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Hexagram 55 of 64

I Ching hexagram 55 ☳☲ Abundance

I Ching hexagram 55, Abundance, is thunder above, fire below. In brief: fullness at its peak, which cannot last. Counting from the bottom, its solid lines sit in places 1, 3 and 4 and its broken lines in 2, 5 and 6.

Lines, bottom up
⚊⚋⚊⚊⚋⚋ 101100 · 1 = solid
Trigrams
Thunder over Fire Zhen ☳ / Li ☲
Every line changed
№ 59 Dispersion
In Legge, 1882
p. 183 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: 59, Dispersion, 56, The Wanderer and 28, Great Exceeding.

Also with Thunder above: 16, Enthusiasm, 32, Duration and 34, Great Power.

Also with Fire below: 13, Fellowship, 22, Grace and 30, The Clinging.

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

I Ching Hexagram 55: Abundance

Upper trigram

☳

Thunder (Zhen) above

Arousal and shock.

FamilyEldest son
ElementWood

Lower trigram

☲

Fire (Li) below

Clarity and attachment.

FamilyMiddle daughter
ElementFire

What the text says, in plain terms

The Judgement and the Image of hexagram 55

The Judgement

Abundance at its peak. Like the sun at midday, it cannot stay there — so enjoy it without sadness and make the most of the light while it lasts.

The Image

Thunder and lightning arriving together. The lesson is to settle disputes and carry out decisions while clarity and power coincide.

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 55 in James Legge’s translation

The Judgement
“Făng intimates progress and development. When a king has reached the point (which the name denotes) there is no occasion to be anxious (through fear of a change). Let him be as the sun at noon.”
The Image
“(The trigrams representing) thunder and lightning combine to form Făng. The superior man, in accordance with this, decides cases of litigation, and apportions punishments with exactness.”

The lines

  1. Line 1 · bottom The first line, undivided, shows its subject meeting with his mate. Though they are both of the same character, there will be no error. Advance will call forth approval.
  2. Line 2 The second line, divided, shows its subject surrounded by screens so large and thick that at midday he can see from them the constellation of the Bushel. If he go (and try to enlighten his ruler who is thus emblemed), he will make himself to be viewed with suspicion and dislike. Let him cherish his feeling of sincere devotion that he may thereby move (his ruler’s mind), and there will be good fortune.
  3. Line 3 The third line, undivided, shows its subject with an (additional) screen of a large and thick banner, through which at midday he can see (the small) Mei star. (In the darkness) he breaks his right arm; but there will be no error.
  4. Line 4 T he fourth line, undivided, shows its subject in a tent so large and thick that at midday he can see from it the constellation of the Bushel. But he meets with the subject of the (first) line, undivided like himself. There will be good fortune.
  5. Line 5 The fifth line, divided, shows its subject bringing around him the men of brilliant ability. There will be occasion for congratulation and praise. There will be good fortune.
  6. Line 6 · top The topmost line, divided, shows its subject with his house made large, but only serving as a screen to his household. When he looks at his door, it is still, and there is nobody about it. For three years no one is to be seen. There will be evil.
James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 183 — 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.

Abundance for a decision

You are at a high point. Act decisively on what matters now, and do not assume the conditions will last.

I Ching 55 in love and relationships

Fullness and celebration. Appreciate it openly, and do not let fear of change spoil the moment.

Hexagram 55 at work

Peak results, busy periods and maximum visibility. Make key decisions and secure gains before the cycle turns.

The six lines of hexagram 55

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

Hexagram 55: Thunder over Fire
Hexagram 55, Abundance, line by line from the bottomlineplace · answer1Line 1 · yang, solidin its placeno answer from 42Line 2 · yin, brokenin its placeno answer from 53Line 3 · yang, solidin its placeanswered by 64Line 4 · yang, solidout of placeno answer from 15Line 5 · yin, brokenout of placeno answer from 26Line 6 · yin, brokenin its placeanswered by 3LowerLiFireUpperZhenThunderKing Wen sequence · read bottom to topastrohot.com

3 yang and 3 yin lines. Four of the six stand in their proper place, and the pair 3–6 answers.

What the two trigrams do to each other

Inner and outer

Fire below — clarity and attachment — is the private, inner side of hexagram 55.

Thunder above — arousal and shock — is the world that side meets.

The five-element relation

Wood above generates Fire below, so the movement runs downward — the outer situation is feeding the inner one. Support arrives from outside rather than being generated within.

Read as a family

The eldest son sits above and the middle 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 55

Hexagram 28, Great Exceeding

Nuclear hexagram

28 · Great Exceeding

What is happening beneath the surface.

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

Hexagram 59, Dispersion

Opposite hexagram

59 · Dispersion

The situation turned inside out.

Change all six lines and Thunder over Fire becomes Wind over Water.

Hexagram 56, The Wanderer

Inverse hexagram

56 · The Wanderer

The situation seen from the other side.

Turn the figure upside down and Thunder over Fire becomes Fire over Mountain.

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

The image

Thunder above, Fire below.

Thunder over Fire: arousal and shock meeting clarity and attachment.

← 54 · All 64 · 56 →

51 The Arousing 52 Keeping Still 53 Development 54 The Marrying Maiden 56 The Wanderer 57 The Gentle 58 The Joyous

Sources

  1. James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 183

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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