Hexagram 22 — Adorning
King Wen #22 · plain-language meaning, the Image, and the classical text
Form and grace. Beauty and ceremony succeed in small matters, not in weighty ones.
What Hexagram 22 Means 白话解读
Hexagram 22 places fire (离) beneath mountain (艮) — light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates below, stillness holding its ground above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Adorning”: form and grace. Beauty and ceremony succeed in small matters, not in weighty ones. Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
The Image 象傳
山下有火，賁；君子以明庶政，無敢折獄。
(The trigram representing) a mountain and that for fire under it form Pî. The superior man, in accordance with this, throws a brilliancy around his various processes of government, but does not dare (in a similar way) to decide cases of criminal litigation.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
Fire below the mountain: grace. The wise keep government orderly — but do not dare decide lawsuits on appearances.— plain-English rendering by The Hexagrams2
Hexagram 22 in Real Questions 實問實答
With money and work
Adorning describes form and grace. Beauty and ceremony succeed in small matters, not in weighty ones — and that is the posture the tradition recommends for practical matters under this figure: light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates, held inside a larger setting of stillness holding its ground. It names a shape of timing, not a sum.
For a decision
If you cast Adorning about a choice, the figure's counsel is the same movement it pictures: form and grace. Beauty and ceremony succeed in small matters, not in weighty ones. 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 22
What does 賁 (bì) mean?
Hexagram 22 of the I Ching is named 賁 (bì), usually rendered "Adorning" in English editions. Its figure is built from fire (离) below and mountain (艮) above — light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates beneath stillness holding its ground.
Is hexagram 22 a good omen?
The received text of hexagram 22 is warm: it contains 2 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 22 mean in love?
In a relationship reading, Adorning points to form and grace. Beauty and ceremony succeed in small matters, not in weighty ones. The figure pairs fire (离) beneath mountain (艮) — light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates meeting stillness holding its ground — 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 22 mean for career and money?
Career and money questions read Adorning through the figure itself: fire (离) below, mountain (艮) above — light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates held inside stillness holding its ground. The plain reading: Form and grace. Beauty and ceremony succeed in small matters, not in weighty ones. The text carries 2 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 22 mean?
A cast of hexagram 22 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 22 gives hexagram 47, 困 (Confining). 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 22 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 22 gives hexagram 47 — 困 (Confining). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 21 — 噬嗑 (Gnawing Bite). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 40 — 解 (Taking-Apart).
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
亨，小利有攸往。
Bi indicates that there should be free course (in what it denotes). There will be little advantage (however) if it be allowed to advance (and take the lead).— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
賁其趾，舍車而徒。
The first NINE, undivided, shows one adorning (the way of) his feet. He can discard a carriage and walk on foot.
賁其須。
The second SIX, divided, shows one adorning his beard.
賁如，濡如，永貞吉。
The third NINE, undivided, shows its subject with the appearance of being adorned and bedewed (with rich favours). But let him ever maintain his firm correctness, and there will be good fortune.
賁如，皤如，白馬翰如，匪寇，婚媾。
The fourth SIX, divided, shows one looking as if adorned, but only in white. As if (mounted on) a white horse, and furnished with wings, (he seeks union with the subject of the first line), while (the intervening third pursues), not as a robber, but intent on a matrimonial alliance.
賁于丘園，束帛戔戔；吝，終吉。
The fifth SIX, divided, shows its subject adorned by (the occupants of) the heights and gardens. He bears his roll of silk, small and slight. He may appear stingy; but there will be good fortune in the end.
白賁，無咎。
The sixth NINE, undivided, shows one with white as his (only) ornament. There will be no error.
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.