Forming the Hexagrams

Now that you’ve met the eight trigrams, let’s see how they create the main symbols of the I Ching: the sixty-four hexagrams (卦, guà).

A hexagram is simply two trigrams stacked one upon the other, creating a six-line figure.

Upper Trigram  ->  Line 6  ———
(Outer)        ->  Line 5  — —
               ->  Line 4  ———

Lower Trigram  ->  Line 3  — —
(Inner)        ->  Line 2  — —
               ->  Line 1  ———

Lower Trigram (Lines 1-3): Often called the “inner” trigram, it represents the internal aspect, the starting point, or the foundation of the situation.

Upper Trigram (Lines 4-6): Often called the “outer” trigram, it represents the external aspect, the later stage, or how the situation manifests in the world.

The meaning of a hexagram arises from the interaction and relationship between these two trigrams. Think of it like a dynamic conversation:

• How does the nature of the lower trigram interact with the nature of the upper trigram?

• Is there harmony or tension between their qualities (e.g., Heaven over Earth vs. Fire over Water)?

• How do the individual line positions (read from bottom to top, 1 to 6) contribute to the overall picture? (We’ll explore line meanings more later).

Since there are 8 possible trigrams for the lower position and 8 possible trigrams for the upper position, there are 8 x 8 = 64 possible combinations. Each of these 64 hexagrams represents a unique archetypal situation, state, or process of change.

For example:

• ☰ Heaven over ☰ Heaven forms Hexagram 1 (Qián).

• ☷ Earth over ☷ Earth forms Hexagram 2 (Kūn).

• ☵ Water over ☰ Heaven forms Hexagram 6 (Sòng - Conflict).

• ☲ Fire over ☵ Water forms Hexagram 63 (Jì Jì - After Completion).

Understanding this structure—how the fundamental energies of the trigrams combine and interact within the six lines—is key to interpreting the hexagrams you might encounter when consulting the I Ching.