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Hexagram 45 of 64

I Ching hexagram 45 ☱☷ Gathering Together

I Ching hexagram 45, Gathering Together, is lake above, earth below. In brief: people drawn to a common point. Counting from the bottom, its solid lines sit in places 4 and 5 and its broken lines in 1, 2, 3 and 6.

Lines, bottom up
⚋⚋⚋⚊⚊⚋ 000110 · 1 = solid
Trigrams
Lake over Earth Dui ☱ / Kun ☷
Every line changed
№ 26 Great Taming
In Legge, 1882
p. 156 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: 26, Great Taming, 46, Pushing Upward and 53, Development.

Also with Lake above: 17, Following, 28, Great Exceeding and 31, Influence.

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 45: Gathering Together

Upper trigram

☱

Lake (Dui) above

Joy and openness.

FamilyYoungest daughter
ElementMetal

Lower trigram

☷

Earth (Kun) below

Receptive yielding.

FamilyMother
ElementEarth

What the text says, in plain terms

The Judgement and the Image of hexagram 45

The Judgement

Gathering together around a shared center. Large undertakings are possible when people unite under a good leader for a common purpose.

The Image

A lake rising above the earth, water collecting. The lesson is to prepare for the unexpected, since crowds and gatherings bring their own risks.

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 45 in James Legge’s translation

The Judgement
“In (the state denoted by) Zhui, the king will repair to his ancestral temple. It will be advantageous (also) to meet with the great man; and then there will be progress and success, though the advantage must come through firm correctness. The use of great victims will conduce to good fortune; and in whatever direction movement is made, it will be advantageous.”
The Image
“(The trigram representing the) earth and that for the waters of a marsh raised above it form Zhui. The superior man, in accordance with this, has his weapons of war put in good repair, to be prepared against unforeseen contingencies.”

The lines

  1. Line 1 · bottom The first line, divided, shows its subject with a sincere desire (for union), but unable to carry it out, so that disorder is brought into the sphere of his union. If he cry out (for help to his proper correlate), all at once (his tears) will give place to smiles. He need not mind (the temporary difficulty); as he goes forward, there will be no error.
  2. Line 2 The second line, divided, shows its subject led forward (by his correlate). There will be good fortune, and freedom from error. There is entire sincerity, and in that case (even the small offerings of) the vernal sacrifice are acceptable.
  3. Line 3 The third line, divided, shows its subject striving after union and seeming to sigh, yet nowhere finding any advantage. If he go forward, he will not err, though there may be some small cause for regret.
  4. Line 4 The fourth line, undivided, shows its subject in such a state that, if he be greatly fortunate, he will receive no blame.
  5. Line 5 The fifth line, undivided, shows the union (of all) under its subject in the place of dignity. There will be no error. If any do not have confidence in him, let him see to it that (his virtue) be great, long-continued, and firmly correct, and all occasion for repentance will disappear.
  6. Line 6 · top The topmost line, divided, shows its subject sighing and weeping; but there will be no error.
James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 156 — 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.

Gathering Together for a decision

Bring people together and invest in the group effort. Plan for disruption — the larger the gathering, the more there is to manage.

I Ching 45 in love and relationships

Family reunions, communities and celebrations. Belonging strengthens everyone involved.

Hexagram 45 at work

Conferences, mergers and team-wide initiatives. Strong leadership and contingency plans are essential.

The six lines of hexagram 45

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

Hexagram 45: Lake over Earth
Hexagram 45, Gathering Together, line by line from the bottomlineplace · answer1Line 1 · yin, brokenout of placeanswered by 42Line 2 · yin, brokenin its placeanswered by 53Line 3 · yin, brokenout of placeno answer from 64Line 4 · yang, solidout of placeanswered by 15Line 5 · yang, solidin its placeanswered by 26Line 6 · yin, brokenin its placeno answer from 3LowerKunEarthUpperDuiLakeKing Wen sequence · read bottom to topastrohot.com

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

Earth below — receptive yielding — is the private, inner side of hexagram 45.

Lake above — joy and openness — is the world that side meets.

The five-element relation

Earth below generates Metal above in the five-element cycle: the lower trigram feeds the upper. Energy moves upward and outward, which is the more productive of the two directions.

Read as a family

The youngest daughter 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 45

Hexagram 53, Development

Nuclear hexagram

53 · Development

What is happening beneath the surface.

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

Hexagram 26, Great Taming

Opposite hexagram

26 · Great Taming

The situation turned inside out.

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

Hexagram 46, Pushing Upward

Inverse hexagram

46 · Pushing Upward

The situation seen from the other side.

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

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

The image

Lake above, Earth below.

Lake over Earth: joy and openness meeting receptive yielding.

← 44 · All 64 · 46 →

41 Decrease 42 Increase 43 Breakthrough 44 Coming to Meet 46 Pushing Upward 47 Oppression 48 The Well

Sources

  1. James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 156

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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