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The 64 hexagrams
The I Ching holds 64 hexagrams, each built from two of the eight trigrams. The numbering here follows the King Wen sequence, the most common one, while the Fu Xi sequence numbers them entirely differently. Cite a hexagram by number without naming the sequence and whoever checks it may open a different hexagram altogether.
All 64 I Ching hexagrams with their figures, images and lessons, browsable through the traditional 8x8 grid. Each one also shows where its six lines stand, correct placement, centrality and resonance, plus the inverse, reversed and nuclear hexagrams that texts always mention but online tools rarely compute.
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How eight trigrams build sixty-four hexagrams, and what the three related figures add
The I Ching is built from a single unit: a line, either solid (yang) or broken (yin). Stack three and you get eight combinations, the bát quái, Càn, Đoài, Ly, Chấn, Tốn, Khảm, Cấn, Khôn, each standing for a natural image: heaven, lake, fire, thunder, wind, water, mountain, earth. Stack two trigrams into six lines and you get eight times eight, sixty-four hexagrams. That is the whole system, which is why it can be enumerated rather than being a loose collection of symbols.
This page lays the sixty-four out as an 8×8 grid of upper against lower trigram rather than a list from 1 to 64. The choice is deliberate: a numbered list lets you look one up but teaches nothing, whereas the grid exposes the structure, rows are the upper trigram, columns the lower, and you see for yourself why there are exactly sixty-four and not some other number.
The six lines are read from the BOTTOM up: the first line sits at the base, the sixth on top. The figures here follow that convention, so they can be checked against any printed edition without mentally inverting them. It is a small detail that online tools frequently draw upside down.
What online tools rarely compute is the three related hexagrams the texts always cite. The INVERSE flips all six lines, showing the complete opposite of the situation. The REVERSED turns the figure upside down, the same matter seen from the other side, for symmetrical hexagrams the reversed figure is itself, and the page says so when that happens. The NUCLEAR hexagram is built from the four middle lines and read as the hidden core. These three are a traditional way of viewing one situation from several sides, not a way of predicting anything further.
This reference page is deliberately kept separate from casting. Here you choose the hexagram you want and read its image as you would read a text: no randomness, no question, no pronouncement about anyone's affairs. If you want the casting rite there is a separate page, and that page states plainly that the outcome is random.
| Trigram | Three lines (bottom up) | Image | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|
| Càn | Solid, solid, solid | Heaven | Strong, initiating |
| Đoài | Solid, solid, broken | Lake | Joyous, open |
| Ly | Solid, broken, solid | Fire | Clarity, clinging |
| Chấn | Solid, broken, broken | Thunder | Arousing, setting in motion |
| Tốn | Broken, solid, solid | Wind | Penetrating, gradual |
| Khảm | Broken, solid, broken | Water | Danger, flowing |
| Cấn | Broken, broken, solid | Mountain | Stillness, stopping |
| Khôn | Broken, broken, broken | Earth | Yielding, receptive |
Frequently asked questions
Why are there exactly sixty-four hexagrams?
Because each hexagram is two trigrams stacked, and there are eight trigrams: eight times eight is sixty-four. Equivalently, a hexagram has six lines with two possibilities each, solid or broken, so the count is two to the sixth, again sixty-four. The 8×8 grid on this page lays that structure out directly.
Are the six lines read top-down or bottom-up?
Bottom-up. The lowest line is the first, the highest is the sixth. The figures here follow that convention so they can be checked against printed editions directly. Many online tools draw it the other way round, which leads readers to the wrong hexagram.
How do the inverse, reversed and nuclear hexagrams differ?
The inverse flips all six lines, giving the exact opposite. The reversed turns the figure upside down, the same matter seen from the other side. The nuclear is built from the four middle lines and read as the situation's hidden core. All three follow from the figure itself and need no further input.
Why is some hexagrams' reversed figure the hexagram itself?
Because the figure is symmetrical: turned upside down it comes out the same. Eight of the sixty-four behave this way. The page marks these self-reversing cases rather than quietly returning the same number, so you can see it is a property of the figure and not a computation error.
Is looking a hexagram up here different from casting one?
Entirely. This page is a reference: you choose the hexagram you want, with no randomness and no question asked. Casting recreates a rite, produces a random outcome, and lives on its own page. Keeping them apart is deliberate, because reading an old text and performing a divination rite are not the same activity.
What is the difference between the Earlier and Later Heaven arrangements?
They are two ARRANGEMENTS of the same eight trigrams around a circle, not two different sets. The Earlier Heaven order is laid out by yin-yang symmetry and appears in discussions of principle; the Later Heaven order is by compass direction and is the one used in feng shui. Stacking trigrams into the sixty-four hexagrams does not depend on either arrangement.
Is the I Ching a book of divination?
It has been used both for divination and as a philosophical text, depending on the tradition. This page leans firmly towards the second: it lays out each hexagram's structure, image and counsel for study, offers no pronouncement on anyone's affairs, and there is no scientific basis for using hexagrams to predict events.