Hexagram 42 — Increase (Yi 益)

Hexagram 42 joins Wind above Thunder. Wind is gentle, penetrating movement; Thunder is sudden, energizing force. Together they show two kinds of motion reinforcing each other: what stirs below is carried further by what circulates above, so a single impulse compounds into lasting momentum rather than dissipating.

风雷，益；君子以见善则迁，有过则改。

Wind and thunder together: Increase. The wise person, seeing good, moves toward it, and, seeing fault in themselves, corrects it.

In the six-line diagram, counted from the bottom, one yang line forms the base, three yin lines rise through the middle, and two yang lines close the top. The lower trigram Zhen, Thunder, supplies initiating force; the upper trigram Xun, Wind, supplies sustained, adaptable follow-through. Read together, the figure favors a decisive start that is then carried by patient, continuing effort.

益：利有攸往，利涉大川。

Increase: it is favorable to have a direction to go, favorable to cross the great river.

The Judgment gives two instructions, and they support each other. Having somewhere to go names direction: increase is only useful when it is aimed at a real purpose, not left as idle surplus. Crossing the great river names risk: the figure encourages committing to a demanding undertaking while support is actually available, rather than banking the gain for a safer, less consequential moment. Read together, this interpretation asks you to notice when resources, goodwill, or an opening have been placed at your disposal, then to use them promptly, deliberately, and for something that matters, before the window narrows again.

In love, Hexagram 42 often points to a relationship where one side is genuinely giving more just now — more attention, more patience, more willingness to adjust — and the figure asks whether that gift is being met with real engagement. Increase is not sustainable as a one-way transfer. Notice whether affection, effort, or reassurance offered is answered by comparable movement from the other person, even if the form of the response differs. A relationship in this pattern often needs one clear, generous gesture rather than a long accumulation of small, unspoken sacrifices.

If you are the one receiving care right now, the line about lasting steadfastness matters: a gift accepted without a plan to honor it becomes an obligation quietly unmet. Say plainly what you value in what has been offered, and let that acknowledgment shape how you show up next. For a relationship deciding whether to deepen — moving in together, becoming exclusive, having a difficult conversation about the future — Hexagram 42 favors going ahead while goodwill is present on both sides, rather than delaying until the moment for a bold step has quietly closed.

In career matters, Hexagram 42 favors proposals, launches, and requests made while support is actually on offer — a new budget, a mentor's backing, a manager's willingness to advocate for you. The figure rewards using that support for something substantial: a real project, a real ask, a real change in direction, rather than a cautious, minor request that leaves most of the opportunity unclaimed. Waiting for a safer moment often means waiting past the moment the support was actually available, and an opening this generous rarely reappears in quite the same shape twice.

If you are the one positioned to give — approving a budget, recommending a colleague, sharing your own expertise — the figure asks for sincerity over performance. A gift given for visibility rather than because it genuinely helps tends to sour the exchange it was meant to build. Watch also for the top line's warning: resolve that wavers once resistance appears undoes what steady conduct built. A sound reading of Hexagram 42 in work matters means committing to the undertaking you have already been given room to attempt, and following through even after the initial encouragement fades.

As a yes-or-no signal, Hexagram 42 leans toward yes, provided the action has a genuine direction and is not merely accepting benefit for its own sake. The figure favors decisive movement — starting the project, making the request, committing the resource — while conditions remain open. It leans toward not yet when what is being considered is small, safe, or lacks a real purpose worth the risk described by crossing the great river.

If the question concerns whether to act on an opportunity that has just appeared, read the answer as go, and go with something substantial. If the question concerns whether a current arrangement will hold, the top line's warning about an unsteady resolve is worth heeding: increase offered in good faith can still be withdrawn if commitment wavers. A changing line can shift the emphasis toward patient observation, urgent action under pressure, structural change, quiet confidence, or a costly failure of nerve, each naming a more precise version of the present situation than a bare yes or no.

Beyond its six changing lines, Hexagram 42 sits inside a small family of structurally related figures. Classical commentators read these three relatives as the counter-voices of Increase.

Treat a Hexagram 42 cast as a deadline attached to a gift. These four steps establish what the opening is for and how much of it is still unspent.

Suppose you ask, “Should I put my savings into finally launching the workshop I have been planning?” and the coins give Hexagram 42 with line 1 changing. The theme is increase: real capacity has gathered, and the question is whether it gets applied. That position — favorable for great work — supports starting now, provided the undertaking is substantial enough to be worth the resource, not a token gesture.

The moving line points to Hexagram 20, Observation: once the workshop opens, the useful move is patient watching, not further expansion. A grounded next step is to commit the funds to the launch, then set a fixed period afterward to simply observe how people respond before deciding what to add or change.