How to read a hexagram from its two trigrams

Every hexagram is two trigrams stacked: a lower (inner) one formed by lines 1 to 3 and an upper (outer) one formed by lines 4 to 6. Reading a hexagram from its trigrams means picturing the two natural images together, such as a lake resting on a mountain or fire burning above water, and asking what that picture says about the situation. The classic does this itself in the Great Image commentary (大象), so the method is not a modern add-on; it is how the oldest commentators explained the names and judgments.

The eight images in one glance

Each trigram has a natural image and a quality. The qualities come from the Shuogua (說卦傳): 「乾，健也。坤，順也。震，動也。巽，入也。坎，陷也。離，麗也。艮，止也。兌，說也」.

• ☰ Qian, heaven: strong, creative, persistent.
• ☷ Kun, earth: yielding, receptive, supporting.
• ☳ Zhen, thunder: arousing, movement that starts things.
• ☴ Xun, wind or wood: gentle, penetrating, entering gradually.
• ☵ Kan, water: the abyss, danger, flowing through difficulty.
• ☲ Li, fire: clinging, brightness, clarity.
• ☶ Gen, mountain: stillness, stopping, keeping still.
• ☱ Dui, lake: joy, openness, speech, pleasure.

The Shuogua also assigns them family roles: Qian the father, Kun the mother, Zhen, Kan and Gen the eldest, middle and youngest sons, Xun, Li and Dui the eldest, middle and youngest daughters. For a fuller account see the eight trigrams, the trigrams page, and the Shuogua correspondences.

The method step by step

• Find the two trigrams. Lines 1 to 3 are the lower trigram, lines 4 to 6 the upper. Always count from the bottom.
• Name the picture. Say it in the traditional order, upper first: "lake over mountain", "fire over water". The Chinese names of the hexagrams are often built this way (澤山咸, 火水未濟).
• Read inner and outer. The lower trigram is often read as the inner side of the matter (your attitude, the beginning, what is close) and the upper as the outer side (circumstances, the other party, what is ahead).
• Notice the movement. Fire rises, water sinks, thunder moves up, wind spreads, the mountain stays put, the lake rests. Do the two images move toward each other, away from each other, or does one contain the other?
• Combine the qualities. "Strong within, yielding without", "still within, joyful without". The Tuan commentary (彖傳) often explains a judgment this way.
• Check the Great Image. It turns the picture into conduct: "the superior person, in accordance with this, …". Treat it as the reading's practical advice (see the Great Image and the small Images).

Then read the Judgment and any moving lines. The image does not replace the text; it shows you why the text says what it says.

Five worked examples

Earth over heaven: Hexagram 11, Tai

Tai puts heaven below earth. Heaven's energy rises, earth's sinks, so they meet and mingle. That is why this picture, which looks upside down, is "Peace". The Image: 「天地交，泰」, heaven and earth unite. Inner strength, outer receptivity. Flip it, heaven above earth, and the two draw apart: Hexagram 12, Pi, Standstill. The pair is a good lesson that position and movement matter more than which image looks "higher".

Lake over mountain: Hexagram 31, Xian

In Xian, Influence or Attraction, a lake rests on a mountain: the mountain holds the water, the water moistens the mountain. In family terms the youngest son (Gen) is below the youngest daughter (Dui), and the Tuan says 「男下女」, the man places himself below the woman. Inner stillness, outer joy. The Image: 「山上有澤，咸；君子以虛受人」, the superior person receives others with openness. The picture makes the advice obvious: a mountain can hold a lake only because its top is hollow.

Fire over water: Hexagram 64, Wei Ji

In Wei Ji, Before Completion, fire is above and water below. Fire rises, water sinks; each goes its own way and they never act on each other. Nothing is finished yet. The Image: 「火在水上，未濟；君子以慎辨物居方」, the superior person carefully distinguishes things and puts each in its place. Compare its partner, water over fire, Hexagram 63, Ji Ji, After Completion: the water above can boil, the fire below can heat; everything is in contact and complete, and therefore the Image there warns 「思患而豫防之」, think of trouble and guard against it in advance.

Mountain under earth: Hexagram 15, Qian

Qian, Modesty, puts the mountain inside the earth: 「地中有山」. Something high stays below the level ground. The Image continues 「君子以裒多益寡，稱物平施」, the superior person reduces what is too much and adds to what is too little, weighing things and making them even. Here the picture is the whole meaning: real height that does not display itself.

Lake over fire: Hexagram 49, Ge

In Ge, Revolution or Change, fire is below a lake: 「澤中有火」. Fire dries up water; water puts out fire. The Tuan says 「水火相息，二女同居，其志不相得」: water and fire extinguish each other, like two daughters (the middle daughter Li and the youngest Dui) living under one roof whose wills do not agree. The tension cannot last, so something must change. The Image draws an unexpected conclusion: 「君子以治歷明時」, the superior person sets the calendar in order and makes the seasons clear. Change is best met by understanding its timing.

A special case: the doubled trigrams

When the same trigram sits above and below (the eight "pure" hexagrams), there is no meeting of two images; the reading is "doubled". The Great Images say so: 「洊雷，震」, thunder repeated; 「水洊至，習坎」, water flowing on and on; 「兼山，艮」, mountains standing together. Ask what it means for that one quality to be doubled.

How images support the text

The trigram picture is most useful when a line or judgment seems obscure. It tells you what kind of situation you are in, which makes the line's specific advice easier to place. It is also how readers move from a cast that seems "unrelated" to one that fits (see when the answer seems wrong).

The tradition also warns against overdoing it. Wang Bi (王弼) argued 「得意在忘象」: once you have grasped the meaning, you can let go of the image. Image-and-number readers, by contrast, built elaborate systems on further trigrams hidden in the hexagram, such as the nuclear trigrams formed by lines 2 to 4 and 3 to 5 (see nuclear, inverse and opposite hexagrams). A good middle path: use the two main trigrams to see the situation, and let the text say the rest.

Using this in your next reading

When you cast, before reading any translation, write down the two trigrams, say the picture aloud ("wind over fire", "thunder under the lake"), name their qualities, and decide whether they meet or part. Then read the Great Image and see whether it matches your picture. Only then read the Judgment and the moving lines. Within a few readings, the 64 hexagrams start to look less like a list to memorise and more like eight images in conversation. Cast a reading and try it.