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Hexagram 46 of 64

I Ching hexagram 46 ☷☴ Pushing Upward

I Ching hexagram 46, Pushing Upward, is earth above, wind below. In brief: gradual ascent through effort. Counting from the bottom, its solid lines sit in places 2 and 3 and its broken lines in 1, 4, 5 and 6.

Lines, bottom up
⚋⚊⚊⚋⚋⚋ 011000 · 1 = solid
Trigrams
Earth over Wind Kun ☷ / Xun ☴
Every line changed
№ 25 Innocence
In Legge, 1882
p. 159 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: 25, Innocence, 45, Gathering Together and 54, The Marrying Maiden.

Also with Earth above: 2, The Receptive, 7, The Army and 11, Peace.

Also with Wind below: 18, Work on the Decayed, 28, Great Exceeding and 32, Duration.

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

I Ching Hexagram 46: Pushing Upward

Upper trigram

☷

Earth (Kun) above

Receptive yielding.

FamilyMother
ElementEarth

Lower trigram

☴

Wind (Xun) below

Gentle penetration.

FamilyEldest daughter
ElementWood

What the text says, in plain terms

The Judgement and the Image of hexagram 46

The Judgement

Pushing upward, like a plant growing through the soil. Steady effort and meeting the right people bring success; move forward without anxiety.

The Image

Wood growing out of the earth. The lesson is to build character little by little until it becomes something tall and strong.

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 46 in James Legge’s translation

The Judgement
“Shăng indicates that (under its conditions) there will be great progress and success. Seeking by (the qualities implied in it) to meet with the great man, its subject need have no anxiety. Advance to the south will be fortunate.”
The Image
“(The trigram representing) wood and that for the earth with the wood growing in the midst of it form Shăng. The superior man, in accordance with this, pays careful attention to his virtue, and accumulates the small developments of it till it is high and great.”

The lines

  1. Line 1 · bottom The first line, divided, shows its subject advancing upwards with the welcome (of those above him). There will be great good fortune.
  2. Line 2 The second line, undivided, shows its subject with that sincerity which will make even the (small) offerings of the vernal sacrifice acceptable. There will be no error.
  3. Line 3 The third line, undivided, shows its subject ascending upwards (as into) an empty city.
  4. Line 4 The fourth line, divided, shows its subject employed by the king to present his offerings on mount Khî. There will be good fortune; there will be no mistake.
  5. Line 5 The fifth line, divided, shows its subject firmly correct, and therefore enjoying good fortune. He ascends the stairs (with all due ceremony).
  6. Line 6 · top The sixth line, divided, shows its subject advancing upwards blindly. Advantage will be found in a ceaseless maintenance of firm correctness.
James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 159 — 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.

Pushing Upward for a decision

Advance gradually and consistently. Seek out mentors or decision-makers, and trust that small steady gains will add up.

I Ching 46 in love and relationships

A relationship growing stronger through patient effort rather than dramatic gestures.

Hexagram 46 at work

Career progress step by step. Qualifications, reputation and relationships with senior people all pay off.

The six lines of hexagram 46

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

Hexagram 46: Earth over Wind
Hexagram 46, Pushing Upward, line by line from the bottomlineplace · answer1Line 1 · yin, brokenout of placeno answer from 42Line 2 · yang, solidout of placeanswered by 53Line 3 · yang, solidin its placeanswered by 64Line 4 · yin, brokenin its placeno answer from 15Line 5 · yin, brokenout of placeanswered by 26Line 6 · yin, brokenin its placeanswered by 3LowerXunWindUpperKunEarthKing 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 2–5 and 3–6 answer.

What the two trigrams do to each other

Inner and outer

Wind below — gentle penetration — is the private, inner side of hexagram 46.

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

The five-element relation

Wood below controls Earth above. The inner position restrains the outer, which reads as holding back circumstance rather than being carried by it.

Read as a family

The mother sits above and the eldest 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 46

Hexagram 54, The Marrying Maiden

Nuclear hexagram

54 · The Marrying Maiden

What is happening beneath the surface.

Lines 2–4 give Dui (Lake) as the lower trigram, lines 3–5 give Zhen (Thunder) as the upper.

Hexagram 25, Innocence

Opposite hexagram

25 · Innocence

The situation turned inside out.

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

Hexagram 45, Gathering Together

Inverse hexagram

45 · Gathering Together

The situation seen from the other side.

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

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

The image

Earth above, Wind below.

Earth over Wind: receptive yielding meeting gentle penetration.

← 45 · All 64 · 47 →

42 Increase 43 Breakthrough 44 Coming to Meet 45 Gathering Together 47 Oppression 48 The Well 49 Revolution

Sources

  1. James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 159

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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