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Hexagram 42: Increase

益 · Yì

Upper trigram: Wind 巽 (Xùn)  ·  Lower trigram: Thunder 震 (Zhèn)
Structure (bottom → top): 100011  ·  King Wen number: 42

Increase. It furthers one to cross the great water. It furthers one to undertake something. Crossing the great water brings good fortune.Judgment  卦辭

Wind and thunder: the image of Increase. The superior man, seeing good, imitates it; having faults, he corrects them.Image  象辭

Core Meaning of Hexagram 42

Hexagram 42 is increase — the mirror of Decrease: the strong above sacrificing to enrich those below, wind and thunder amplifying each other. Genuine growth, bounty, gaining ground — a time when undertakings prosper and even the great crossing (the major venture) is favored. Increase flows because something is being given.

Hexagram 42 in a Reading

In a reading, expansion is supported: invest, launch, commit, cross the big water. Use the surplus the way the image uses wind — to propagate: share gain with the people and conditions that produced it, and the compounding continues. The self-work is named plainly: imitate the good you see, correct the faults you find. Increase that is hoarded curdles into hexagram 28’s sagging beam.

Common Questions

What does hexagram 42 mean?

Hexagram 42 is increase — the mirror of Decrease: the strong above sacrificing to enrich those below, wind and thunder amplifying each other. Read the full meaning above, or cast your own reading with our free online I Ching coins.

What is the structure of hexagram 42?

Hexagram 42 is built from the trigram Wind above and Thunder below — binary 100011 read from the bottom line to the top. Increase is King Wen number 42 of the 64 hexagrams.

Related Hexagrams

Other Hexagrams with Trigram Wind Above

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