Upper trigram
☲
Fire (Li) above
Clarity and attachment.
FamilyMiddle daughter
ElementFire
Hexagram 64 of 64
I Ching hexagram 64 ☲☵ Before Completion
I Ching hexagram 64, Before Completion, is fire above, water below. In brief: almost there, and the last step matters most. Counting from the bottom, its solid lines sit in places 2, 4 and 6 and its broken lines in 1, 3 and 5.
- Lines, bottom up
- ⚋⚊⚋⚊⚋⚊ 010101 · 1 = solid
- Trigrams
- Fire over Water Li ☲ / Kan ☵
- Every line changed
- № 63 After Completion
- In Legge, 1882
- p. 207 Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16
Legge, The Yî King, 1882.
Lower trigram
☵
Water (Kan) below
Danger and depth.
FamilyMiddle son
ElementWater
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What the text says, in plain terms
The Judgement and the Image of hexagram 64
The Judgement
Before completion: the end is in sight, but the last step decides everything. Like a young fox that wets its tail just before reaching the far bank, carelessness now spoils the whole crossing.
The Image
Fire above water, each not yet in its place. The lesson is to distinguish things carefully so that each can find where it belongs.
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 64 in James Legge’s translation
“Wei Zî intimates progress and success (in the circumstances which it implies). (We see) a young fox that has nearly crossed (the stream), when its tail gets immersed. There will be no advantage in any way.”
“(The trigram representing) water and that for fire above it form Wei Zî. The superior man, in accordance with this, carefully discriminates among (the qualities of) things, and the (different) positions they (naturally) occupy.”
The lines
- Line 1 · bottom The first line, divided, shows its subject (like a fox) whose tail gets immersed. There will be occasion for regret.
- Line 2 The second line, undivided, shows its subject dragging back his (carriage-) wheel. With firmness and correctness there will be good fortune.
- Line 3 The third line, divided, shows its subject, with (the state of things) not yet remedied, advancing on; which will lead to evil. But there will be advantage in (trying to) cross the great stream.
- Line 4 The fourth line, undivided, shows its subject by firm correctness obtaining good fortune, so that all occasion for repentance disappears. Let him stir himself up, as if he were invading the Demon region, where for three years rewards will come to him (and his troops) from the great kingdom.
- Line 5 The fifth line, divided, shows its subject by firm correctness obtaining good fortune, and having no occasion for repentance. (We see in him) the brightness of a superior man, and the possession of sincerity. There will be good fortune.
- Line 6 · top The topmost line, undivided, shows its subject full of confidence and therefore feasting (quietly). There will be no error. (If he) cherish this confidence, till he (is like the fox who) gets his head immersed, it will fail of what is right.
James Legge, trans., The Yî King, The Sacred Books of the East, vol. 16 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882), p. 207 — 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.
Before Completion for a decision
You are close, not finished. Slow down, check everything and complete the final stage with the same care as the first.
I Ching 64 in love and relationships
A relationship still taking shape. Hope is justified, but it needs care until the transition is complete.
Hexagram 64 at work
The last phase of a project. Final checks, quality control and patience prevent a late failure.
The six lines of hexagram 64
Read from the bottom up. This figure runs yin yang yin yang yin yang — what each position means.
3 yang and 3 yin lines. Not one line stands in its proper place, and all three pairs answer each other.
What the two trigrams do to each other
Inner and outer
Water below — danger and depth — is the private, inner side of hexagram 64.
Fire above — clarity and attachment — is the world that side meets.
The five-element relation
Water below controls Fire above. The inner position restrains the outer, which reads as holding back circumstance rather than being carried by it.
Read as a family
The middle daughter sits above and the middle 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 64
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
63 · After Completion
The situation turned inside out.
Change all six lines and Fire over Water becomes Water over Fire.
Inverse hexagram
63 · After Completion
The situation seen from the other side.
Turn the figure upside down and Fire over Water becomes Water over Fire.
None of these are assigned by an author — each follows from the arrangement of lines.
The image
Fire above, Water below.
Fire over Water: clarity and attachment meeting danger and depth.
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 64: Before Completion.” Accessed October 27, 2026. https://astrohot.com/i-ching/hexagram/64/
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