Hexagram 42 for work
Hexagram 42 Augmenting for work and career
At work Yi is the season of expansion: 'favourable to go somewhere, favourable to cross the great river', and the Tuan adds 'daily advance without limit' (日進無疆). Something from above — a mandate, a backer — has come down to the working level, and the lines are about using it well. Zhen below is the drive to act; Xun above is the flexibility that lets the action go through. The increase came from the upper trigram giving a line to the bottom, so a leader who gives up something of their own is what makes the whole thing move.
For a project, a job or a negotiation, the first line says use the resource for something big and finish it; line three says the opportunity may arrive as a crisis; line four is the adviser whose disinterest earns a hearing; line five is the sponsor whose sincerity makes the outcome certain. A changing line in the lower trigram means the initiative is yours to take; in the upper trigram, the question is how the leadership is giving, and the top line warns that grasping for more at the peak draws attacks.
The hexagram in brief
Wind and thunder strengthening each other: increase. Favourable to undertake something and to cross the great river; those above give to those below, and everyone rejoices.
Use the favourable wind to move, improve and give; see good and move toward it, see faults and correct them.
The judgment
益：利有攸往，利涉大川。Yî indicates that (in the state which it denotes) there will be advantage in every movement which shall be undertaken, that it will be advantageous (even) to cross the great stream.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 益 Augmenting has its own page:
- 初九Nine at the beginninggreat undertaking · a low position · only great success clears it
- 六二Six in the second placegifts from outside · lasting steadiness · offering to heaven
- 六三Six in the third placeincrease through hardship · sincere middle course · report with the jade
- 六四Six in the fourth placethe middle course · advice followed · moving the capital
- 九五Nine in the fifth placesincere kindness · no need to ask · goodness acknowledged
- 上九Nine at the topno one adds · someone strikes · an unsteady heart
The same hexagram for
Questions
- What does hexagram 42, Augmenting, mean for a career question?
- At work Yi is the season of expansion: 'favourable to go somewhere, favourable to cross the great river', and the Tuan adds 'daily advance without limit' (日進無疆). Something from above — a mandate, a backer — has come down to the working level, and the lines are about using it well. Zhen below is the drive to act; Xun above is the flexibility that lets the action go through. The increase came from the upper trigram giving a line to the bottom, so a leader who gives up something of their own is what makes the whole thing move.
- What does Hexagram 42, 益 Augmenting, mean?
- Wind and thunder strengthening each other: increase. Favourable to undertake something and to cross the great river; those above give to those below, and everyone rejoices.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).