Hexagram 11 — Pervading
King Wen #11 · plain-language meaning, the Image, and the classical text
Harmony and flow: heaven and earth are in communion. The small depart, the great advance.
What Hexagram 11 Means 白话解读
Hexagram 11 places heaven (乾) beneath earth (坤) — creative force pressing upward below, receptive ground holding all things above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Pervading”: harmony and flow: heaven and earth are in communion. The small depart, the great advance. Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
The Image 象傳
天地交，泰；后以財成天地之道，輔相天地之宜，以左右民。
(The trigrams for) heaven and earth in communication together form Thâi. The (sage) sovereign, in harmony with this, fashions and completes (his regulations) after the courses of heaven and earth, and assists the application of the adaptations furnished by them,--in order to benefit the people.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
Heaven and earth converse: peace. Rulers shape the ways of heaven and earth, aid their natural fitting, and so guide the people.— plain-English rendering by The Hexagrams2
Hexagram 11 in Real Questions 實問實答
With money and work
Pervading describes harmony and flow: heaven and earth are in communion. The small depart, the great advance — and that is the posture the tradition recommends for practical matters under this figure: creative force pressing upward, held inside a larger setting of receptive ground holding all things. It names a shape of timing, not a sum.
For a decision
If you cast Pervading about a choice, the figure's counsel is the same movement it pictures: harmony and flow: heaven and earth are in communion. The small depart, the great advance. When lines move in your cast, read them against this base — the moving lines show which part of the figure is awake for you, and the changed hexagram shows where it is heading.
Questions About Hexagram 11
What does 泰 (tài) mean?
Hexagram 11 of the I Ching is named 泰 (tài), usually rendered "Pervading" in English editions. Its figure is built from heaven (乾) below and earth (坤) above — creative force pressing upward beneath receptive ground holding all things.
Is hexagram 11 a good omen?
The received text of hexagram 11 is warm: it contains 3 occurrences of 吉 (good fortune), and 1 of 無咎 (no blame). The classical verdict is broadly favourable — with the lines' own conditions attached.
What does hexagram 11 mean in love?
In a relationship reading, Pervading points to harmony and flow: heaven and earth are in communion. The small depart, the great advance. The figure pairs heaven (乾) beneath earth (坤) — creative force pressing upward meeting receptive ground holding all things — which is the traditional picture of how this energy behaves between two people. For how to phrase a love question before casting, see our guide to asking the I Ching about love.
What does hexagram 11 mean for career and money?
Career and money questions read Pervading through the figure itself: heaven (乾) below, earth (坤) above — creative force pressing upward held inside receptive ground holding all things. The plain reading: Harmony and flow: heaven and earth are in communion. The small depart, the great advance. The text carries 3 mentions of 吉 (good fortune), so it is read as workable — provided the conduct the lines describe is kept.
What do the changing lines of hexagram 11 mean?
A cast of hexagram 11 can produce moving lines. Each of the six lines has its own statement (爻辭) in the classical text below, read from the bottom up, and a moving line is read as the part of the figure that is awake for your question. When a line moves it turns into its opposite, and the whole figure becomes a second hexagram: changing every line of 11 gives hexagram 12, 否 (Obstruction). Every line also has a page of its own on this site — Line 1 through Line 6 under this hexagram — with the classical Chinese and Legge's translation side by side.
How is hexagram 11 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 11 gives hexagram 12 — 否 (Obstruction). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 12 — 否 (Obstruction). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 54 — 歸妹 (Converting the Maiden).
Cast it yourself
Shake the tube, watch your own coins fall.
- The hexagram's classical meaning — judgment and all six lines
- Moving lines marked — but not read for you
- No account, no email, nothing to pay
Get the reading, not just the text
Same cast, read all the way through:
- Every line read for you — what each moving line means inside your question
- The changed hexagram — where your situation is heading, and how to read the turn
- A closing that answers you directly — act, wait, or say it out loud
New to casting? How it works · All 64 hexagrams
Related Hexagrams 錯綜互
The Classical Text 經文
小往大來，吉，亨。
In Tai (we see) the little gone and the great come. (It indicates that) there will be good fortune, with progress and success.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
拔茅茹，以其匯，征吉。
The first NINE, undivided, suggests the idea of grass pulled up, and bringing with it other stalks with whose roots it is connected. Advance (on the part of its subject) will be fortunate.
包荒，用馮河，不遐遺；朋亡，得尚于中行。
The second NINE, undivided, shows one who can bear with the uncultivated, will cross the He without a boat, does not forget the distant, and has no (selfish) friendships. Thus does he prove himself acting in accordance with the course of the due Mean.
無平不陂，無往不復；艱貞無咎，勿恤其孚，于食有福。
The third NINE, undivided, shows that, while there is no state of peace that is not liable to be disturbed, and no departure (of evil men) so that they shall not return, yet when one is firm and correct, as he realises the distresses that may arise, he will commit no error. There is no occasion for sadness at the certainty (of such recurring changes); and in this mood the happiness (of the present) may be (long) enjoyed.
翩翩，不富，以其鄰，不戒以孚。
The fourth SIX, divided, shows its subject fluttering (down) - not relying on his own rich resources, but calling in his neighbours. (They all come) not as having received warning, but in the sincerity (of their hearts).
帝乙歸妹，以祉元吉。
The fifth six, divided, reminds us of (king) Di-yi's (rule about the) marriage of his younger sister. By such a course there is happiness and there will be great good fortune.
城復于隍，勿用師，自邑告命，貞吝。
The sixth six, divided, shows us the city wall returned into the moat. It is not the time to use the army. (The subject of the line) may, indeed, announce his orders to the people of his own city; but however correct and firm he may be, he will have cause for regret.
Line by Line 逐爻细读
1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1899), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text.2 The Image (象傳) is an ancient text in the public domain; its plain-English gloss here is original to The Hexagrams, not a quotation from any copyrighted edition. · For reflection and entertainment — not financial, medical, or life advice.