I Ching Hexagram Chart: All 64 Hexagrams at a Glance

This chart lists all 64 I Ching hexagrams in the traditional King Wen order, from number 1 to number 64. Each row shows the number, the English and Chinese names, the two trigrams the hexagram is built from, a drawing of its six lines, and a short plain-language meaning. Use it to look up a hexagram you have already drawn, or to see the whole set at a glance.

All 64 I Ching hexagrams in King Wen order, with the English and Chinese names, upper and lower trigram, line pattern and a short meaning
#	Hexagram	Chinese	Upper trigram	Lower trigram	Short meaning
1	Creative Force	乾	Heaven	Heaven	Sustained effort and clear direction are available now; the risk is pushing so hard that nothing is left to respond.
2	Receptive Earth	坤	Earth	Earth	Support and patient follow-through matter more than initiative; let the situation develop and respond to it well.
3	Initial Hardship	屯	Water	Thunder	Beginnings are tangled; small careful steps are more useful than forcing a plan you cannot yet see.
4	Inexperience	蒙	Mountain	Water	Something here is still unlearned; asking a good question is more productive than guessing.
5	Waiting	需	Water	Heaven	The next move is not ready; use the delay to prepare rather than to worry, and act when conditions change.
6	Conflict	訟	Heaven	Water	Positions are hardening; check whether the dispute is worth its cost and look for the narrower, fairer claim.
7	Organised Force	師	Earth	Water	Coordination beats individual effort here; define the goal, name who leads, and keep discipline visible.
8	Closeness	比	Water	Earth	Alliances and honest loyalty matter now; choose your company deliberately rather than drifting into association.
9	Small Restraint	小畜	Wind	Heaven	Hold back a little rather than a lot; modest restraint and small accumulations build something for later.
10	Careful Steps	履	Heaven	Lake	Tread carefully around a sensitive area; precise footing carries you further than confidence alone.
11	Peaceful Flow	泰	Earth	Heaven	Things are moving together easily; keep the routines that produced this and avoid assuming it will hold by itself.
12	Standstill	否	Heaven	Earth	Communication has stalled; withdraw effort rather than pushing, and preserve what is sound until the position shifts.
13	Shared Purpose	同人	Heaven	Fire	A shared aim can widen what is possible; be explicit about the purpose rather than assuming agreement.
14	Great Abundance	大有	Fire	Heaven	Resources are plentiful; the question is whether they are being used with purpose or simply accumulated.
15	Modesty	謙	Earth	Mountain	Understatement is a strength here; let the work speak instead of the claim, and keep your footing steady.
16	Enthusiasm	豫	Thunder	Earth	Momentum is available; give it structure or it will spend itself on nothing in particular.
17	Following	隨	Lake	Thunder	Join an existing rhythm rather than imposing your own; follow what is actually working.
18	Repairing Decay	蠱	Mountain	Wind	Something has spoiled through neglect; name the damage, fix what caused it, and rebuild deliberately.
19	Approaching	臨	Earth	Lake	A favourable window is opening; move closer while remaining alert to what the approach is costing.
20	Contemplation	觀	Wind	Earth	Step back and look at what is really going on; observation and example do more than instruction.
21	Biting Through	噬嗑	Fire	Thunder	A stubborn obstacle needs decisive handling; address the cause directly rather than working around it again.
22	Adornment	賁	Mountain	Fire	Presentation matters, but form without substance fades; use the surface to clarify, not to disguise.
23	Falling Away	剝	Mountain	Earth	Things are being stripped back; let go of what is already going and protect what still has roots.
24	Return	復	Earth	Thunder	A turning back toward the starting point; return quietly to basics rather than announcing a new direction.
25	Natural Integrity	無妄	Heaven	Thunder	Act from what is plainly true rather than from calculation; unnecessary cleverness is the risk.
26	Great Accumulation	大畜	Mountain	Heaven	What you need is built up slowly; accumulate quietly and commit decisively once the ground is ready.
27	Nourishment	頤	Mountain	Thunder	Pay attention to what is feeding you and whom you are feeding; intake matters now.
28	Great Exceeding	大過	Lake	Wind	You are carrying more than this can support; act on the important part and be willing to bend.
29	Repeated Water	坎	Water	Water	Danger recurs in familiar shapes; move by small safe steps and stop trying to race through it.
30	Clinging Fire	離	Fire	Fire	Clarity comes from something you depend on; check that the attachment is not constraining you.
31	Mutual Influence	咸	Lake	Mountain	Influence is already working, often unspoken; notice what is being communicated before words.
32	Enduring	恆	Thunder	Wind	Consistency matters more than intensity; the situation rewards whatever you can keep doing.
33	Withdrawal	遯	Heaven	Mountain	Strategic distance is sensible now; withdraw without bitterness and keep your options intact.
34	Great Power	大壯	Thunder	Heaven	Power is available here, and it needs direction; the risk is acting simply because you can.
35	Advance	晉	Fire	Earth	Progress is supported; move forward visibly and keep the reasons clear.
36	Darkened Light	明夷	Earth	Fire	It is hard to see where you stand right now; protect your ability to see clearly rather than showing everything.
37	Household	家人	Wind	Fire	What happens closest to you sets the tone; attend to order, roles and care in your immediate circle.
38	Divergence	睽	Fire	Lake	Things are pulling apart; check whether the underlying aim is still shared before pressing the difference.
39	Obstruction	蹇	Water	Mountain	The direct path is blocked; stopping to reconsider the route beats forcing the same attempt.
40	Release	解	Thunder	Water	Pressure is easing; return to normal step by step and keep only the obligations you actually need.
41	Decrease	損	Mountain	Lake	Reduction is the way forward; subtract what is not essential rather than adding more.
42	Increase	益	Wind	Thunder	Add in the direction of what already works; effort invested in support pays back more than display.
43	Breakthrough	夬	Lake	Heaven	A decisive move is possible; make it clean, state it plainly, and avoid vindictiveness.
44	Meeting	姤	Heaven	Wind	Something unexpected has arrived; meet it with attention rather than immediate commitment.
45	Gathering	萃	Lake	Earth	People or resources are coming together; give the gathering a clear purpose or it will disperse.
46	Rising	升	Earth	Wind	Gradual advance is available; push upward steadily rather than in one leap.
47	Confinement	困	Lake	Water	You are boxed in; hold your ground, say less, and wait rather than fighting the constraint.
48	The Well	井	Water	Wind	The resource is shared and already there; attend to access and upkeep rather than to ownership.
49	Change	革	Lake	Fire	A change is genuine and overdue; get the timing right and make sure the reason is credible.
50	The Vessel	鼎	Fire	Wind	Change needs something to hold it in place; set up the process or agreement that will hold it.
51	Thunder	震	Thunder	Thunder	A shock resets the situation; steady yourself first, then notice what it revealed.
52	Stillness	艮	Mountain	Mountain	Stopping is the correct action; let things come to rest before deciding anything further.
53	Gradual Progress	漸	Wind	Mountain	Development is real but slow; respect the sequence and avoid making the final step the first.
54	Marriage	歸妹	Thunder	Lake	An arrangement is made with mixed feelings; name the imbalance rather than papering over it.
55	Abundance	豐	Thunder	Fire	Fullness brings visibility; take the opportunity, and shorten the moment before it overextends.
56	The Wanderer	旅	Fire	Mountain	You are a visitor here; travel light and behave carefully rather than assuming a home advantage.
57	Gentle Wind	巽	Wind	Wind	Steady gentle persistence works better than force; influence the direction rather than the outcome.
58	Joyful Lake	兌	Lake	Lake	Openness and exchange lift the situation; keep the conversation honest and light rather than strategic.
59	Dissolving	渙	Wind	Water	What was fixed is loosening; stop rebuilding what has already come apart and start with something simpler.
60	Limitation	節	Water	Lake	Clear limits improve the situation; say what they are and hold to them rather than renegotiating constantly.
61	Inner Trust	中孚	Wind	Lake	Honesty from the inside outward is the strongest place to stand; trust built this way survives pressure.
62	Small Exceeding	小過	Thunder	Mountain	Small exceptions are acceptable; large ambition is not, so keep the deviation modest and visible.
63	Completion	既濟	Water	Fire	Achievement is present and maintenance has begun; the risk is letting the standard slip now that it is reached.
64	Unfinished	未濟	Fire	Water	The cycle is not closed; keep working through the detail rather than declaring the ending early.

How to read this chart

Read a row from left to right. The number is the hexagram's place in the traditional sequence, and it is only an index - it is not a ranking or a score. The name column gives the English display name and the Chinese name used alongside it. The next two columns name the upper and lower trigrams, and the short meaning column gives a one-line sense of what the figure points at. The chart is meant for looking things up, so it stays deliberately brief.

How hexagram numbers work

The I Ching is numbered 1 to 64 in the sequence traditionally attributed to King Wen, and every list and lookup table uses that same order. Number 1 is the six solid lines and number 2 is the six broken lines; the rest follow in the classical order rather than by any pattern of shape. Because the number is fixed, it is the quickest way to find a hexagram you already know, which is why it is the first column here.

Upper vs lower trigram

A hexagram is two trigrams stacked. The lower trigram is the bottom three lines and the upper trigram is the top three, and a pair is read as "upper over lower" - so a hexagram listed as Earth over Heaven has the Heaven trigram underneath and the Earth trigram on top. Naming both trigrams tells you the hexagram's structure without needing to count lines, which is why the chart gives each one its own column.

Yin and yang lines

Each of the six lines is either solid (yang) or broken (yin). A solid line is drawn as one full stroke and a broken line as a stroke with a gap in the middle, and the small drawing in each row shows all six from top to bottom. Counting the solid and broken lines tells two hexagrams apart quickly, because the same trigram pair in a different arrangement always produces a different figure.

How changing lines create a second hexagram

In a cast, a line can be changing: an old yang line is turning into yin and an old yin line is turning into yang. Flip every changing line and you get a second hexagram, which shows where the situation may be heading rather than where it stands. This chart is a reference only - if you want a reading for a specific question, the free I Ching reading casts the coins and shows both hexagrams together.

Try a Free I Ching Reading

A chart helps you look a hexagram up. A cast gives you a reading for one question.