The I Ching (also called the Book of Changes or Zhou Yi) is made of 64 hexagrams: symbols built from six stacked lines, each one a snapshot of a typical situation in life. This guide gives you the full 64-hexagram reference table, a simple way to cast a hexagram with three coins, and four steps for reading what you get.

What the I Ching and Its 64 Hexagrams Are

The I Ching is one of the oldest classics of East Asian culture. Many people treat it only as a divination tool, but at heart it is a philosophical system that describes how all things move and change, built on two opposing principles that feed each other: yin and yang.

In this system, every natural and human situation can be reduced to basic states, written as solid lines (yang) and broken lines (yin). Stacked in layers, these lines form 64 different symbols, and each symbol is a hexagram.

So the 64 hexagrams are not 64 fixed prophecies. They are better understood as 64 viewpoints on typical situations people meet again and again: starting something new, love, conflict, change, and growth. A person who reads hexagrams well is not someone who hears the future. It is someone who can see which situation they are standing in, and what ways out that kind of situation tends to offer.

The I Ching is often seen as a spiritual root of other traditions too, such as Zi Wei Dou Shu, Feng Shui and Traditional Chinese Medicine. After more than two thousand years, it is still read, interpreted and applied today.

The Eight Trigrams and How the 64 Hexagrams Form

Before there were 64 hexagrams, the I Ching began with the two simplest parts: the yin line and the yang line. A yang line is a solid stroke (⚊) and stands for being active, firm and outward-moving. A yin line is a broken stroke (⚋) and stands for being receptive, soft and yielding.

Stack three lines and you get eight different combinations. These eight are the trigrams (the Bagua), the foundation of the whole system. Each trigram stands for one natural phenomenon and carries a set of related qualities.

Trigram	Symbol	Image	Element	Direction	Family role
Qian	☰	Heaven	Metal	Northwest	Father
Kun	☷	Earth	Earth	Southwest	Mother
Zhen	☳	Thunder	Wood	East	Eldest son
Xun	☴	Wind	Wood	Southeast	Eldest daughter
Kan	☵	Water	Water	North	Middle son
Li	☲	Fire	Fire	South	Middle daughter
Gen	☶	Mountain	Earth	Northeast	Youngest son
Dui	☱	Lake	Metal	West	Youngest daughter

To get 64 hexagrams, the ancients stacked two trigrams in every possible pairing. The trigram on top is the outer (upper) trigram, and the one below is the inner (lower) trigram. With 8 choices for the top and 8 for the bottom, there are 8 times 8, or 64, combinations.

A hexagram is usually named by the image of the upper trigram first, then the lower, then its own name. For example, Heaven on top and Earth below is Hexagram 12, Heaven over Earth: Stagnation (Pi). Earth on top and Heaven below is Hexagram 11, Earth over Heaven: Peace (Tai). The same two trigrams in swapped positions give two hexagrams with completely different meanings.

One thing beginners often overlook is that every one of the 64 hexagrams has six lines, and each line carries its own meaning within the same situation. Hexagram 1, Heaven over Heaven: The Creative (Qian), is about creative power, but its six lines describe six different stages of that power, from hidden beginnings to the peak, where you need to know when to stop. In total, the 64 hexagrams give 384 shades of meaning, enough to cover nearly every situation a life may bring. That variety is a big reason the I Ching has lasted more than two thousand years.

The Complete 64 Hexagram Reference Table

Below are the 64 hexagrams in their traditional order in the Zhou Yi. Each one lists its number, name with pinyin, and the upper and lower trigrams.

#	Name (pinyin)	Upper trigram	Lower trigram
1	The Creative (Qian)	Heaven ☰	Heaven ☰
2	The Receptive (Kun)	Earth ☷	Earth ☷
3	Difficulty at the Beginning (Zhun)	Water ☵	Thunder ☳
4	Youthful Folly (Meng)	Mountain ☶	Water ☵
5	Waiting (Xu)	Water ☵	Heaven ☰
6	Conflict (Song)	Heaven ☰	Water ☵
7	The Army (Shi)	Earth ☷	Water ☵
8	Union (Bi)	Water ☵	Earth ☷
9	Small Restraint (Xiao Xu)	Wind ☴	Heaven ☰
10	Treading (Lu)	Heaven ☰	Lake ☱
11	Peace (Tai)	Earth ☷	Heaven ☰
12	Stagnation (Pi)	Heaven ☰	Earth ☷
13	Fellowship (Tong Ren)	Heaven ☰	Fire ☲
14	Great Possession (Da You)	Fire ☲	Heaven ☰
15	Modesty (Qian)	Earth ☷	Mountain ☶
16	Enthusiasm (Yu)	Thunder ☳	Earth ☷
17	Following (Sui)	Lake ☱	Thunder ☳
18	Decay (Gu)	Mountain ☶	Wind ☴
19	Approach (Lin)	Earth ☷	Lake ☱
20	Watching (Guan)	Wind ☴	Earth ☷
21	Biting Through (Shi He)	Fire ☲	Thunder ☳
22	Adornment (Bi)	Mountain ☶	Fire ☲
23	Splitting Apart (Bo)	Mountain ☶	Earth ☷
24	Return (Fu)	Earth ☷	Thunder ☳
25	Innocence (Wu Wang)	Heaven ☰	Thunder ☳
26	Great Accumulation (Da Xu)	Mountain ☶	Heaven ☰
27	Nourishment (Yi)	Mountain ☶	Thunder ☳
28	Great Excess (Da Guo)	Lake ☱	Wind ☴
29	The Abyss (Kan)	Water ☵	Water ☵
30	Clinging (Li)	Fire ☲	Fire ☲
31	Influence (Xian)	Lake ☱	Mountain ☶
32	Duration (Heng)	Thunder ☳	Wind ☴
33	Retreat (Dun)	Heaven ☰	Mountain ☶
34	Great Strength (Da Zhuang)	Thunder ☳	Heaven ☰
35	Advance (Jin)	Fire ☲	Earth ☷
36	Darkening of the Light (Ming Yi)	Earth ☷	Fire ☲
37	Family (Jia Ren)	Wind ☴	Fire ☲
38	Estrangement (Kui)	Fire ☲	Lake ☱
39	Obstruction (Jian)	Water ☵	Mountain ☶
40	Release (Jie)	Thunder ☳	Water ☵
41	Decrease (Sun)	Mountain ☶	Lake ☱
42	Increase (Yi)	Wind ☴	Thunder ☳
43	Resolve (Guai)	Lake ☱	Heaven ☰
44	Encounter (Gou)	Heaven ☰	Wind ☴
45	Gathering (Cui)	Lake ☱	Earth ☷
46	Ascending (Sheng)	Earth ☷	Wind ☴
47	Confinement (Kun)	Lake ☱	Water ☵
48	The Well (Jing)	Water ☵	Wind ☴
49	Revolution (Ge)	Lake ☱	Fire ☲
50	The Cauldron (Ding)	Fire ☲	Wind ☴
51	Shock (Zhen)	Thunder ☳	Thunder ☳
52	Stillness (Gen)	Mountain ☶	Mountain ☶
53	Gradual Progress (Jian)	Wind ☴	Mountain ☶
54	The Marrying Maiden (Gui Mei)	Thunder ☳	Lake ☱
55	Abundance (Feng)	Thunder ☳	Fire ☲
56	The Wanderer (Lu)	Fire ☲	Mountain ☶
57	The Gentle (Xun)	Wind ☴	Wind ☴
58	Joy (Dui)	Lake ☱	Lake ☱
59	Dispersion (Huan)	Wind ☴	Water ☵
60	Moderation (Jie)	Water ☵	Lake ☱
61	Inner Truth (Zhong Fu)	Wind ☴	Lake ☱
62	Small Excess (Xiao Guo)	Thunder ☳	Mountain ☶
63	Already Complete (Ji Ji)	Water ☵	Fire ☲
64	Not Yet Complete (Wei Ji)	Fire ☲	Water ☵

How to Use the Reference Table

The table is the quickest way to move from the lines you cast to a name you can look up. Find the row where your upper and lower trigrams meet, and you will see the hexagram's number, its English name and its pinyin name. The number tells you where it sits in the traditional order, and the name often hints at the theme: Waiting, Retreat, Gathering, Return, and so on. Keep in mind that a hexagram's name is only a starting point. The Judgment, the Image and the line texts carry the detail.

It also helps to notice how the table is organized. The first two hexagrams, the Creative and the Receptive, are pure yang and pure yin. Hexagrams 29, 30, 51, 52, 57 and 58 are doubled hexagrams, where the same trigram sits on both levels. Those doubled hexagrams tend to feel more concentrated, because one image is repeated rather than combined with another.

How to Cast an I Ching Hexagram

Casting a hexagram means building one of the 64 to shed light on a specific question. The ancients had several ways to do it. The oldest uses 50 yarrow stalks and a fairly complex counting method. Two methods are more common and still used today: Plum Blossom Numerology (Mei Hua Yi Shu) and the Six Lines method (Liu Yao).

Plum Blossom Numerology was created by the Song dynasty scholar Shao Yong. It builds a hexagram from natural events or data available at the moment you ask, such as the time, a sound, or a written character. It is flexible and tied closely to the asker's situation. Its guiding idea is that "all things arise from the mind."

The Six Lines method appeared earlier, in the Western Han period, and was systematized by Jing Fang. It relies on a fully random cast, most often three coins tossed six times. It builds its own reference frame from the generating and controlling cycles of the five elements, the Heavenly Stems, the Earthly Branches, and rules about the Self and Response lines.

For beginners, the three-coin Six Lines method is the most suitable because it is simple and easy to do at home. Here are the four steps.

Step 1: Prepare. You need three coins with two clearly different sides: one side counts as yang (heads) and the other as yin (tails). Any coins will do as long as the three match in size and weight. You also need a plate (wood or ceramic is better than metal) and paper and a pen to record the results. Find a quiet space, switch off your phone, and settle your mind before you cast.

Step 2: Ask your question. The question should be specific and have a time frame. Instead of asking "How is my work going?", ask "Will project X go smoothly over the next three months?" Ask only one thing at a time. Avoid casting the same question again and again in a day, because the first hexagram usually reflects the moment best. Things you have no intention of doing, and trivial matters, are not worth casting.

Step 3: Toss the coins six times. Hold the three coins between your palms and focus on the question for about a minute. Then shake them and let them drop onto the plate. Each toss gives one of four results, and each result matches a type of line:

Result of three coins	Line type	Mark
1 heads, 2 tails	Yang line (steady)	Solid line ⚊
2 heads, 1 tail	Yin line (steady)	Broken line ⚋
3 heads	Yang line (changing)	Solid line with a circle ○
3 tails	Yin line (changing)	Broken line with a cross ×

If you would like to cast a hexagram and see the matching explanation, you can try it on HOROS.

Repeat this six times. The first toss gives Line 1 (the first line), recorded at the very bottom. The second toss gives Line 2, written above it, and so on up to the sixth toss, which gives Line 6, the top line. An I Ching hexagram is always read from the bottom up, the opposite of normal writing.

Step 4: Identify the hexagram. Split the six lines into two groups: the bottom three are the inner trigram and the top three are the outer trigram. Match each group against the trigram table above to find the name of each trigram, then combine them with the upper trigram first and the lower one second. Next, look the result up in the reference table above to find its number and name. If your hexagram has any changing lines, build a second hexagram by flipping each changing line to its opposite.

How to Read an I Ching Hexagram

Once you have your hexagram, these four steps can help you grasp its basic meaning without any deep study.

Step 1: Read the Judgment of your main hexagram. The Judgment is the overall statement about the hexagram, traditionally credited to King Wen. It is the shortest answer to "what is this hexagram about?" For example, the Judgment of Hexagram 1 is only four words, "Sublime, success, benefit, perseverance," yet it holds a whole course of growth from origin to lasting stability.

Step 2: Read the Image to see how to respond. If the Judgment describes the nature of the situation, the Image describes how to act. The Image of Hexagram 1 is famous: "The movement of heaven is full of power. Thus the noble person makes themselves strong and untiring." Each hexagram's Image tends to point to a concrete lesson you can practice.

Step 3: Read the changing lines, if there are any. This is the heart of the reading, because it points to the specific situation you are in. With no changing lines, read the hexagram as a whole and focus on the Judgment and the Image. With one changing line, read that line on its own. With several, a basic approach is to take the lowest or the highest one as the focus for now.

Step 4: Read the changed hexagram to see the direction of change. The main hexagram shows the present state, and the changed hexagram shows where the situation may be heading if everything keeps moving as it does now. Read the changed hexagram's Judgment to picture a possible outcome. If the main hexagram has no changing lines, you do not need a changed hexagram.

Keep notes of each reading and revisit them after a few weeks. Comparing what the hexagram described with what actually happened is the best way to learn how the symbols speak, and it keeps you honest about what you read into them. The full reading of each hexagram, including its Judgment, Image, six line texts and everyday applications, is covered in separate articles for each one.

Common Mistakes When Casting

Most weak readings come from the question, not the coins. A vague question, such as "What will my year be like?", gives a vague hexagram that is hard to connect to anything. A question asked several times in one day, each time hoping for a different answer, turns the practice into bargaining. And a question asked in a rush, while checking messages or thinking about something else, tends to produce a reading you cannot take seriously afterward.

A better habit is to write the question down first, set a clear time frame, cast once, and then write down the lines in order from the bottom up before you look anything up. Having the lines on paper keeps you from rearranging them later to fit a reading you hoped for.

Why Changing Lines Matter

Beginners often ask what the circle and the cross mean. A changing line is a line that is considered to be in motion, ready to turn into its opposite. A solid line with a circle becomes a broken line, and a broken line with a cross becomes a solid one. Replace every changing line in this way and you get the changed hexagram, which shows where the situation may be moving. A hexagram with no changing lines is read as a still picture, while one with changing lines is read as a story with a beginning and a possible direction.

Final Thoughts: The 64 Hexagrams as a Reference Library

Many people think the I Ching has only 64 hexagrams, but each hexagram has six lines, and each line is its own shade of the same situation. That adds up to 384 described cases, enough to cover nearly every nuance a situation may hold. This is why the value of the 64 hexagrams lies less in predicting the future and more in giving readers a library rich enough to find the shape of their own circumstances in it. Once you see that, reading a hexagram becomes much deeper. Treat each one as a mirror for your situation rather than an order from above. Compare what it says with your real circumstances, notice where the picture fits and where it does not, and let that comparison, not the symbol alone, guide the next small step you take.