Upper trigram
☴
Wind (Xun) above
Gentle penetration.
FamilyEldest daughter
ElementWood
Hexagram 42 of 64
I Ching hexagram 42 ☴☳ Increase
I Ching hexagram 42, Increase, is wind above, thunder below. In brief: a favorable time; act while it lasts. Counting from the bottom, its solid lines sit in places 1, 5 and 6 and its broken lines in 2, 3 and 4.
- Lines, bottom up
- ⚊⚋⚋⚋⚊⚊ 100011 · 1 = solid
- Trigrams
- Wind over Thunder Xun ☴ / Zhen ☳
- Every line changed
- № 32 Duration
- In Legge, 1882
- p. 149 Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16
Legge, The Yî King, 1882.
Lower trigram
☳
Thunder (Zhen) below
Arousal and shock.
FamilyEldest son
ElementWood
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What the text says, in plain terms
The Judgement and the Image of hexagram 42
The Judgement
Increase: a time of gain in which ambitious undertakings succeed and big challenges can be taken on. What rises is meant to benefit others as well.
The Image
Wind and thunder strengthening each other. The lesson is to imitate what is good when you see it and correct your faults when you notice them.
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 42 in James Legge’s translation
“Yî indicates that (in the state which it denotes) there will be advantage in every movement which shall be undertaken, that it will be advantageous (even) to cross the great stream.”
“(The trigram representing) wind and that for thunder form Yî. The superior man, in accordance with this, when he sees what is good, moves towards it; and when he sees his errors, he turns from them.”
The lines
- Line 1 · bottom The first line, undivided, shows that it will be advantageous for its subject in his position to make a great movement. If it be greatly fortunate, no blame will be imputed to him.
- Line 2 The second line, divided, shows parties adding to the stores of its subject ten pairs of tortoise shells whose oracles cannot be opposed. Let him persevere in being firm and correct, and there will be good fortune. Let the king, (having the virtues thus distinguished), employ them in presenting his offerings to God, and there will be good fortune.
- Line 3 The third line, divided, shows increase given to its subject by means of what is evil, so that he shall (be led to good), and be without blame. Let him be sincere and pursue the path of the Mean, (so shall he secure the recognition of the ruler, like) an officer who announces himself to his prince by the symbol of his rank.
- Line 4 The fourth line, divided, shows its subject pursuing the due course. His advice to his prince is followed. He can with advantage be relied on in such a movement as that of removing the capital.
- Line 5 The fifth line, undivided, shows its subject with sincere heart seeking to benefit (all below). There need be no question about it; the result will be great good fortune. (All below) will with sincere heart acknowledge his goodness.
- Line 6 · top In the sixth line, undivided, we see one to whose increase none will contribute, while many will seek to assail him. He observes no regular rule in the ordering of his heart. There will be evil.
James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 149 — 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.
Increase for a decision
Seize the growth window. Take on the larger project, invest and help others benefit — gains shared now tend to multiply.
I Ching 42 in love and relationships
Growth, generosity and mutual support. A good time for new shared commitments.
Hexagram 42 at work
Expansion, investment and ambitious initiatives. Use the momentum while it lasts.
The six lines of hexagram 42
Read from the bottom up. This figure runs yang yin yin yin yang yang — what each position means.
3 yang and 3 yin lines. Four of the six stand in their proper place, and all three pairs answer each other.
What the two trigrams do to each other
Inner and outer
Thunder below — arousal and shock — is the private, inner side of hexagram 42.
Wind above — gentle penetration — is the world that side meets.
The five-element relation
Both trigrams are Wood, 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 eldest daughter sits above and the eldest son below. A brother and a sister of the same rank in age, which reads as a relationship between equals.
Calculated from the lines
Hexagrams connected to hexagram 42
Nuclear hexagram
23 · Splitting Apart
What is happening beneath the surface.
Lines 2–4 give Kun (Earth) as the lower trigram, lines 3–5 give Gen (Mountain) as the upper.
Opposite hexagram
32 · Duration
The situation turned inside out.
Change all six lines and Wind over Thunder becomes Thunder over Wind.
Inverse hexagram
41 · Decrease
The situation seen from the other side.
Turn the figure upside down and Wind over Thunder becomes Mountain over Lake.
None of these are assigned by an author — each follows from the arrangement of lines.
The image
Wind above, Thunder below.
Wind over Thunder: gentle penetration meeting arousal and shock.
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 42: Increase.” Accessed October 27, 2026. https://astrohot.com/i-ching/hexagram/42/
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