No. 42 Increase
风雷益 · Yì · Thunder under Wind
“Something is being added here. Make sure it lands where it helps.”
Lower trigram ☳ Thunder 震 — initiation & action
Upper trigram ☴ Wind 巽 — gentle persistence & penetration
Trigram: a three-line symbolic figure that forms one half of an I Ching hexagram.
- Real increase
- Shared gain
- Generous passage
- Help accepted
- Growth from below
Introduction
Wind follows thunder, each driving the other forward. Increase pictures gain that moves outward into the whole.
In practice, this names a stretch where help and resources are genuinely arriving. The work is to let it reach where it does the most good.
The judgement
“Increase. It furthers one to undertake something. It furthers one to cross the great water.”
In plain words: this is a time for real action, including large ones.
Read it as permission to attempt the crossing rather than merely prepare for it. Gain kept circulating tends to keep growing; gain hoarded tends to sit.
Core themes
- Increase is arriving. Where you direct it decides everything.
- A large undertaking suits this stretch more than cautious trimming.
- Help accepted honestly tends to be help that repeats.
Line-by-line overview
Six lines, read bottom to top — matching the figure above.
Each line describes one stage in an evolving situation. Line 1 marks the earliest, foundational beginning; line 6 shows where the pattern has run its course. Open a line to read it.
Line 1 初九
At the base the increase is large enough for something ambitious.
The old line says great deeds succeed and no fault attaches to them.
Starting big tends to be safer here than starting small.
Line 2 六二
Help arrives here from a place nobody expected.
The old line says steady conduct is what earns it.
Too much comes for any counting to settle.
Line 3 六三
At this level the gain comes wrapped in difficulty.
The old line says sincerity and walking the middle road keep it free of fault.
Trouble accepted honestly tends to arrive carrying something useful.
Line 4 六四
Here the increase is used to relocate something central.
The old line describes a whole settlement being moved, and calls it workable.
Large moves tend to succeed when everyone agrees on the reason.
Line 5 九五
At the centre there is genuine goodwill, and the old line says no question is even needed.
Kindness here is recognised without being announced.
Motive this clean tends to be visible to everyone involved.
Line 6 上九
At the top the flow has stopped, and the old line says nobody receives anything.
The result described is a blow and a loss of steady purpose.
Taking without giving back tends to close the channel it came through.
Summary
Read as a whole, this figure asks you to put the arriving help to work. Attempt the larger thing, keep the motive clean, and let some of it move outward.
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Hexagram 42 · Increase 益
A way to look at what is moving around you now, not a fixed answer. Notice your inner state, then decide how to act.
This stretch adds to the bond if you let it.
Generosity tends to be easier to receive than people expect, and harder than they admit.
Couples often refuse help to stay self-sufficient. Refused help tends to leave both people more tired and no closer.
Accept what is offered.
Ultimately, your real-world facts and personal choices will shape how things unfold.
This hexagram contains 1 changing line. You may read detailed line interpretations inside the full hexagram-knowledge page. If you want to deepen your understanding of changing lines and line positions, please visit our I-Ching six-line learning page.
Read the full guide →- Notice what your partner is offering that you have been declining. Accepted offers tend to deepen a bond; declined ones tend to slowly stop coming.
- Ask what you could add to the relationship this month. Added attention tends to be noticed immediately, even when small.
Related reading
Short reads from the blog. A changing line is a line that may shift as a situation moves.
Working with changing lines
Learn about changing lines and how to interpret them
Expectation & inner honesty
Set proper expectations before your reflection reading
Understanding changing lines
What a growing line is telling you.
Related hexagrams
Decrease · 损
Read it the other way up
No. 43Breakthrough · 夬
The hexagram after this one
No. 40Deliverance · 解
The hexagram before this one
If you would like to browse all 64 hexagrams, visit All 64 Hexagrams.
If you would like to learn about static hexagrams and the interpretation rules for changing lines within I-Ching, please visit our general guide: Understanding Changing & Static Lines.