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Hexagram 16 of 64

I Ching hexagram 16 ☳☷ Enthusiasm

I Ching hexagram 16, Enthusiasm, is thunder above, earth below. In brief: movement that carries others with it. Its one solid line stands in place 4, counting from the bottom; the other five are broken.

Lines, bottom up
⚋⚋⚋⚊⚋⚋ 000100 · 1 = solid
Trigrams
Thunder over Earth Zhen ☳ / Kun ☷
Every line changed
№ 9 Small Taming
In Legge, 1882
p. 91 Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16

Legge, The Yî King, 1882.

Paired with it line by line — changed, turned over or read from the inner lines: 9, Small Taming, 15, Modesty and 39, Obstruction.

Also with Thunder above: 32, Duration, 34, Great Power and 40, Deliverance.

Also with Earth below: 2, The Receptive, 8, Holding Together and 12, Standstill.

To draw a hexagram of your own, cast the I Ching with three coins.

I Ching Hexagram 16: Enthusiasm

Upper trigram

☳

Thunder (Zhen) above

Arousal and shock.

FamilyEldest son
ElementWood

Lower trigram

☷

Earth (Kun) below

Receptive yielding.

FamilyMother
ElementEarth

What the text says, in plain terms

The Judgement and the Image of hexagram 16

The Judgement

Enthusiasm that moves people. When energy and inspiration are shared, helpers can be appointed and collective action set in motion.

The Image

Thunder bursting out of the earth. The lesson is the power of music, ritual and shared celebration to unite people around a purpose.

A summary of meaning written for this site, not a translation — James Legge’s 1882 translation of the full text follows below. How the Judgement and the Image are read, and which translations to use →

Primary source

Hexagram 16 in James Legge’s translation

The Judgement
“Yü indicates that, (in the state which it implies), feudal princes may be set up, and the hosts put in motion, with advantage.”
The Image
“(The trigrams for) the earth and thunder issuing from it with its crashing noise form Yü. The ancient kings, in accordance with this, composed their music and did honour to virtue, presenting it especially and most grandly to God,”

The lines

  1. Line 1 · bottom The first line, divided, shows its subject proclaiming his pleasure and satisfaction. There will be evil.
  2. Line 2 The second line, divided, shows one who is firm as a rock. (He sees a thing) without waiting till it has come to pass; with his firm correctness there will be good fortune.
  3. Line 3 The third line, divided, shows one looking up (for favours), while he indulges the feeling of pleasure and satisfaction. If he would understand!—If he be late in doing so, there will indeed be occasion for repentance.
  4. Line 4 The fourth line, undivided, shows him from whom the harmony and satisfaction come. Great is the success which he obtains. Let him not allow suspicions to enter his mind, and thus friends will gather around him.
  5. Line 5 The fifth line, divided, shows one with a chronic complaint, but who lives on without dying.
  6. Line 6 · top The topmost line, divided, shows its subject with darkened mind devoted to the pleasure and satisfaction (of the time); but if he change his course even when (it may be considered as) completed, there will be no error.
James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 91 — read the original text. Words in parentheses are Legge’s own: in his preface he explains that they supply what the original writer left unsaid. “Undivided” and “divided” are his terms for yang and yin lines, counted from the bottom. The Image comes from the second appendix of the book, the Treatise on the Symbolism.

Enthusiasm for a decision

Harness enthusiasm — yours and other people's — to get something moving. Make sure the excitement is grounded in a plan so it does not burn out.

I Ching 16 in love and relationships

Joy, attraction and shared excitement. Keep an eye on whether the enthusiasm is mutual rather than one-sided.

Hexagram 16 at work

Launching, motivating a team and building momentum. Delegate and organize so the initial energy turns into lasting progress.

The six lines of hexagram 16

Read from the bottom up. This figure runs yin yin yin yang yin yin — what each position means.

Hexagram 16: Thunder over Earth
Hexagram 16, Enthusiasm, line by line from the bottomlineplace · answer1Line 1 · yin, brokenout of placeanswered by 42Line 2 · yin, brokenin its placeno answer from 53Line 3 · yin, brokenout of placeno answer from 64Line 4 · yang, solidout of placeanswered by 15Line 5 · yin, brokenout of placeno answer from 26Line 6 · yin, brokenin its placeno answer from 3LowerKunEarthUpperZhenThunderKing Wen sequence · read bottom to topastrohot.com

One line is yang and five are yin. Two of the six stand in their proper place, and the pair 1–4 answers.

What the two trigrams do to each other

Inner and outer

Earth below — receptive yielding — is the private, inner side of hexagram 16.

Thunder above — arousal and shock — is the world that side meets.

The five-element relation

Wood above controls Earth below. Circumstance restrains the inner position — pressure comes from the situation, not from within.

Read as a family

The eldest son sits above and the mother below. A child over a parent — an inversion of the expected order, and usually read as a situation where the junior position carries the initiative.

Calculated from the lines

Hexagrams connected to hexagram 16

Hexagram 39, Obstruction

Nuclear hexagram

39 · Obstruction

What is happening beneath the surface.

Lines 2–4 give Gen (Mountain) as the lower trigram, lines 3–5 give Kan (Water) as the upper.

Hexagram 9, Small Taming

Opposite hexagram

9 · Small Taming

The situation turned inside out.

Change all six lines and Thunder over Earth becomes Wind over Heaven.

Hexagram 15, Modesty

Inverse hexagram

15 · Modesty

The situation seen from the other side.

Turn the figure upside down and Thunder over Earth becomes Earth over Mountain.

None of these are assigned by an author — each follows from the arrangement of lines.

The image

Thunder above, Earth below.

Thunder over Earth: arousal and shock meeting receptive yielding.

← 15 · All 64 · 17 →

12 Standstill 13 Fellowship 14 Great Possession 15 Modesty 17 Following 18 Work on the Decayed 19 Approach

Sources

  1. James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 91

Statements of fact on this page were checked against these sources in October 2026. How we choose and check sources: editorial policy.

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