Upper trigram
☷
Earth (Kun) above
Receptive yielding.
FamilyMother
ElementEarth
Hexagram 19 of 64
I Ching hexagram 19 ☷☱ Approach
I Ching hexagram 19, Approach, is earth above, lake below. In brief: something favorable drawing nearer. Counting from the bottom, its solid lines sit in places 1 and 2 and its broken lines in 3, 4, 5 and 6.
- Lines, bottom up
- ⚊⚊⚋⚋⚋⚋ 110000 · 1 = solid
- Trigrams
- Earth over Lake Kun ☷ / Dui ☱
- Every line changed
- № 33 Retreat
- In Legge, 1882
- p. 97 Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16
Legge, The Yî King, 1882.
Lower trigram
☱
Lake (Dui) below
Joy and openness.
FamilyYoungest daughter
ElementMetal
18 pages · printable
The 2027 Sky Calendar — free PDF
Every retrograde, eclipse, new and full moon of 2027 to the minute, already converted to your city. A month to a page, ready to print.
What the text says, in plain terms
The Judgement and the Image of hexagram 19
The Judgement
Approach: a time of growing influence and good prospects. Things move favorably now, but the favorable period will not last forever, so use it well.
The Image
Earth rising above a lake, the shore overlooking the water. The lesson is inexhaustible care and teaching for the people you are responsible for.
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 19 in James Legge’s translation
“Lin (indicates that under the conditions supposed in it) there will be great progress and success, while it will be advantageous to be firmly correct. In the eighth month there will be evil.”
“(The trigram for) the waters of a marsh and that for the earth above it form Lin. The superior man, in accordance with this, has his purposes of instruction that are inexhaustible, and nourishes and supports the people without limit.”
The lines
- Line 1 · bottom The first line, undivided, shows its subject advancing in company (with the subject of the second line). Through his firm correctness there will be good fortune.
- Line 2 The second line, undivided, shows its subject advancing in company (with the subject of the first line). There will be good fortune; (advancing) will be in every way advantageous.
- Line 3 The third line, divided, shows one well pleased (indeed) to advance, (but whose action) will be in no way advantageous. If he become anxious about it (however), there will be no error.
- Line 4 The fourth line, divided, shows one advancing in the highest mode. There will be no error.
- Line 5 The fifth line, divided, shows the advance of wisdom, such as befits the great ruler. There will be good fortune.
- Line 6 · top The sixth line, divided, shows the advance of honesty and generosity. There will be good fortune, and no error.
James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 97 — 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.
Approach for a decision
Advance while conditions are good, and use the opportunity to help and guide others. Plan for the moment when the favorable tide turns.
I Ching 19 in love and relationships
Warmth, closeness and goodwill growing between people. A good time to approach someone or deepen a connection.
Hexagram 19 at work
Expansion, promotion and mentoring. Momentum is with you; build what will last beyond the current upswing.
The six lines of hexagram 19
Read from the bottom up. This figure runs yang yang yin yin yin yin — what each position means.
2 yang and 4 yin lines. Three of the six stand in their proper place, and the pairs 1–4 and 2–5 answer.
What the two trigrams do to each other
Inner and outer
Lake below — joy and openness — is the private, inner side of hexagram 19.
Earth above — receptive yielding — is the world that side meets.
The five-element relation
Earth above generates Metal below, so the movement runs downward — the outer situation is feeding the inner one. Support arrives from outside rather than being generated within.
Read as a family
The mother sits above and the youngest daughter below. A parent over a child, which the tradition reads as guidance, authority or constraint depending on the rest of the figure.
Calculated from the lines
Hexagrams connected to hexagram 19
Nuclear hexagram
24 · Return
What is happening beneath the surface.
Lines 2–4 give Zhen (Thunder) as the lower trigram, lines 3–5 give Kun (Earth) as the upper.
Opposite hexagram
33 · Retreat
The situation turned inside out.
Change all six lines and Earth over Lake becomes Heaven over Mountain.
Inverse hexagram
20 · Contemplation
The situation seen from the other side.
Turn the figure upside down and Earth over Lake becomes Wind over Earth.
None of these are assigned by an author — each follows from the arrangement of lines.
The image
Earth above, Lake below.
Earth over Lake: receptive yielding meeting joy and openness.
Sources
Statements of fact on this page were checked against these sources in October 2026. How we choose and check sources: editorial policy.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “I Ching Hexagram 19: Approach.” Accessed October 27, 2026. https://astrohot.com/i-ching/hexagram/19/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=I Ching Hexagram 19: Approach |url=https://astrohot.com/i-ching/hexagram/19/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-27}}