Upper trigram
☳
Thunder (Zhen) above
Arousal and shock.
FamilyEldest son
ElementWood
Hexagram 54 of 64
I Ching hexagram 54 ☳☱ The Marrying Maiden
I Ching hexagram 54, The Marrying Maiden, is thunder above, lake below. In brief: entering a situation from a weak position. Counting from the bottom, its solid lines sit in places 1, 2 and 4 and its broken lines in 3, 5 and 6.
- Lines, bottom up
- ⚊⚊⚋⚊⚋⚋ 110100 · 1 = solid
- Trigrams
- Thunder over Lake Zhen ☳ / Dui ☱
- Every line changed
- № 53 Development
- In Legge, 1882
- p. 180 Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16
Legge, The Yî King, 1882.
Lower trigram
☱
Lake (Dui) below
Joy and openness.
FamilyYoungest daughter
ElementMetal
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What the text says, in plain terms
The Judgement and the Image of hexagram 54
The Judgement
The marrying maiden: entering a situation in a subordinate or irregular position. Pushing for advantage from there brings trouble; tact and awareness of your place are needed.
The Image
Thunder over a lake. The lesson is to see how things will end in order to understand what can go wrong at the start.
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 54 in James Legge’s translation
“Kwei Mei indicates that (under the conditions which it denotes) action will be evil, and in no wise advantageous.”
“(The trigram representing the waters of) a marsh and over it that for thunder form Kwei Mei. The superior man, in accordance with this, having regard to the far-distant end, knows the mischief (that may be done at the beginning).”
The lines
- Line 1 · bottom The first line, undivided, shows the younger sister married off in a position ancillary to the real wife. (It suggests the idea of) a person lame on one leg who yet manages to tramp along. Going forward will be fortunate.
- Line 2 The second line, undivided, shows her blind of one eye, and yet able to see. There will be advantage in her maintaining the firm correctness of a solitary widow.
- Line 3 The third line, divided, shows the younger sister who was to be married off in a mean position. She returns and accepts an ancillary position.
- Line 4 The fourth line, undivided, shows the younger sister who is to be married off protracting the time. She may be late in being married, but the time will come.
- Line 5 The fifth line, divided, reminds us of the marrying of the younger sister of (king) Tî-yî, when the sleeves of her the princess were not equal to those of the (still) younger sister who accompanied her in an inferior capacity. (The case suggests the thought of) the moon almost full. There will be good fortune.
- Line 6 · top The sixth line, divided, shows the young lady bearing the basket, but without anything in it, and the gentleman slaughtering the sheep, but without blood flowing from it. There will be no advantage in any way.
James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 180 — 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 Marrying Maiden for a decision
You do not hold the power in this arrangement. Avoid forcing your terms; think about the long-term consequences before accepting.
I Ching 54 in love and relationships
An unequal relationship or one driven by impulse. Look honestly at where it is heading.
Hexagram 54 at work
Junior roles, informal arrangements and unequal partnerships. Keep expectations realistic and conduct careful.
The six lines of hexagram 54
Read from the bottom up. This figure runs yang yang yin yang yin yin — what each position means.
3 yang and 3 yin lines. Two of the six stand in their proper place, and the pair 2–5 answers.
What the two trigrams do to each other
Inner and outer
Lake below — joy and openness — is the private, inner side of hexagram 54.
Thunder above — arousal and shock — is the world that side meets.
The five-element relation
Metal below controls Wood above. The inner position restrains the outer, which reads as holding back circumstance rather than being carried by it.
Read as a family
The eldest son sits above and the youngest daughter below. A brother and a sister, 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 54
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.
Opposite hexagram
53 · Development
The situation turned inside out.
Change all six lines and Thunder over Lake becomes Wind over Mountain.
Inverse hexagram
53 · Development
The situation seen from the other side.
Turn the figure upside down and Thunder over Lake becomes Wind over Mountain.
None of these are assigned by an author — each follows from the arrangement of lines.
The image
Thunder above, Lake below.
Thunder over Lake: arousal and shock meeting joy and openness.
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 54: The Marrying Maiden.” Accessed October 27, 2026. https://astrohot.com/i-ching/hexagram/54/
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