EN (English)
䷩
Hexagram 42 of 64
Increase
益 · Yì
Wind and thunder reinforcing each other, and a strong line given down to the bottom of the figure. The hexagram is the inversion of Decrease: something above gives to something below.
increase
generosity
opportunity
improvement
- King Wen number
- 42 of 64
- Above
- ☴ Xùn · Wind
- Below
- ☳ Zhèn · Thunder
- Composition
- Wind over Thunder
- Lines, bottom to top
- Solid · broken · broken · broken · solid · solid
- Chinese
- 益 · Yì
The Judgment
It helps to undertake something. It helps to cross the great water.
Both of the classic's phrases for major action, in a single Judgment. The conditions are as open as they get.
The Image
Wind and thunder: Increase. So the noble person, seeing good, moves toward it, and having faults, gets rid of them.
Increase turned inward as self-correction, at the speed of wind and thunder. Both clauses are about moving quickly.
What it means
Yi is Decrease turned upside down, and the reversal changes the direction of the flow. Here the strong line has been given down to the bottom of the figure, and the classic reads that as those above sacrificing so that those below gain.
The Judgment is unusually open: undertake something, and cross the great water. Both of the book's phrases for major action appear together, which happens rarely. When conditions increase, the counsel is to use them at scale.
The hexagram's real subject, though, is what you do with the increase. The fifth line, its centre, describes a genuinely kind heart and says do not even ask about the outcome, then attaches supreme good fortune. The sixth line describes someone who increases nobody, whose heart is not steady, and who gets struck at. Those two lines are the argument, and the classic has arranged them adjacently on purpose.
The Image applies the same logic inward. See something good and move toward it; find a fault and be rid of it. Both at the speed of wind and thunder, which is the fastest instruction in the book.
In a reading
Increase as an answer describes a favourable period with real resources in it: support, opportunity, momentum, help arriving.
Its counsel is to act on the scale the conditions allow and to pass the benefit along. The hexagram's single failure is hoarding, and it is emphatic about it. If you are receiving something now, the question it asks is who else it reaches.
The six lines
Read a line's text only when the cast made it a moving line. They are listed from the top of the figure down, the way the hexagram is drawn.
-
Nine at the top
He increases no one. Indeed someone strikes at him. His heart is not steady. Misfortune.
Receiving increase and passing none of it on. The hexagram's only misfortune, and it is placed at the top.
-
Nine in the fifth place
With a genuinely kind heart, do not even ask. Supreme good fortune. Your kindness will be recognised as your character.
The ruling line. Generosity that does not audit itself, and is recognised anyway.
-
Six in the fourth place
Walking the middle and reporting to the prince, he is followed. It helps to be relied on in moving the capital.
Trusted with something structural. The relocation of a capital is the largest civil undertaking the book names.
-
Six in the third place
Increased by way of unfortunate events. No blame, if you are sincere, walk the middle, and report to the prince with the token of authority.
Gain that arrives through someone's misfortune. Permitted, on condition of transparency.
-
Six in the second place
Someone increases him. Ten pairs of tortoises cannot argue with it. Lasting steadfastness brings good fortune. The king presents him before the highest. Good fortune.
The same tortoise formula as hexagram 41, here with a presentation at the ancestral offering attached.
-
Nine at the beginning
It helps to accomplish great works. Supreme good fortune, no blame.
Resources given down to the lowest position and put straight into a large undertaking.
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