Hexagram 58, Lake over Lake: Joy (Dui), is the 58th of the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching. It is made of two Dui (lake) trigrams, one above the other, and it speaks about honest joy and how to communicate with sincerity.

Hexagram 58 (Dui) at a Glance

Attribute	Detail
Number	58 of 64
Name	Lake over Lake: Joy (Dui)
Image	☱ over ☱ (two lakes joined)
Inner (lower) trigram	Dui ☱, lake and joy
Outer (upper) trigram	Dui ☱, lake and joy
Element	Metal (belongs to the Dui house)
Overall tone	Harmony, with talk that flows
Key phrase	Success; steadfastness is favorable
Yang lines	4 of 6
Opposite hexagram (every line flipped)	Hexagram 52, Mountain over Mountain: Stillness (Gen)
Reversed hexagram (turned upside down)	Hexagram 57, Wind over Wind: The Gentle (Xun)

The Original Text and Its Meaning

This part gives the classical wording of Hexagram 58 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

Joy: success; steadfastness is favorable.

In plain words: things flow freely, and holding firm brings lasting benefit. The Judgment of Dui is short and lovely. Dui means a lake, and also joy and harmony. Joy opens people's hearts, and things go smoothly as a result. But the text attaches the word "steadfast": the joy has to be honest, not showy, and not put on to win favor. Keeping that honest gladness tends to bring lasting benefit.

The Image

Lakes joined together: Joy. In the same way, the noble person discusses and practices with friends.

In plain words: two lakes side by side share their water and keep each other full. Studying alone can leave a person thin, while studying with friends lets them dig deeper. This is one of the loveliest lines in the I Ching about learning together. The great joys of life are not only feasting and play, but also talking things over with someone who understands you.

The Six Lines

The six lines of Dui describe six levels of joy and of communication, from the warm gladness of a child to a twisted joy used to lure others. Read from the bottom up.

Line	Classical text	Plain meaning
Line 1 (nine at the beginning)	Harmonious joy; good fortune.	A joy that is at peace with others is good
Line 2 (nine in the second place)	Sincere joy; good fortune; regret vanishes.	A joy that is honest is good, and regret fades
Line 3 (six in the third place)	Joy that comes seeking; misfortune.	Going out to hunt for joy leads to trouble
Line 4 (nine in the fourth place)	Weighing joy, not at ease; guarding against the flaw brings gladness.	Torn between choices, keep away from what harms and gladness follows
Line 5 (nine in the fifth place)	Sincere trust in what wears one away; there is danger.	Trusting someone who is wearing you down brings danger
Line 6 (six at the top)	Joy that leads others on.	Using joy to draw others in

Reading the Six Lines in Everyday Terms

The six lines of Hexagram 58 are a map of six kinds of joy in daily life, from the clearest and most natural to one bent by calculation. Reading the whole hexagram can help a person look at themselves: which kind of joy is present right now.

Line 1: Harmonious joy. This is simple, clear joy with no scheming in it. It is like a child going out to play, a group of friends meeting again after a long time, or a couple sharing a quiet meal. It needs no big reason and no one's praise. The line says it plainly: good. A stage of life that holds this harmonious joy is a lovely one. Anyone who has lost the feeling of small everyday gladness could start again from here.

Line 2: Sincere joy. This is a joy one step deeper than Line 1. The person here is glad because they believe in what they do and in the people they walk with. The joy has roots and does not come and go with the mood. The line says good, and regret vanishes. "Regret vanishes" means there is nothing left to mourn and nothing left to worry about. In a relationship, a job, or a direction, reaching this point means being at peace with your choice.

Line 3: Joy that comes seeking. This person goes out looking for places to be happy, hunting for it. It is not the joy that arrives by itself but the joy that has to be tracked down. Someone here feels empty inside and rushes into a party, a drinking session, or a new relationship to fill the gap. The line says plainly: misfortune. The more you search, the more you lack, and the more you run, the more tired you become. The lesson: when you catch yourself rushing to find joy, stop and ask what you might be running from.

Line 4: Weighing where to find joy. This person is torn between two paths: real joy or easy pleasure. The heart is not at rest, and there is a tug of war inside. The line gives a clear direction: keep away from what harms, and gladness follows. In daily life this might mean cutting ties that drag you down, leaving a circle of friends who drink too much, or giving up a heavy entertainment habit. Choose the hard thing first and enjoy later. Choose the easy thing first and trouble comes later.

Line 5: Trusting someone who wears you down. This is a heavy warning line. A person in a high place, with power or standing, puts trust in someone who is quietly undermining them. It could be a boss who trusts a scheming subordinate, an owner who trusts a manager who skims off the top, or a talented person who trusts someone who uses them to climb. The line says there is danger. The lesson: the higher you stand, the more careful you need to be about sweet words. Honest people tend to say the harder things.

Line 6: Leading others on with joy. The last line does not close with fulfilled joy but with a warning: someone uses joy, promises and honeyed words to draw others after them. Of the six lines, this is the joy that has strayed furthest from its path. The person doing this may gain something in the short run but lose trust afterward. The line does not call it good or bad, but it hints that joy which starts in you and becomes a tool for luring others has moved away from the original spirit of Dui.

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

What Hexagram 58 May Say About Everyday Life

Love

Casting Dui on a love question often points to a harmonious, cheerful stretch in which it is easy to open up to others. A single person may have a chance to meet someone compatible at a gathering with friends, a social event, or through an introduction from people they know. People who are already in love may be in a smooth patch, with talk that clicks and feelings that are easy to share. The advice of Line 2 is worth remembering: joy that is sincere lasts. The warning of Line 3: do not look for romantic joy only to fill an emptiness inside. Stay alert to Line 5 as well, since someone may arrive with sweet words and not be honest.

Career

On career, Dui is a good hexagram for work involving communication, negotiation, presentations, sales, and training. It is a time when speaking up tends to go well. If you are preparing for a job application, an interview, or a presentation to partners, the hexagram suggests your energy is coming across to others. The Image carries a line that suits working people well: discuss and learn with friends. This is a good time to join an industry group, build a network, and learn from peers. One warning comes from Line 5: a boss or someone with influence may be placing trust in the wrong person. If something in the office looks murky, keep your distance.

Money

On money, Dui leans toward income that comes through communication and relationships: commissions, brokerage, a shared project bonus, or revenue from direct selling. It suits people whose work involves talking, persuading, and keeping clients. The core advice is to keep your word: promise less and deliver more, quote honestly, and put contracts in clear terms. Line 6 holds a warning worth thinking about: do not use sweet talk to lure buyers when the product is not worth the price. A short-term gain traded for lost trust is seldom made up later. When investing together with friends, put the paperwork in order from the start.

Health

On health, Dui is about the balance between lively social time and rest. Spirits tend to be fairly pleasant in this stretch, but the same energy has a flip side: talking too much, laughing too loud, and nonstop parties may leave you worn out. People who talk a lot for work may want to schedule quiet stretches during the day, drink enough water, and rest after long conversations. Do not let a good mood pull in a drinking habit, and keep a regular bedtime even in a busy season. Balancing joy and rest is what keeps your energy going over the long run.

Closing Thought: Two Lakes Side by Side

Many people remember this hexagram as the hexagram of joy, but the finer point lies in the two lakes side by side. The deepest joy in life does not come from what you get, but from having someone to talk things over with and to learn alongside. The I Ching places friends who study together in the hexagram of harmony, and that is a wise choice. Anyone who, years on, still has a few people to sit with and talk about books, work and life is a fortunate person.