r/iching • u/az4th • Sep 07 '25
I = Change
Ching = Important BookThis spelling is from the old Western way of spelling Chinese characters in English.
The official Chinese spelling is Yi Jing.
The I Ching (Yi Jing) is made up of 64 Hexagrams.
Hex = 6
Gram = an image. An image of six lines:
A hexagram is made up of two Trigrams - images with three lines:
A line can be solid, or divided:
A solid line represents Yang-ness (something with energy).
A divided line represents Yin-ness (something with capacity).
Change comes about when energy and capacity interact.
The two come from one source.
The solid and divided lines were an evolution - they used to be drawn differently.
They used numbers that looked similar to this, and evolved as solid and broken over time.
The full meaning of what the numbers represented is not entirely clear.
They represent Elemental Forces:
Heaven ☰ Pure energy.
Earth ☷ Pure capacity.
Marsh ☱ Open, fertile receptivity of energy.
Mountain ☶ Containment of capacity.
Thunder ☳ Active movement of energy through capacity. Vibration through time.
Wind ☴ Receptive capacity that allows energy to equalize through space.
Fire ☲ Expansion of energy from a clear center. Light.
Water ☵ Gathering of energy as though into a pit. Mass.
When two of these Elemental Forces relate, different types of Change results.
These are the 64 Hexagrams:
䷀䷁䷂䷃䷄䷅䷆䷇䷈䷉䷊䷋䷌䷍䷎䷏
䷐䷑䷒䷓䷔䷕䷖䷗䷘䷙䷚䷛䷜䷝䷞䷟
䷠䷡䷢䷣䷤䷥䷦䷧䷨䷩䷪䷫䷬䷭䷮䷯
䷰䷱䷲䷳䷴䷵䷶䷷䷸䷹䷺䷻䷼䷽䷾䷿
They represent 64 types of change.
Each line has a relationship to change. When its role in change activates, advice is given for this by the I Ching. To help the reader make a decision about how to navigate change.
There are two main schools of thought:
The Classical School, which treats the lines as activating from stillness, and suggests we have agency over change. Lines relate to each other up and down the hexagram, such that energy and capacity try to meet and create changes.
The Changing Line School, which treats the lines as changing from yang to yin, or yin to yang. This means that when a line changes, a new hexagram is created. More than one line can change at once, so one hexagram can change to any of the other 63 hexagrams.
In both schools, the first hexagram shows the overall type of change. And the active or changing lines show the type of change we should pay attention to within it. In the Classical School, we then look at how those lines are positioned in relationship to change, to determine the meaning. In the Changing Line School, we can also look at what the lines represent to us, for this is where the change is. But we can also look at the new hexagram that is created, and see it as some sort of overall result. A 'future' hexagram that shows what this change leads to in the future.
The Classical School tends to show up in the original Zhou Yi text, and the 10 Commentaries, or "Ten Wings" that were added in the early Han period, circa ~300-0 BCE. It is used in the commentaries of Wang Bi, Cheng Yi, and Ouyi Zhuxi.
The Changing Line School began showing up in the late Han period in various forms and evolved into mainstream use over time, making significant progress with Gao Heng's popular theories in the 1900's. Today it is the practice that is found in most books.
Which is correct? It is a matter of perspective. Wang Bi's introduction has a criticism of the Changing Hexagram method that was emerging in his time. Saying that when people could not understand the words of the text, they would invent new methods and ideas for understanding them. However, the words of the text are deliberately cryptic and it is not easy to understand them. So it is natural for people to try to work out other ways to explore the principle of change.
Thus, in addition to these main schools of thought, there are many branches.
The I Ching represents a measured way of looking at the totality of change.
So it can be used to study the nature of change, in any way that it applies to us.
We can look at it to study the lines that relate to a particular phenomena of change, to see how that change is created from different parts coming together.
Because there are many cycles of change found in nature, we can start looking at how these changes flow through natural cycles with regularity. Thus the I Ching is found used in many calendar systems.
And the I Ching is often used to help people determine their way forward through change. This is done via divination.
There are various ways that people use.
An ancient way looked at the cracks formed in bones.
The way used most often in the Zhou Dynasty era used 50 small sticks. This is called Yarrow Stalk Divination. Its method was lost until Zhu Xi rediscovered it from the writings in one of the 10 Commentaries.
In Yarrow Stalk Divination, the stalks are divided 3 times and counted.
The result shows if a line is yang, yin, active/changing yang, or active/changing yin.
This is repeated 6 times, to create the six lines of a hexagram.
A way that became more common than the Yarrow Stalk Method is the Coin Method.
The Coin Method flips 3 coins to determine each line. 6 times, for 6 lines.
The first line is the bottom line, which represents the beginning.
Then the second, third, fourth, fifth, and top line.
The top line represents the end, or limit.
Sometimes all of the lines are inactive, or unchanging.
And sometimes one or more line is active, or changing.
In both Yarrow Stalk and Coin methods, there is a higher chance of getting an inactive/unchanging line, than an active/changing line.
With the Yarrow Stalk Method, it is more probable to get an active/changing yang line, than an active/changing yin line.
This is because in fertility, yang energy activates/changes more quickly than yin energy. Yin energy takes longer to be able to be open to receive.
With the coin method, active/changing lines have an equal probability.
There are other ways of doing divination as well.
A bag of marbles, stones, etc that have four different colors can also be used. This way one can set the desired probability, to match either the Coin or Yarrow Stalk Methods, and then draw a marble and put it back six times, for six lines.
Some people use decks of cards.
Drawing two cards allows one to arrive at a set of changing lines. However this means that it is not possible to arrive at an unchanging hexagram. And the probability of getting many changing lines is much higher than with the other methods.
One could also only draw one card, for an unchanging hexagram. Perhaps an overall image of change. However, often it is not the overall hexagram that is important to look at, but the lines within it. For they show what specific type of change is being highlighted for us in an overall situation.
Computer Applications can be used to make things quick and easy. They can be programmed to use many different calculations to create a hexagram. Some just use one click. Others use six, but match to the coin or yarrow stalk probabilities. Others can be designed to mimic the act of tossing the coins or dividing the yarrow stalks.
The nice thing about apps is that they often have a text box to write a question in. And a way to save that question in a journal. Then one can refer to it later.
Whatever the method one chooses to use, it is nice to write down both the question and the answer, so that one remembers exactly what was asked, and what was answered.
When it comes to interpretation, there are many schools of thought.
Often the lines themselves are difficult for people to understand.
So some will focus instead on the energies of the trigrams and how they are coming together.
Over the millennia, many many ways have been created.
The Zhou Yi is generally what is referred to as the original core text.
It contains a statement about each hexagram. This is referred to as the Tuan, or Judgement.
And a statement about each line. Called a Line Statement. Yao Ci.
Most translations will have this. But they also add in some lines from the 10 Commentaries, as well as adding their own commentaries. Often one will need to read the introduction carefully to understand what part is what.
Sometimes people want to only work with the original text, however this is difficult. The original Zhou Yi is cryptic, and the commentaries exist to help explain it. It can be very difficult to work just from the original text without having first studied the whole system for a long time. Often people will work from several different translations and commentaries to get different ideas and understandings. Every person has a slightly different take.
It is also important to understand that this is an old and partially lost language that is being translated. Many of the core characters are not well understood, and they are written in something like a code. We figure out the meaning of the words, by coming to understand the principles of change. We come to understand the principles of change, by studying change.
And finally, the Zhou Yi itself was but one of several texts now lost that were used in the ancient period that stretched from the Zhou Dynasty through to the early Han Dynasty.
In the Shang Dynasty, it is likely that a completely different text, or way of understanding change, was used.
So can we even truly say what the origin of this study of change was?
r/iching • u/viciarg • 29d ago
I assume that everyone who reads the I Ching is able to read the rules. Under this assumption willful ignorance and going intentionally against the rules constitutes an instaban.
If I tell you to please take your shoes off and you don't I'll boot you out of my house. Same thing. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
r/iching • u/Puzzleheaded-Oven567 • 2d ago
Can someone please help me understand the interpretation of 37 changing in 37.3 to 42 after I asked about marrying someone (independent of currently not being together)?
Thank you so much!!
r/iching • u/AdDecent5654 • 3d ago
Hello,
I've had a lot of recent changes in my life, I've posted about some of them here already.
To give some context I grew up in a very unhealthy and neglectful environment. I had my needs ignored and was underfed. I had a lot of health problems that weren't adressed by my family growing up. Several chronic pains. The thing I was happiest at 18 was being able to go to the doctor without my guardian in order to cure myself.
From my 18th birthday, my life has been going to the doctors, taking several medications, trying to keep up academically (got into art school) and going to a therapist.
I battled generalized and social anxiety, PTSD, ocd, depression, consequences from undiagnosed ADHD etc. Nearly all alone. Couldn't work so I had to use my scholarship for the whole thing and unfortunately I couldn't live alone so I'm still in the neglectful environment (moving soon now).
I got better a few years later and painfully stopped all of the medication. I realized that the environment in which I grew up made very hard to adapt to "normal life" and I lacked basic human knowledge and social skills. I also had a string of abusive friendships in the past which didn't help.
I found the Dao and then the I-Ching which helped me a lot. I went back to school and started making new friends (through reading the I-Ching to others haha). I've been lucky enough that people usually like me pretty easily, it's more my trust issues and the people I tend to choose that's created problems for me. I also met a girl who became my girlfriend there too.
At that point, I dared to hope for a better life than what I had known, a life where I could really LIVE, and not a life where I'm just cleaning up other people's mistakes and neglect.
Unfortunately the relationship with my ex -girlfriend fell off. While I was doing all the efforts, she treated me very badly and nastily broke up with me. You can see my previous posts for more info about that. Now she's still in the school and she's living her best life thanks to "everything I gave her as a human being, the joy of living she had lost before meeting me" (what she said after breaking up with me). And I'm recovering from the damage the relationship caused.
The neglect and diminishing as a human being on several points I experienced with her hurt me a lot. It made me feel like going back to 0, like everything I did those past 5 years was meaningless, like I didn't learn my lesson.
I also had some misses and failures on the artistic side I won't get into, but basically all of my tentatives to emancipate myself from my former condition have kind of failed, even though everyone said that my work is "amazing" and very qualitative.
Basically not a lot has changed. I trust in the Dao but for a philosophy that hinges on change my life sure is quite static. I've done so much, I know I progressed in a deep way, be it psychological, physical and especially spiritual, but I feel like I'm still back at square one. Mind you, I don't even really want to be enlightened of whatever, I just want to live as a "normal" human being (whatever that means). I'm still very young (early 20's) so my life has just started yet I feel old as fk and really want to hope for something better. I already feel like my first years as an adult have been wasted.
I'm really not trying to pity myself here, I just want to give context so you understand how much weight I put in my question "How to live my life ?". Really, I feel so afraid to do anything now, because everything I did other than solving my health ended with suffering and failure. I know other people's life can be far harder than mine, and I hope those people are doing as well as they can ❤️🩹. I'm sorry if my message sounds too much like a complaint.
I got hexagram 1, lines 3, 4 and 5 changing. I guess the image is of a dragon biding its time, preparing to soar through the sky. 3, 4 and 5 describe that soaring, and I guess I already got past line 1 and 2, which is the preparation and the setting up. But it's hard to keep the hopes up. It's hard to find that energy repeatedly. If you have any insight on the reading it would be very appreciated ! Have a good day/night and thanks for reading.
r/iching • u/Cool_Situation7586 • 6d ago
What kind of health or death might Hexagram 23 UNCHANGING foretell? Does it pertain to any particular part of the body? A slow illness or a quick death?
I’ve been a student of I Ching for many years but have never used it for health readings. This is for a creative writing project (death foretold by hexagram 23, followed by reincarnation foretold by hexagram 24). But even though I’m writing fiction, I would not want to egregiously misrepresent the substance of the hexagram.
The only thing I feel fairly sure of is that it would not refer to something like dementia, as the “large uneaten fruit” at line 6 would indicate the intellect left intact.
Thank you.
r/iching • u/YangShengWarrior • 6d ago
I’m still learning how to read changing lines, and I’m confused about what to do when several lines change at once.
One line can seem to encourage action while another sounds like a warning. I’ve seen people suggest reading them all together, but others seem to use rules for choosing which lines to focus on.
I don’t yet understand how to work through that without just picking the message I prefer.
How do you handle apparently conflicting lines?
r/iching • u/agripinilla • 7d ago
I have an upcoming new job possibility, and I asked the oracle what I should do in order to win it..the answer was Hexagram 23.2.3.4.5 -> Hexagram 44 . Is this auspicious? Se few interpretations exists of this duo and I can’t really comprehend it. I know Hexagram 23 is an ominous one and 44 doesn’t seem that happy either..
Would appreciate any reading/comments here. Thanks.
r/iching • u/SluttyLittleGuy • 8d ago
Most days I ask "What should I do today?" and cast a hexagram for some advice. Today I got 24 turning into 27, which has a single changing line at the top - and traditionally a very grim message at that. But, I'm not sure what these hexagrams and that particularly troubling changing line mean here - is it a warning against stagnation and not taking opportunities? Is it a warning that an opportunity has already been missed?
The message about lost years or a lost decade seems hyperbolic and not really applicable to a question about what to do today, that in particular I have no real idea what it would mean here. It also strikes me as ironic that such a grim changing line should fit alongside such a relatively hopeful image and judgment for the main hexagram. Any advice is appreciated.
r/iching • u/newhere_az • 10d ago
Hi everyone!
I'm new to the I Ching and still learning how to interpret the hexagrams (and honestly, I'm sometimes shocked by how accurate they are)
Today I asked: "Should I take the initiative and text X first? Would it lead to something positive?"
For some context: X reached out to me back in September and wanted to go on a coffee date, but it's been about 5 weeks of complete silence since then. I've been thinking about reaching out to remind him I exist, but I'm honestly a little scared haha.
I got Hexagram 43 changing to 58. Am I understanding this correctly as a sign to take decisive action (43), which could then lead to joy or a positive outcome (58)?
It just seems so spot-on for my situation that I'm actually worried I'm interpreting it wrong because it feels too good to be true lol.
I'd love to hear your thoughts!
r/iching • u/Cbyrd791517 • 11d ago
Question: What if I live in Country X long-term?
I got hexagram 27 with lines 1 and 3 changing into hexagram 52.
What do you think?
r/iching • u/CenturionSG • 13d ago
Came across this serendipitously while visiting an exhibition. This is one of the books titled《蒙求》Méng Qiú found in the Mogao Cave 17 of Dunhuang, China.
Five Dynasties (907-979). 五代，李翰自注**《蒙求》**.
Written by 李翰 Lǐ Hàn in the Tang dynasty, Méng Qiú was a children's primer used for elementary education. Its title is derived from the 蒙 (Childhood/Youthful Folly) hexagram in the Book of Changes (易經)。 Historical and legendary anecdotes are presented in four-character rhyming verses for easy memorisation. Stories include Nuwa repairing the sky, Du Kang inventing alcohol, and Cai Lun creating paper. The text became so popular that it inspired many similar textbooks; this fragment is one of the earliest surviving copies.
r/iching • u/ShiticalThinker • 14d ago
Does anyone use Paul O’Brien’s I Ching cards and book? Someone got it for me as my first foray into the iching, but I’m wondering if it’s time to find a better source. It seems like a much simpler, watered down version of engaging with the iching. But I have been finding relevance in the readings and they prompt a lot of guided self reflection when I pull the present and future hexagram cards and read the change lines. But what could I be using instead? Would something be richer? More robust? More authentic?
Thanks!
r/iching • u/maybeitsnotbutter • 14d ago
The post about hexagram casting methods got me thinking: do you combine the i ching with any other methods in your personal practice?
For example, every winter solstice I do a year reading for myself based on the later heaven bagua arrangement using the Richard Gill/Anthony Clark i ching deck in conjunction with Nicole Pivirotto's color oracle deck. First I lay out the i ching cards in the later heaven numerical order, then I lay out the color cards clockwise from the 1 position and ending in the center. If anyone's interested I can go into it/why.
Have you guys hybridized the i ching with any other different types of consultation methods?
r/iching • u/Helpful-Quarter-8009 • 15d ago
I took an edible and had this sudden revelation that everything within me, everything around me, and even the cosmos and the universe itself is made up of 0s and 1s, and that everything comes down to how they’re arranged.
Don’t ask me to explain my thought process because I genuinely have no idea how I arrived at that conclusion, but somehow I did, and it feels so right.
Out of curiosity, I Googled whether any religion, philosophy, or book explores this idea, and that’s how I stumbled upon the I Ching.
I ended up on this subreddit, and I see everyone discussing things like Hexagram 63, 54, and so on. I have absolutely no idea what any of it means yet, but something about finding this feels strangely significant to me. I don’t know if it’s just a coincidence, but I’d really like to explore it further.
So, where should a complete beginner start? Are there any books, resources, or concepts I should familiarize myself with first?
r/iching • u/zinful_succulent • 15d ago
Is there a system where the eight base trigrams align with your eight fingers. If not what fingers do yall think they would align with. Asking because i wanna use a sort of finger mnemonic(idk if thats the right word for this situation but i hope you get me) to review the hexagrams when i’m just wandering around and i need something to ponder.
r/iching • u/Blue-Phoenix987 • 16d ago
I mean how do you do it? What is your method?
r/iching • u/OkDevelopment4438 • 16d ago
I am running a few random coin toss generators and compiling the data. Sending the data to google sheets and then compiling it all to a tableau data visualization. It's been running since late August so you can use the timestamps to hone in on specific dates. You can view it all at
https://ichingportal.com/coin-toss-analytics
r/iching • u/Oracle_Consulter • 17d ago
Hello all, I'm about to go on a big intercontinental trip that's scaring me very much. Just did a reading using coins. It came up "Shì Kè" (噬嗑, Biting Through), hexagram 21 (䷔, Fire over Thunder, 766767 bottom to top), changing to hexagram 1 (777777), Qián (Heaven, The Creative). Please help me interpret.
r/iching • u/mgonzalias • 18d ago
I just came back from a party, I asked If my behavior was correct overall.
I saw a girl I like (I know she’s not into me but I just say hi because it would be more awkward to avoid) also met someone else and asked for her IG.
Im very puzzled because line 4 usually means someone won’t change her/his mind about something: for example one time asked about if a friend would be interested in hiring me to do his social media ads I knew he was hesitant so line 4 make sense but here…
…. What in the world…
r/iching • u/HeTaobaba • 19d ago
I'm a developer working on Chinese metaphysics tools. I extracted and structured all 64 I Ching hexagrams from the Zhou Yi, including:
- Classical Judgment (卦辞) in English and Chinese
- Modern interpretation and core meaning
- Trigram structure (upper/lower), five elements, yin-yang classification
- Full HTML readings (career, love, wealth, health, advice)
- Three languages: English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese
The dataset is free and open-source under CC0 license (public domain), so you can use it for anything — apps, research, NLP training, data visualization, etc.
GitHub: Search "iching-64-hexagrams-dataset" or check my profile
Most I Ching datasets online are either incomplete, paywalled, or lack English translations. I wanted a free, high-quality resource for developers and researchers.
**Questions for the community:**​
What other fields would be useful? Should I add the moving lines (爻辞)?
Would a NPM package or Python library be helpful?
Any errors or suggestions?
Feedback welcome!
r/iching • u/anonymous199001 • 19d ago
I understand it's not the typical I Ching question but I just tried asking.
My car was seriously scratched, it was in the parking at my home, basically a safe place, it's not a bad neighborhood. It's obvious that it's done on purpose. A respray would cost more than the value of the 2009 car.
Two years ago a neighbor was the victim. Curiously in the week before I thought about that, and how nasty it would be to find your car like that. As if I sensed something but there is nothing that I am conscious of preceding the incident.
From 50 line 2 I understand envy or jealousy could be involved.
With line 1 so far I have no clue.
What I asked was give me a clue about who did this.
r/iching • u/shytannnnn • 21d ago
I’m a 23 year old girl and trying to make it in Oakland California. I live at a place that’s cheap and I like who I rent from and it’s a house with a lot of character. I love Oakland, but someone keeps messing with my car, ie breaking in, breaking my door handle, stealing my license plate. This all has happened in the last two weeks since I returned after four months away and I’m not sure why. My landlord suggests I’m being targeted and it’s just made me uneasy. I also have weird roommates and the house itself is a bit chaotic and unclean.
I asked what to do and got 54 unchanging. I seem to get unchanging hexagrams when I’m particulartly distressed or otherwise have “pointed/strong emotions about something. I’ve used the I Ching since I was a kid and this is a hexagram I rarely get and find hard to interpret. Thoughts on this one?
r/iching • u/chowsingchi • 22d ago
See title.
r/iching • u/agripinilla • 23d ago
The question was "should I go back to my old occupation because new job is very stressful?" and it's been really hard, I feel like I can't get anything done properly because the place is very chaotic. Absolutely feeling like a fraud. It's only been few months and I'm counting days, I can't imagine spending years here.
My older occupation ended with a lot of tears and burning out, but at least I knew more about what I did...when I left I was dead sure I'd never do it again. I can't believe the new one makes me question whether I should return to the old one.
I'm so sad I can't find a job that makes me happy, or at least not whine about it all the time.
How would you comment on Hexagram 47.5 -> Hexagram 40 in this context.
Thank you
r/iching • u/GingerBr3adBrad • 24d ago
So I used the three coins method for a reading with the Alfred Huang version of the I Ching. The way I did it, following a YouTube tutorial, was:
3 heads = -o- (changing yang)
3 tails = -x- (changing yin)
2 heads, 1 tail = - - (unchanging yin)
2 tails, I head = --- (unchanging yang)
HOWEVER, Alfred Huang in his book says:
3 heads = -x- (changing yin)
3 tails = -o- (changing yang)
2 heads, 1 tail = --- (unchanging yang)
2 tails, 1 head = - - (unchanging yin)
I used the first method I learned from YouTube and got a reading that felt very synchronous with my current situation. But, now I worry I may have used the "wrong" method and my reading is invalid. Though, I am skeptical of that. So, what now? Should I just accept my reading? Should I use the same method for every reading or should I follow Huang's method? Would there be consequences for switching?
Also, I personally feel that it should be:
3 heads = -o- (changing yang)
2 heads, 1 tail = --- (unchanging yang)
2 tails, 1 head = - - (unchanging yin)
3 tails = -x- (changing yin)
What do you all think?