Eight Introductory Lessons / 05

The Resulting Hexagram and Reading the Change

Flip every moving line and you get a second hexagram, the resulting hexagram. Set it beside the primary one and the change becomes visible.

Derive the resulting hexagram from the primary hexagram and its moving lines.
Explain why there is no resulting hexagram when no line moves.
Know that only moving lines flip; unmoving lines are copied across unchanged.

Where the resulting hexagram comes from

The rule is one sentence: flip every moving line to its opposite, copy the rest across unchanged, and the six lines you end up with are the resulting hexagram, also called the changed hexagram.

Concretely, an old yang (9) is a yang line in the primary hexagram and becomes a yin line in the resulting one. An old yin (6) is yin in the primary and becomes yang. A young yang (7) and a young yin (8) are identical on both sides.

So the differences between the two hexagrams are exactly the moving lines — no more and no fewer.

Flip a line and watch

The primary hexagram is the one you cast; the resulting hexagram is what you get after flipping the moving lines. Flip as many lines as there are moving lines and leave everything else alone — there is no further step. If only the second line moves, the resulting hexagram differs from the primary one in that line only; if the second and the fifth both move, two lines differ. Set the two side by side and the difference is plain.

No moving line means no second hexagram

If no line moves, applying the rule produces six lines identical to the ones you started with. The resulting hexagram equals the primary hexagram, which is to say there is no second hexagram to compare.

This is not a gap in the system. It expresses exactly that nothing is currently changing, and the reading simply stays with the primary hexagram.

At the other extreme, when all six lines move, every line of the resulting hexagram is the opposite of the primary one and the two are as far apart as they can be.

What to look at when you compare them

Once you have two hexagrams, a common way to look at them is as two ends of one process: the primary hexagram is how things stand, and the resulting hexagram is what they would become if the change ran its course.

It is worth noting that this is an interpretive reading, not something the symbol system itself asserts. At the level of symbols, only one thing is certain: the resulting hexagram is the primary hexagram with its moving lines flipped.

As for which passage to read across the two, and which takes precedence, there are fixed rules — but they are not identical across schools. The next lesson looks at the texts themselves before turning to those rules.

One more point that is easy to confuse: the resulting hexagram is derived, not cast again. You do not throw a second time to obtain it. It follows entirely from the primary hexagram and its moving lines, so two people given the same six numbers will always arrive at the same resulting hexagram.

For the same reason it carries no new information. It restates which lines are moving in a different form, making the change visible — and that is all.

Try it yourself

This lesson has a hands-on exercise. It is built into the Traditional Chinese lesson page, where you can try it straight away: open the interactive exercise.

Quick Quiz

The primary hexagram is six yang lines and only the second line moves. What is the resulting hexagram?

Yang, yin, yang, yang, yang, yang
Six yin lines
Six yang lines, the same as the primary hexagram

View answers and explanations for every option

Yang, yin, yang, yang, yang, yang (Correct) : Correct. Only the changing line flips; copy the other five unchanged.

Six yin lines : That would be the result if all six changed. Here only one changes; the other five do not flip with it.

Six yang lines, the same as the primary hexagram : A changing line always produces change. The two hexagrams are identical only when there are zero changing lines.

Why is there no resulting hexagram to look at when no line moves?

There is nothing to flip, so the six lines you derive are identical to the primary hexagram.
Because a casting with no moving lines is invalid and must be redone.
Because with no moving lines you swap the two trigrams instead.

View answers and explanations for every option

No lines flip, so the resulting six lines exactly match the original. (Correct) : Correct. The rule still applies, but the result coincides with the original, leaving no second hexagram to compare.

Because a casting with no moving lines is invalid and must be redone. : Zero changing lines is normal and has its own reading method. No restart is needed.

Because with no moving lines you swap the two trigrams instead. : No such rule exists. A resulting hexagram is produced in only one way: changing the changing lines.

Which lines differ between the primary and the resulting hexagram?

Exactly the moving lines; everything else is identical.
The upper trigram changes and the lower one does not.
Every line changes, because the whole hexagram changed.

View answers and explanations for every option

Exactly the changing positions; all other lines are identical. (Correct) : Correct. This also works backward: comparing which lines differ tells you where the changing lines are.

The upper trigram changes and the lower one does not. : Change does not depend on upper and lower trigrams. Changing lines can occupy any positions, including all within the lower trigram.

Every line changes, because the whole hexagram changed. : That happens only if all six lines change. Unchanging lines are always copied as they are.

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