The 64 I Ching Hexagrams: Names, Symbols & Meanings

All 64 entries are listed in the King Wen sequence. Match the number from your cast, or compare the upper and lower trigrams. Each link opens the corresponding guide.

If you have line values instead of a number, use the three-coin reference first. Values 6 and 9 also identify the moving lines; a hexagram name alone does not preserve that information.

The 64 hexagrams are the complete symbolic vocabulary of the I Ching. Each hexagram is a unique six-line figure built from two trigrams. The traditional ordering is called the King Wen sequence, which groups hexagrams in pairs of opposites or inversions. Hexagram 1 (Qian, Heaven) and Hexagram 2 (Kun, Earth) open the sequence as the two poles of yang and yin.

Each hexagram has a name, a Judgment text, an Image text, and six individual line texts. The Judgment describes the overall situation. The Image draws a lesson from the natural image formed by the two trigrams. The line texts describe how the situation changes as each position moves from stable to unstable or vice versa.

A hexagram reading has three layers. First, read the overall Judgment to understand the situation's character. Second, read the Image to find the practical lesson the natural image suggests. Third, if changing lines are present, read those specific line texts and then read the relating hexagram to understand the direction of movement.

In the ideal fair-coin model, each line is equally likely to be yin or yang, so each primary six-line pattern has probability 1/64. The question guides interpretation; it does not change that mathematical distribution. Keep the cast separate from the meaning you later assign to it.

Each hexagram describes a pattern, not a verdict. Hexagram 29 (Kan, Abysmal Water) does not mean disaster; it describes a situation of repeated challenge where persistence and honesty are the appropriate response. Hexagram 11 (Tai, Peace) does not guarantee ease; it describes a moment of favorable alignment that still requires active maintenance. Use the oracle tool to cast and compare hexagrams directly.