What is a moving line in the I Ching?

A moving line (動爻, also called a changing line) is a line of your hexagram that came out "old" — an old yin, valued 6, or an old yang, valued 9 — and is therefore about to turn into its opposite. Its line text is the most specific part of your answer, and flipping it gives you a second hexagram that shows where the situation is heading. Lines valued 7 or 8 are "young" and stay as they are.

That is the whole idea. The rest of this page explains where the numbers come from and what to do with them.

Four kinds of line, not two

A hexagram on paper has only two kinds of line: solid (yang) and broken (yin). But when you cast, each line comes out as one of four values:

• 6 — old yin. A broken line at the end of its course, about to become solid. Often marked with an ×.
• 7 — young yang. A solid line that stays solid.
• 8 — young yin. A broken line that stays broken.
• 9 — old yang. A solid line at the end of its course, about to become broken. Often marked with a ○.

The idea behind "old" and "young" is the cycle of yin and yang: anything that reaches its extreme turns into its opposite. A young line is still growing into its nature; an old line has reached its limit and is about to tip over. That is why only the old lines move.

The numbers are not arbitrary labels. The Zhouyi itself names every line by them: the bottom line of Hexagram 1, Qian is 初九, "first nine", and the second line of Hexagram 2, Kun is 六二, "six in the second place". The texts are written for lines that move.

How a moving line arises with coins

With the three-coin method, you toss three coins for each line. In the common convention one side counts 3 and the other 2 (which side is which varies between teachers; see which side of the coin is yang). Add the three coins:

• three 2s make 6, old yin — a moving line;
• two 2s and a 3 make 7, young yang;
• two 3s and a 2 make 8, young yin;
• three 3s make 9, old yang — a moving line.

With coins, each kind of old line comes up one time in eight, so a typical cast has one or two moving lines, and a cast with none is not unusual. The older yarrow-stalk method gives the same four values with different odds: old yang comes up more often than old yin, which some readers think matters. Our online caster follows the coin odds and marks the moving lines for you.

What a moving line means

A hexagram describes a situation. Its six lines are positions or stages within it, from the bottom (the beginning, the low or outer place) to the top (the end, the high or excess place). A stable line is part of the background. A moving line is where something is happening: the point at which the situation is turning.

That gives a reading three parts:

• The primary hexagram (本卦) — the situation as it stands. Read its Judgment.
• The moving line — the pivot. Read its line text; it usually speaks most directly to your question.
• The changed hexagram (之卦) — flip every moving line and you get a new hexagram: the direction things tend. See what the changed hexagram means.

The word 之 in 之卦 means "going to". The oldest recorded readings use exactly this phrase. The Zuozhuan tells of a Zhou diviner who cast for the Marquis of Chen and "met Guan going to Pi" (遇觀之否): Hexagram 20, Guan with its fourth line moving, which turns into Hexagram 12, Pi. The diviner read the text of that fourth line, which begins 觀國之光 — "observing the light of the kingdom" — and goes on to say it furthers one to be a guest of the king (Guan, line 4). So a single moving line, read on its own, is about as old a practice as the book.

When several lines move

One moving line is easy: read it. With two or more, you need a rule for which texts carry the weight. The rule most readers use comes from Zhu Xi in the Song dynasty, and the details — upper line with two, both Judgments with three, the unmoving lines with four or five — are set out in our full guide to changing lines. The tradition is not unanimous: some readers read every moving line, and some read only the lowest. Pick one rule and keep to it.

Two special cases have guides of their own: a cast with no moving lines, where the Judgment and Image stand alone, and a cast with all six lines moving, where Qian and Kun have their own texts.

Common misunderstandings

• "A moving line is a warning." No. A moving line marks where change is happening; whether that is welcome depends on its text. Many moving lines are auspicious.
• "The changed hexagram is a second answer." It is the same answer, continued: the direction of the movement, read in light of the primary hexagram.
• "I should read every line of the hexagram." You can read them all for understanding, but in a reading only the moving lines speak to your question. The others describe the setting.

Reading your moving line

When your next cast has a moving line:

• Find it first. Note its position counting from the bottom, and whether it is a 6 or a 9.
• Read the Judgment of the primary hexagram, then the moving line's text, slowly, with your question in front of you. On every hexagram page you can open each line in full, for example the first line of Qian: 潛龍勿用, "hidden dragon, do not act".
• Look at where it goes. Open the changed hexagram and read its Judgment as the direction of travel, not a verdict.
• Write down the line in your own words. A sentence that says what this line asks of you is the best summary of the reading.