Yi · Increase

Judgment and Plain-Language Notes

Yi: It is beneficial to proceed. It is beneficial to cross the great river.

The Tuan commentary reads Increase as taking from above to add below, so that people are glad without limit and the way shines out. It also says that the way of increase, like decrease, must move with the season. The Xiang image is wind and thunder reinforcing each other, with the noble person moving towards good when they see it and correcting a fault as soon as they find it.

Xun above, Zhen below. Thunder stirs and wind travels, and each strengthens the other, so the flow of resource runs downward and outward. This is the reverse of Decrease. The judgement favours going forward and favours crossing the great water, which makes it a hexagram for action. The lines move from undertaking a large work, through receiving outside help, spending effort on trouble, carrying a major relocation, and giving from a sincere heart, to a final warning about the person who only takes.

The judgment clearly encourages action, while the first nine's supreme good fortune, second six's lasting steadfast good fortune, and fifth nine's unquestioned supreme good fortune are excellent. Yet the top nine alone brings misfortune: no increase, possible attack, and an unsteady heart directly warn those seeking only self-benefit. Favorable signs predominate but end with a caution, hence the rating: Good rather than the best. This is the app's interpretation of the text, not a guarantee of outcomes.

Worth doing: share resources, adopt the better method when you meet it, and correct a mistake as soon as you see it. Avoid: increasing only your own share, or building a short-term gain on someone else's loss.

Understand This Hexagram Through Its Structure

Xun above, Zhen below: movement underneath, wind above — a structure of increase.

• Name the upper and lower trigram of Yi (Increase).
• Say that Yi and Sun differ only at the second and fifth lines.
• Say that swapping the halves turns Increase into Duration.

The lower trigram of Yi is Zhen: a solid first line with two broken above. The upper is Xun: a broken fourth line with two solid above. The first, fifth and sixth lines are solid. Yi and Sun differ at only two places: Sun is solid at the second line and broken at the fifth, and Yi is the other way round. Turning the whole Sun figure upside down also gives Yi.

Sun gives up what is below; Yi brings down what is above. Here movement is below and yielding above, so what is added is not forced in but laid along the motion already there. Added well it grows; added badly it only weighs more. Sun and Yi are a pair about decrease and increase and are read together — but they are not opposites line by line: only the second and fifth lines differ.

A teaching example, not a prediction: an automated check is added to a process already running, rather than starting a second process. Yi describes that structure of adding along the grain.

The Six Lines: Original Text and Reflection

Nine at the beginning: It is beneficial to undertake great work. Supreme good fortune, no blame.

The Xiang commentary says that only the highest good fortune makes this free of fault, because someone in a low position is not meant to carry heavy affairs. The scale of the undertaking raises the standard.

This is the moment to take on a large piece of work, and it reads very well with no fault. But the commentary adds a caution: carrying a big project from a junior position means nothing less than excellent counts as acquitting yourself.

When you are given resource and authority for a major project, the chance is rare and the bar has moved up with it. Before committing, make sure you can deliver rather than only wanting the opportunity.

Are you ready for the responsibility that comes with this opening, not just the opening?

Six in the second place: Someone increases them. Tortoises worth ten pairs of shells cannot oppose it. Lasting steadfastness brings good fortune. The king offers sacrifice to the Supreme Lord. Good fortune.

The Xiang commentary notes that the increase arrives from outside. The king making offering to the highest power reflects the ritual world of the period rather than any present-day instruction.

Help comes in from outside and even the weightiest reading does not contradict it; lasting correctness reads well. What you are asked to supply is not cleverness but steady sincerity.

When outside resource or a helpful person moves towards you, the best response is to keep working the way you already work. A good run is not a reason to loosen your principles.

Which of your standards has quietly slipped now that things are going well?

Six in the third place: Increase through misfortune. No blame. With sincerity, walk the middle path and report to the duke with a jade tablet.

The Xiang commentary says that using increase for difficult affairs is something this position already holds. Reporting to the duke with a jade token is a ritual form of the period, not a present-day instruction.

Resource spent on disaster and hardship carries no fault. What makes it work is sincerity, holding to the centre, and reporting upward with something solid to show. Effort given in a crisis is also a kind of increase.

Time spent firefighting and clearing up rarely produces impressive figures. As long as you record it honestly and explain it clearly to the people above you, the effort is not wasted.

Does everyone who should know about this mess actually know about it?

Six in the fourth place: Walk the middle path; report to the duke and be followed. It is beneficial to rely on support in moving the capital.

The Xiang commentary says that the duke agrees because the intent is to increase what others have. Moving the capital is an administrative term of the period rather than a present-day instruction.

You hold to the centre, your report is accepted, and on that basis even a change as large as relocating a capital can proceed. This line is about carrying a big shift once trust has been earned.

When your proposal is approved and a large change has to be delivered, standing in the middle and accounting for everyone's needs lands it better than holding one position hard.

Has your plan accounted for the people it disrupts most?

Nine in the fifth place: A sincere, benevolent heart. Without asking, supreme good fortune. There is sincere appreciation of my virtue.

The Xiang commentary says there is no need even to ask about this good fortune, and that others returning kindness for your virtue shows the will fully extended.

Kindness given from a sincere heart is so clearly favourable that the text says not to bother asking. Others answer your conduct with sincerity of their own. This is the fullest line in the hexagram, and the whole of it rests on a clean motive.

What you do genuinely for someone else's sake tends to be answered in kind without any management on your part. Getting the intent right works better than calculating the return.

Was your last act of help given freely, or was it an exchange?

Nine at the top: No one increases them; someone may strike them. An inconstant heart. Misfortune.

The Xiang commentary reads no one increasing him as partial speech, and the blow as coming from outside. The root of the trouble is a mind that cannot hold steady to what is correct.

No one adds to him and someone strikes at him, because his heart is partial and cannot stay the course. Taking without ever giving eventually removes the outside support you depended on.

If you only ever take, the people around you withdraw one by one, and support can turn into resistance. Read this as a description of the situation, not a prediction.

In your most important relationship, are you giving more lately or taking more?

Try It Yourself

Swap the halves so Xun moves down and Zhen moves up, and see what the name becomes.

This page has a hands-on exercise. It is built into the Traditional Chinese page: open the interactive exercise.

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