The Eight Trigrams: How to Read Qian to Kun

In lessons 1–2 you cast a hexagram with three coins (heads = 3, tails = 2; a total of 6 is old yin and 9 is old yang, both of which change, while 7 and 8 do not). The six lines divide neatly in half: the lower three lines are the ​lower trigram (inner trigram, 內卦)​, standing for your own position and what is already in motion; the upper three lines are the ​upper trigram (outer trigram, 外卦)​, standing for the environment, the other party, the circumstances you meet.

So there is no need to force-memorise 64 names. First learn the eight small figures and how they pair up. Hexagram 1, Qian, is Qian above and Qian below; Hexagram 2, Kun, is Kun above and Kun below; Hexagram 29, Kan, is Kan above and Kan below; Hexagram 30, Li, is Li above and Li below.

To be clear about dating: the judgments (卦辭) and line texts (爻辭) are generally dated to the Western Zhou, while the systematic trigram symbolism we are about to use comes from the later-compiled Ten Wings (《十翼》); the claim that Confucius wrote them is a traditional attribution and has not been proven.

The Shuogua Wing states plainly: 《周易・說卦傳》「乾，健也；坤，順也；震，動也；巽，入也；坎，陷也；離，麗也；艮，止也；兌，說也。」

NPC Code in plain language: Qian is firm, vigorous advance; Kun is yielding support; Zhen is stirring into a start; Xun is gradual seeping in; Kan is falling into a pit yet still flowing; Li is brightness that attaches; Gen is stopping right here; Dui is delight and speaking.

The family roles are a symbolic grammar for talking about relationships, seniority and who leads or supports — not descriptions of real relatives. For the detailed word field of each trigram, see the NPC Code glossary pages.

Two circular arrangements are commonly seen, so let us state the controversy first. The directions of the ​Later Heaven arrangement (後天八卦, King Wen's arrangement)​ agree with those recorded in 《周易・說卦傳》, and it is the set most used in divination practice. The ​Earlier Heaven arrangement (先天八卦, Fuxi's arrangement)​ is a symmetrical scheme in which opposite trigrams face each other exactly; tradition credits it to Fuxi, but it appears clearly in the documents and becomes a fixed form only in the context of Song-dynasty diagram studies (易圖). Many modern researchers therefore regard it as a Song systematisation rather than an ancient chart. NPC Code presents it as a thinking diagram for understanding structure, and makes no claim that its dating is certain.

In use: the Earlier Heaven chart shows "structure" — Qian opposite Kun, Li opposite Kan, each trigram paired with its counterpart; the Later Heaven chart shows "process" — the turning of the four seasons and the comings and goings of human affairs. For reading a hexagram you have cast yourself, take Later Heaven as the practical reference.

​Question:​ "Someone has invited me to join a new team. Should I step forward now, or take a step back first?"

​Casting:​ three coins, six throws, giving from bottom to top 7, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 — no changing lines. Lower trigram Zhen (thunder), upper trigram Kun (earth), that is ​Hexagram 24, Return (Fu)​.

​Original text:​ 《周易・復・卦辭》「復：亨。出入无疾，朋來无咎。反復其道，七日來復，利有攸往。」(In this example no line changes, so we read only the judgment, with the emphasis on the image of "one yang first stirring".)

​Plain language (NPC Code's own rendering):​ Return goes through. Going out and coming in meet no ailment; friends arrive, no fault. Turning back and forth along its road, in seven days it returns; it is favourable to set out. The 《周易・復・象傳》 also mentions closing the passes at the solstice, which can be read as: this is a time to rest quietly and let the first stirring settle (a paraphrase here, not a direct quotation).

​Reading by trigram:​ one yang first stirring at the very bottom, with a whole thick field of earth above. Zhen inside = there really is a genuine impulse arising in you; Kun outside = the environment will carry it, but will not push it for you. This is a beginning with momentum, where there is no need to hurry.

​Concrete action:​ take the role, but set yourself a quiet first month: meet people one by one, take on one small visible task, and do not propose a restructuring in the first week. Here 无咎 reads as "no obvious fault along this path" — a hint about the situation, not a guarantee of success.

1. Draw the eight trigrams from memory, ​from the bottom upward​. The most common beginner error is drawing from the top down, which ends up reversing Zhen (☳, yang at the bottom) and Gen (☶, yang at the top).
2. Take three hexagrams you have already cast, split each into lower and upper trigram, and write one sentence: "Inside I am ___, and what I meet outside is ___."
3. Comparison of methods: Six-line Na Jia (六爻納甲) matches the heavenly stems, earthly branches and five-phase generating/overcoming relations to each line; Plum Blossom Numerology (梅花易數) builds a hexagram from numbers and the time. Both rely heavily on trigram symbolism. This course still works from the received Zhou Yi text and the Ten Wings, following the line of Wang Bi's emphasis on meaning and principle and Zhu Xi's 《周易本義》 emphasis on the classic text itself.
4. Next lesson: how the lower and upper trigrams combine into the 64 hexagram names of the King Wen sequence.