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Hexagram 2 of 64

I Ching hexagram 2 ☷☷ The Receptive

I Ching hexagram 2, The Receptive, is earth above, earth below. In brief: pure yielding — strength through accepting rather than pushing. All six of its lines are broken, which makes it pure yin.

Lines, bottom up
⚋⚋⚋⚋⚋⚋ 000000 · 1 = solid
Trigrams
Earth over Earth Kun ☷ / Kun ☷
Every line changed
№ 1 The Creative
In Legge, 1882
p. 59 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: 1, The Creative.

Also with Earth above: 7, The Army, 11, Peace and 15, Modesty.

Also with Earth below: 8, Holding Together, 12, Standstill and 16, Enthusiasm.

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

I Ching Hexagram 2: The Receptive

Upper trigram

☷

Earth (Kun) above

Receptive yielding.

FamilyMother
ElementEarth

Lower trigram

☷

Earth (Kun) below

Receptive yielding.

FamilyMother
ElementEarth

What the text says, in plain terms

The Judgement and the Image of hexagram 2

The Judgement

A time to receive and support rather than lead. Success comes from following a good direction faithfully, like a mare that keeps pace, instead of trying to set the course yourself.

The Image

Earth doubled: wide, open ground that carries everything placed on it. The lesson is generous capacity — strength shown by holding and nurturing, not by pushing.

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 2 in James Legge’s translation

The Judgement
“Khwăn (represents) what is great and originating, penetrating, advantageous, correct and having the firmness of a mare. When the superior man (here intended) has to make any movement, if he take the initiative, he will go astray; if he follow, he will find his (proper) lord. The advantageousness will be seen in his getting friends in the south-west, and losing friends in the north-east. If he rest in correctness and firmness, there will be good fortune.”
The Image
“The (capacity and sustaining) power of the earth is what is denoted by Khwăn. The superior man, in accordance with this, with his large virtue supports (men and) things.”

The lines

  1. Line 1 · bottom In the first line, divided, (we see its subject) treading on hoarfrost. The strong ice will come (by and by).
  2. Line 2 The second line, divided, (shows the attribute of) being straight, square, and great. (Its operation), without repeated efforts, will be in every respect advantageous.
  3. Line 3 The third line, divided, (shows its subject) keeping his excellence under restraint, but firmly maintaining it. If he should have occasion to engage in the king’s service, though he will not claim the success (for himself), he will bring affairs to a good issue.
  4. Line 4 The fourth line, divided, (shows the symbol of) a sack tied up. There will be no ground for blame or for praise.
  5. Line 5 The fifth line, divided, (shows) the yellow lower garment. There will be great good fortune.
  6. Line 6 · top The sixth line, divided, (shows) dragons fighting in the wild. Their blood is purple and yellow.
  7. All six lines (The lines of this hexagram are all weak and divided, as appears from) the use of the number six. If those (who are thus represented) be perpetually correct and firm, advantage will arise.
James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 59 — 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.

The Receptive for a decision

Let someone or something else set the direction, and put your effort into carrying it out well. Trying to take the lead now tends to misfire; responding thoughtfully to what arrives works far better.

I Ching 2 in love and relationships

Devotion, patience and practical care. The hexagram favors listening and supporting, with the reminder that receptive is not the same as silent — needs still have to be named.

Hexagram 2 at work

Good for supporting roles, teamwork and steady execution of a plan made by others. Quiet reliability is noticed later, even if not at once.

The six lines of hexagram 2

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

Hexagram 2: Earth over Earth
Hexagram 2, The Receptive, line by line from the bottomlineplace · answer1Line 1 · yin, brokenout of placeno answer from 42Line 2 · yin, brokenin its placeno answer from 53Line 3 · yin, brokenout of placeno answer from 64Line 4 · yin, brokenin its placeno answer from 15Line 5 · yin, brokenout of placeno answer from 26Line 6 · yin, brokenin its placeno answer from 3LowerKunEarthUpperKunEarthKing Wen sequence · read bottom to topastrohot.com

All six lines are yin. Three of the six stand in their proper place, and none of the three pairs answer each other.

What the two trigrams do to each other

Inner and outer

Earth below — receptive yielding — is the private, inner side of hexagram 2.

Earth above — receptive yielding — is the world that side meets.

The five-element relation

Both trigrams are Earth, so nothing in the figure pulls against anything else. That makes the reading unusually single-minded — and unusually short of internal correction.

Read as a family

The mother sits both above and below. The same figure doubled — the purest form of what the trigram describes.

Calculated from the lines

Hexagrams connected to hexagram 2

Hexagram 2, The Receptive

Nuclear hexagram

2 · The Receptive

What is happening beneath the surface.

Lines 2–4 give Kun (Earth) as the lower trigram, lines 3–5 give Kun (Earth) as the upper.

Hexagram 1, The Creative

Opposite hexagram

1 · The Creative

The situation turned inside out.

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

Hexagram 2 turned upside down is itself

Inverse hexagram

Symmetrical

Hexagram 2 reads the same upside down: Earth over Earth, turned over, is still Earth over Earth. Only eight of the sixty-four do.

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

The image

Earth above, Earth below.

Earth over Earth: receptive yielding meeting receptive yielding.

← 1 · All 64 · 3 →

1 The Creative 3 Difficulty at the Beginning 4 Youthful Folly 5 Waiting 6 Conflict 7 The Army 8 Holding Together

Sources

  1. James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 59

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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AstroHot. “I Ching Hexagram 2: The Receptive.” Accessed October 27, 2026. https://astrohot.com/i-ching/hexagram/2/

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