I Ching Trigrams Chart: The 8 Trigrams and What They Mean

The I Ching has eight trigrams: three-line figures made of solid (yang) and broken (yin) lines. Each has a name, a natural image and a quality: Qian is heaven, Kun is earth, Zhen is thunder, Xun is wind, Kan is water, Li is fire, Gen is mountain and Dui is lake. Every hexagram is one trigram stacked on another.

If you just cast a reading and saw "Earth over Heaven" next to your hexagram, this page is the key to that phrase. The chart comes first, then how two trigrams make a hexagram, and how to use them when you read your own result.

I Ching trigrams chart: the 8 trigrams at a glance

Lines are listed from the bottom up, the same order you build a hexagram in. Names follow the Richard Wilhelm translation; qualities, animals, body parts and family roles come from the "Discussion of the Trigrams" (Shuo Gua), one of the classic commentaries, in James Legge's translation.

Trigram	Name	Image	Quality	Lines (bottom to top)	Family	Animal	Body
☰	Qian, the Creative	Heaven	Strength	solid, solid, solid	Father	Horse	Head
☷	Kun, the Receptive	Earth	Docility, yielding	broken, broken, broken	Mother	Ox	Belly
☳	Zhen, the Arousing	Thunder	Movement	solid, broken, broken	Eldest son	Dragon	Feet
☵	Kan, the Abysmal	Water	Danger	broken, solid, broken	Middle son	Pig	Ears
☶	Gen, Keeping Still	Mountain	Stopping, rest	broken, broken, solid	Youngest son	Dog	Hands
☴	Xun, the Gentle	Wind	Penetration	broken, solid, solid	Eldest daughter	Fowl	Thighs
☲	Li, the Clinging	Fire	Brightness	solid, broken, solid	Middle daughter	Pheasant	Eyes
☱	Dui, the Joyous	Lake	Joy, satisfaction	solid, solid, broken	Youngest daughter	Sheep	Mouth

Pinyin spellings are used here. Older books, including Legge, spell them differently (Khien for Qian, Khwan for Kun, Tui for Dui), so the same trigram can look like a different word from one translation to the next.

What is a trigram, and how do two make a hexagram?

A trigram is a stack of three lines, each either solid (yang) or broken (yin). Two states across three places give exactly 2 × 2 × 2 = 8 combinations, which is why there are eight trigrams and no more.

A hexagram is six lines, so it holds two trigrams. The bottom three lines are the lower trigram and the top three are the upper trigram. Eight possible lower trigrams times eight possible upper trigrams gives the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching.

This is also how the classic commentary names hexagrams by image. Hexagram 11 (Tai) is Earth above and Heaven below. Turn it over and you get Hexagram 12 (Pi): Heaven above, Earth below. Same two trigrams, opposite positions, and the two hexagrams describe opposite situations. That pair is the quickest way I know to see that position matters as much as the trigrams themselves.

The 8 trigrams one by one

Each trigram below gets its image, its core quality, and what that quality tends to point to when the trigram shows up in a reading. The image and quality are from the classical texts; the "in a reading" line is my own plain-English gloss.

Qian ☰ (Heaven)

Three solid lines, all yang. Its quality is strength that keeps going. In a reading it often points to initiative, effort and taking responsibility.

Kun ☷ (Earth)

Three broken lines, all yin. Its quality is docility, in the old sense of receptiveness. In a reading it points to support, patience and following a good lead rather than forcing one.

Zhen ☳ (Thunder)

One solid line at the bottom under two broken ones, as if energy is pushing up from below. Its quality is movement. In a reading: a shock, a start, something set in motion.

Kan ☵ (Water)

A solid line caught between two broken ones. Legge renders its quality as "what is precipitous and perilous." In a reading it marks difficulty or risk that has to be moved through carefully, the way water keeps flowing through a gorge.

Gen ☶ (Mountain)

Two broken lines with a solid line on top, like a lid. Its quality is stopping. In a reading: rest, limits, knowing when to hold still.

Xun ☴ (Wind)

One broken line at the bottom under two solid ones. Its quality is penetration, gentle and steady, the way wind gets into everything. In a reading: gradual influence and persistence over force.

Li ☲ (Fire)

A broken line held between two solid ones, hollow in the middle like a flame. Its quality is brightness and "clinging," since fire needs something to burn on. In a reading: clarity, seeing things as they are, and what you depend on.

Dui ☱ (Lake)

Two solid lines with a broken line on top, open at the surface. Its quality is joy and satisfaction. In a reading: pleasure, openness, talk and exchange.

How do I read the upper and lower trigram in my reading?

Start with the lines. Lines are numbered from the bottom, so lines 1 to 3 form your lower trigram and lines 4 to 6 form your upper trigram. Match each half against the chart above, then put them together as "upper over lower."

1. Write down your six lines from the bottom up.
2. Find the trigram for lines 1–3 (lower) and lines 4–6 (upper).
3. Say the image out loud as "[upper] over [lower]," for example "Water over Fire."
4. Read the relationship. A common reading habit is to treat the lower trigram as the inner side of the situation (what is going on with you) and the upper as the outer side (what you meet). Ask whether the two qualities support each other or pull apart.

Take Hexagram 63 (Ji Ji): Water over Fire. Flip the two halves to Fire over Water and you have Hexagram 64 (Wei Ji), the last hexagram in the book. In my reading of the pair, 63 puts the two forces in contact (water above, fire below), while 64 sets them apart, which fits the titles the Richard Wilhelm translation gives them: "After Completion" and "Before Completion."

When you cast a reading on Ask Yi, you can expand it to see the reasoning behind it. If you want to practice the steps above on a real hexagram, cast a free reading and look at the two halves before you read the text.

For the full walk-through of primary hexagram, changing lines and resulting hexagram, see how to read an I Ching hexagram.

Trigrams vs hexagrams: which one gives the answer?

The hexagram gives the answer; the trigrams explain why it reads the way it does. The judgment and line texts you read in a reading belong to the hexagram and its lines, not to the trigrams on their own.

So I use trigrams as a way to understand the structure, not as a second answer. If the hexagram text feels abstract, the two images usually make it concrete: "Mountain over Earth" is easier to picture than a title alone. For the meaning of each of the 64 hexagrams, the I Ching hexagrams list has them all, and what is the I Ching covers where the book comes from.

A note on the two famous circular arrangements. The Fu Xi or "Earlier Heaven" arrangement sets the trigrams in opposite pairs (Heaven across from Earth, Fire across from Water). The King Wen or "Later Heaven" arrangement places them around the compass, with Li at the south, Kan at the north and Zhen at the east, as the Shuo Gua describes. You will see both on charts and talismans, but neither changes how you read a hexagram from a cast.

FAQ

How many trigrams are in the I Ching?

There are eight. Each trigram has three lines, and each line is either solid (yang) or broken (yin), so there are 2 × 2 × 2 = 8 possible figures. Their names are Qian, Kun, Zhen, Kan, Gen, Xun, Li and Dui, usually read as Heaven, Earth, Thunder, Water, Mountain, Wind, Fire and Lake.

What is the difference between a trigram and a hexagram?

A trigram has three lines and a hexagram has six. Every hexagram is made of two trigrams, one on top of the other, so the eight trigrams combine into 64 hexagrams. The texts you read in a reading belong to the hexagram; the trigrams describe its structure.

How do I find the trigrams in my hexagram?

Count your lines from the bottom. Lines one to three are the lower trigram and lines four to six are the upper trigram. Match each set of three against a trigram chart, then name the hexagram as upper over lower, for example Water over Fire for hexagram 63.

Why do trigram names look different in different books?

Translators use different romanizations and English titles. Qian appears as Khien in Legge, Dui as Tui, and Kan is called the Abysmal or the Deep depending on the translation. The figure is what stays the same, so match by the three lines rather than by spelling.

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