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Hexagram 38 of 64

I Ching hexagram 38 ☲☱ Opposition

I Ching hexagram 38, Opposition, is fire above, lake below. In brief: two forces facing different ways. Counting from the bottom, its solid lines sit in places 1, 2, 4 and 6 and its broken lines in 3 and 5.

Lines, bottom up
⚊⚊⚋⚊⚋⚊ 110101 · 1 = solid
Trigrams
Fire over Lake Li ☲ / Dui ☱
Every line changed
№ 39 Obstruction
In Legge, 1882
p. 139 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: 39, Obstruction, 37, The Family and 63, After Completion.

Also with Fire above: 14, Great Possession, 21, Biting Through and 30, The Clinging.

Also with Lake below: 10, Treading, 19, Approach and 41, Decrease.

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

I Ching Hexagram 38: Opposition

Upper trigram

☲

Fire (Li) above

Clarity and attachment.

FamilyMiddle daughter
ElementFire

Lower trigram

☱

Lake (Dui) below

Joy and openness.

FamilyYoungest daughter
ElementMetal

What the text says, in plain terms

The Judgement and the Image of hexagram 38

The Judgement

Opposition: people pulling in different directions. Large joint efforts are unlikely to succeed, but small matters can still go well.

The Image

Fire above and a lake below, moving apart. The lesson is to keep your own individuality while still living alongside those who differ.

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 38 in James Legge’s translation

The Judgement
“Khwei indicates that, (notwithstanding the condition of things which it denotes), in small matters there will (still) be good success.”
The Image
“(The trigram representing) fire above, and that for (the waters of) a marsh below, form Khwei. The superior man, in accordance with this, where there is a general agreement, yet admits diversity.”

The lines

  1. Line 1 · bottom The first line, undivided, shows that (to its subject) occasion for repentance will disappear. He has lost his horses, but let him not seek for them;—they will return of themselves. Should he meet with bad men, he will not err (in communicating with them).
  2. Line 2 The second line, undivided, shows its subject happening to meet with his lord in a bye-passage. There will be no error.
  3. Line 3 In the third line, divided, we see one whose carriage is dragged back, while the oxen in it are pushed back, and he is himself subjected to the shaving of his head and the cutting off of his nose. There is no good beginning, but there will be a good end.
  4. Line 4 The fourth line, undivided, shows its subject solitary amidst the (prevailing) disunion. (But) he meets with the good man (represented by the first line), and they blend their sincere desires together. The position is one of peril, but there will be no mistake.
  5. Line 5 The fifth line, divided, shows that (to its subject) occasion for repentance will disappear. With his relative (and minister he unites closely and readily) as if he were biting through a piece of skin. When he goes forward (with this help), what error can there be?
  6. Line 6 · top The topmost line, undivided, shows its subject solitary amidst the (prevailing) disunion. (In the subject of the third line, he seems to) see a pig bearing on its back a load of mud, (or fancies) there is a carriage full of ghosts. He first bends his bow against him, and afterwards unbends it, (for he discovers) that he is not an assailant to injure, but a near relative. Going forward, he shall meet with (genial) rain, and there will be good fortune.
James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 139 — 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.

Opposition for a decision

Accept that full agreement is not available right now. Focus on small, achievable steps and on respecting differences rather than erasing them.

I Ching 38 in love and relationships

Misunderstanding and diverging views. Common ground exists in small things even when big things divide.

Hexagram 38 at work

Conflicting priorities between departments or partners. Aim for limited cooperation rather than grand unified plans.

The six lines of hexagram 38

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

Hexagram 38: Fire over Lake
Hexagram 38, Opposition, line by line from the bottomlineplace · answer1Line 1 · yang, solidin its placeno answer from 42Line 2 · yang, solidout of placeanswered by 53Line 3 · yin, brokenout of placeanswered by 64Line 4 · yang, solidout of placeno answer from 15Line 5 · yin, brokenout of placeanswered by 26Line 6 · yang, solidout of placeanswered by 3LowerDuiLakeUpperLiFireKing Wen sequence · read bottom to topastrohot.com

4 yang and 2 yin lines. One of the six stands in its proper place, and the pairs 2–5 and 3–6 answer.

What the two trigrams do to each other

Inner and outer

Lake below — joy and openness — is the private, inner side of hexagram 38.

Fire above — clarity and attachment — is the world that side meets.

The five-element relation

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

Read as a family

The middle daughter sits above and the youngest daughter below. Two sisters, the older one on top — siblings rather than parent and child, so the order is one of seniority, not authority.

Calculated from the lines

Hexagrams connected to hexagram 38

Hexagram 63, After Completion

Nuclear hexagram

63 · After Completion

What is happening beneath the surface.

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

Hexagram 39, Obstruction

Opposite hexagram

39 · Obstruction

The situation turned inside out.

Change all six lines and Fire over Lake becomes Water over Mountain.

Hexagram 37, The Family

Inverse hexagram

37 · The Family

The situation seen from the other side.

Turn the figure upside down and Fire over Lake becomes Wind over Fire.

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

The image

Fire above, Lake below.

Fire over Lake: clarity and attachment meeting joy and openness.

← 37 · All 64 · 39 →

34 Great Power 35 Progress 36 Darkening of the Light 37 The Family 39 Obstruction 40 Deliverance 41 Decrease

Sources

  1. James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 139

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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