Cast an I Ching hexagram
Press one button to toss three coins six times and get an I Ching hexagram, with its moving lines and changed hexagram if there is one. The reading right below explains how this cast is read and where the hexagram is heading. The page does not ask your question and keeps no record.
Where this comes from
The three-coin method is described in the Wenwang Jinqian Ke, a text traditionally attributed to King Wen but written much later. The most quoted rules for reading by the number of moving lines come from Zhu Xi of the Song dynasty, in his Yixue Qimeng. The cast is random.
Press Cast and three coins are tossed six times, each toss giving one line from the bottom up. Tails count 3 and heads 2; a total of 6 or 9 is a moving line, which flips to build the changed hexagram.
This tool is part of I Ching. See every tool and article on I Ching.
Classical allusion
“Cư trần lạc đạo thả tuỳ duyên, cơ tắc xan hề khốn tắc miên.”
Translation: Dwell in the world, delight in the Way, and follow what comes: eat when hungry, sleep when tired.
Trần Nhân Tông · Rhapsody on Dwelling in the World and Delighting in the Way
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Ask the coins
Asking about something specific, an exam, a job, a trip? Ask the coins reads the hexagram for that kind of matter.
Open Ask the coinsWhat no one has shown
No study has shown that a randomly cast hexagram says anything about the caster's affairs. The machine only guarantees the true odds of three coins and a correct application of the rules.
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How does casting with three coins work, and how do you read the result?
Casting with three coins is a way to build a hexagram found in old manuals such as the Văn Vương kim tiền khóa, simpler than the yarrow-stalk method of the old texts. You toss three coins together, six times; each toss gives one line, stacked from the bottom up. Tails count 3 and heads count 2, so the three coins always total 6, 7, 8 or 9.
A 7 gives a yang line and an 8 a yin line; both are still. A 9 is yang at its peak and a 6 is yin at its peak; these are moving lines and flip to their opposite. The six lines as cast form the primary hexagram, and flipping the moving lines gives the changed hexagram.
Three coins can fall 8 ways: 1 way makes 6, 3 make 7, 3 make 8 and 1 makes 9. So each line has only a 2 in 8 chance of moving. All six lines come out still in about 18 casts out of 100, and then there is no changed hexagram.
The number of moving lines decides what to read. The most quoted set of rules comes from Zhu Xi of the Song dynasty, in his Introduction to the Study of the Yi (Yixue Qimeng). With no moving lines, read the primary hexagram's statement; with one, that line is the focus; with two, read both and take the upper one as primary.
With three moving lines, read the statements of both the primary and the changed hexagram; in the Yixue Qimeng, the primary leads when line 1 is among the three and the changed hexagram leads when it is not; some books take the middle of the three lines instead. With four, read the two still lines in the changed hexagram, taking the lower one; with five, read the single still line in the changed hexagram. With all six moving, read the changed hexagram's statement, except for Thuần Càn and Thuần Khôn, which have their own extra texts, known as using the nines and using the sixes.
The reading describes the hexagram itself: which one it is, which lines move, and what each moving line's position means in Yi studies. This cast does not ask what is on your mind, so nothing in it speaks about your own affairs.
| Total | How the coins fall | Ways out of 8 | Name | Line produced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Three heads | 1 | Old yin | Yin, moving, flips to yang |
| 7 | One tail, two heads | 3 | Young yang | Yang, still |
| 8 | Two tails, one head | 3 | Young yin | Yin, still |
| 9 | Three tails | 1 | Old yang | Yang, moving, flips to yin |
Frequently asked questions
What do heads and tails count for?
Here tails count 3 and heads 2. Some books assign them the other way round; since both sides are equally likely, the four totals and their odds stay exactly the same.
How do the primary and changed hexagrams differ?
The primary hexagram is built from the six lines as cast, the changed hexagram from those lines after the moving ones flip. The usual reading takes the primary as the present situation and the changed one as the direction it is leaning. The changed hexagram does not replace the primary.
Why is there no box to type my question?
This cast recreates the rite and reads the hexagram itself; it does not guess at personal affairs. To ask about something specific, such as money or work, use the Ask the coins tool, where the hexagram is read through the useful god.
Can I toss real coins at home and look the result up?
Yes. Toss six times, note each total from the bottom up, and group the lower three lines into the lower trigram and the upper three into the upper trigram. Then pick the hexagram from the eight-by-eight grid in the 64 hexagrams tool.
Can I cast again and again?
Yes, as often as you like. But casting until a hexagram you like turns up leaves you with nothing but what you wanted to hear. Casts are not saved anywhere.
Should I use a cast to decide real matters?
No. The hexagram comes out at random, and there is no scientific basis for using it to predict anything. Important matters need real information and advice from people who know the field.