · Limitation — Water over Lake — measured limits, found rhythm
  61. 61 · Inner Truth — Wind over Lake — inner sincerity reaches outward
  62. 62 · Small Exceeding — Thunder over Mountain — minor overstep, modest correction
  63. 63 · After Completion — Water over Fire — completed but fragile, vigilance preserves
  64. 64 · Before Completion — Fire over Water — almost across, last care matters

Guides

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