Hexagram 50, Fire over Wind: The Cauldron (Ding), is the 50th of the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching. It is made of Li (fire) above and Xun (wind, wood) below, and it speaks about the cooking cauldron and the way of building a solid foundation.

Hexagram 50 (Ding) at a Glance

Attribute	Detail
Number	50 of 64
Name	Fire over Wind: The Cauldron (Ding)
Image	☲ over ☴ (fire over wind and wood)
Inner (lower) trigram	Xun ☴, wind and wood
Outer (upper) trigram	Li ☲, fire
Element	Fire (belongs to the Li house)
Overall tone	Great good fortune, a time of shaping and nourishing
Key phrase	Supreme good fortune, success
Yang lines	4 of 6
Opposite hexagram (every line flipped)	Hexagram 3, Water over Thunder: Difficulty at the Beginning (Zhun)
Inverted hexagram (turned upside down)	Hexagram 49, Lake over Fire: Revolution (Ge)

The Original Text and Its Meaning

This part gives the classical wording of Hexagram 50 in English, with a plain explanation. If you only care about how the hexagram applies to daily life, feel free to skim it and jump to the later sections.

The Judgment

The Cauldron: supreme good fortune, success.

In plain words: the Judgment of the Cauldron is short and rare among the 64 hexagrams, opening right away with "supreme good fortune," which means good from the root. In ancient culture, the cauldron was not only a cooking vessel. It stood for authority, stability and a great task brought into shape. Wind below feeds the fire so it rises, and inside the cauldron the food is cooked, turning raw into refined. It is a lovely hexagram.

The Image

Fire on top of wood: The Cauldron. In the same way, the noble person aligns their position and makes their mandate firm.

In plain words: fire over wood is the image of the Cauldron, and the noble person, following it, takes the right place and gathers their calling into focus. A three-legged cauldron stands firm because it is set in the right spot, and fire turns into cooked food because it sits on the right fuel. The image teaches one thing: to do something big, stand in your own place and bring your energy into one direction. No rambling, no many tasks at once and no playing a role that is not yours. A pot that cooks is a pot that stands firm.

The Six Lines

The six lines of Ding describe six stages of a cauldron, from tipping out the old dregs to becoming a precious cauldron that feeds the world. Read from the bottom up: the first line is at the bottom, the top line is at the top.

Line	Classical text	Plain meaning
Line 1 (six at the beginning)	The cauldron overturned with its feet up, favorable for casting out what is stale; taking in a concubine for the sake of her son, no blame.	Turning the pot over to pour out old residue helps, and accepting help from an unexpected source is no fault
Line 2 (nine in the second place)	The cauldron is filled; my rival is ill and cannot come near me; good fortune.	A full pot means substance inside, and those who resent it cannot reach you
Line 3 (nine in the third place)	The cauldron's ears are changed, its movement blocked; the pheasant fat is not eaten. When rain falls, regret diminishes; in the end, good fortune.	The handles are altered so the pot cannot be carried, and the rich food goes uneaten until the rain comes, but the end is good
Line 4 (nine in the fourth place)	The cauldron's leg breaks, the ruler's stew is spilled, and the form is soiled; misfortune.	A broken leg spills the meal and leaves a mess, a bad outcome
Line 5 (six in the fifth place)	The cauldron with yellow ears and metal carrying rings; favorable to be steadfast.	A cauldron with golden handles and strong rings, and holding steady brings benefit
Line 6 (nine at the top)	The cauldron with jade carrying rings; great good fortune, nothing unfavorable.	Jade rings on the cauldron bring great good fortune, and nothing is unfavorable

Reading the Six Lines in Everyday Terms

The six lines of Hexagram 50 are six stages of something taking shape, from clearing out the old to becoming a fine, valued piece. Each line marks one step in building something new after a change.

Line 1: The cauldron is tipped to pour out the dregs. This is the first thing to do when starting to use a cauldron: empty the old residue left from the last cooking. Today it is someone starting something new who knows to clear things first: dropping an old habit that no longer fits, ending a connection that no longer works, deleting old files to make room for new ones. The line adds that help from a source that seems not quite proper, like a secondary wife who has a son, is also fine. The meaning is that in the early stage you should not be too picky about where support comes from.

Line 2: The cauldron is filled. The cauldron is full and there is substance inside. This is a person who has built a first foundation: some expertise, some standing, a product that runs. Rivals, envious people and anyone who wants to spoil things have their own troubles and cannot touch you. The lesson is that when you have real substance, many outside troubles tend not to reach you. Keeping the inside thick is the best defense.

Line 3: The handles changed, and it cannot be carried. A cauldron that cannot be carried is useless, even with rich pheasant fat inside. This is someone with talent and a good product, but whose way of getting it out to others is blocked: nobody knows about them, nobody recommends them, and the work gets stuck at the last step. The text advises waiting for rain. Times change and chances arrive, and when the rain of life comes, the blockage clears. The end is good, but it takes patience through this stretch.

Line 4: A broken leg, a spilled meal. This is the heaviest line in the hexagram. Someone is given a heavy duty but lacks the strength: taking a position above their ability, a project beyond their resources, or a public task before their skills are ready. The result is a broken leg, spilled food and a soiled image. The text does not dodge it: misfortune. The lesson is blunt: take on what fits your strength. Not every invitation is a seat you should sit in.

Line 5: Golden handles and strong rings. This is a cauldron that has become a precious one. Golden handles to lift it and strong rings to carry it. Every part is made of good material and fitted in the right place. A person in this role has matured fully: expertise, relationships, credibility and an organization around them. The big job has taken shape. But the text still adds one word: steadfast. Having succeeded does not mean being done, and keeping what has been built is the harder part.

Line 6: Jade rings. This is the closing line of the hexagram and one of the finest in the whole I Ching. It is no longer metal. The rings are jade: precious, durable and gentle. The text is short: great good fortune, nothing unfavorable. A person who reaches this role in a task, a trade or a life has both strength and virtue, firmness with softness inside. A fine cauldron served ritual use and fed an entire ancestral hall, not just one person.

If you want to cast a hexagram and see its reading, you can try it on HOROS.

What Hexagram 50 May Say About Everyday Life

Love

Casting Ding on a love question often points to a relationship entering a stage of building solid ground: talking about marriage, arranging a home, or two people preparing together for a big step such as buying a house, having a child or starting something shared. It is considered a fine hexagram for partnership. The advice of Line 4 is worth remembering: do not take on more responsibility than you can carry now. Marrying before you are ready, or having a child before the conditions are there, can break a leg, like the cauldron. Someone single who draws this hexagram may be about to meet a steady person with a good foundation.

Career

On career, Ding is a very favorable hexagram, especially after a stretch of major change. This is a time of building: the results of earlier changes are taking shape, a project is nearly complete, a new role is getting into its rhythm, or a young company is starting to see real revenue. The right way to follow the hexagram is to stand in your own place and bring your effort into one direction, without taking on too much. Line 4 warns plainly: taking on work beyond your strength breaks the leg and spills everything. It is usually best to expand from solid ground rather than leap. If you are being considered for a higher role, look closely at whether you have all three legs for the cauldron to stand.

Money

On money, Ding is the hexagram of turning raw into refined and gaining from that: making a product, processing, raising value and building a business of real scale. It suits investing in a long-term plan that has been simmering for a good while, not riding short-term waves. Line 5 suggests that your own cauldron may already have "golden handles," meaning a steady point that partners can trust and customers can come to. Keep this way of working. A small caution: do not borrow too much to expand quickly. Line 4 is a direct lesson about reaching further than your real resources allow.

Health

On health, Ding speaks of eating and cooking food, both literally and figuratively. This is a good time to pay attention to how you eat: cooking at home, eating cooked food, balanced nutrition and not eating in a hurry. It is also a good time to "simmer" again the healthy way of living you have wanted to build for a long time but that never became a habit. A cauldron needs three legs to stand, and so does health: eating well, sleeping enough and exercising regularly. If something feels off in your body, leave it to qualified medical professionals to assess and advise.

Closing Thought: Three Legs Make It Stand

What stands out most in this hexagram is the three-legged cauldron: with three legs it stands firm, and with one missing it falls. Any big thing in life that is going to take shape needs at least three points of support: real ability, enough resources and the right people beside you. Without one of the three, the cauldron breaks. With all three, it stands for a long time, cooks the food and feeds both you and others.