Hexagram 37 — Dwelling People
King Wen #37 · plain-language meaning, the Image, and the classical text
The family and the inner circle. Order begins at home, with clear roles and warmth.
What Hexagram 37 Means 白话解读
Hexagram 37 places fire (离) beneath wind (巽) — light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates below, gentle influence working inward above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Dwelling People”: the family and the inner circle. Order begins at home, with clear roles and warmth. Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
The Image 象傳
風自火出，家人；君子以言有物，而行有恒。
(The trigram representing) fire, and that for wind coming forth from it, form Kiâ Zăn. The superior man, in accordance with this, orders his words according to (the truth of) things, and his conduct so that it is uniformly consistent.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
Wind arises from fire: the family. The wise speak with substance and act with constancy.— plain-English rendering by The Hexagrams2
Hexagram 37 in Real Questions 實問實答
With money and work
Dwelling People describes the family and the inner circle. Order begins at home, with clear roles and warmth — 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 gentle influence working inward. It names a shape of timing, not a sum.
For a decision
If you cast Dwelling People about a choice, the figure's counsel is the same movement it pictures: the family and the inner circle. Order begins at home, with clear roles and warmth. 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 37
What does 家人 (jiā rén) mean?
Hexagram 37 of the I Ching is named 家人 (jiā rén), usually rendered "Dwelling People" in English editions. Its figure is built from fire (离) below and wind (巽) above — light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates beneath gentle influence working inward.
Is hexagram 37 a good omen?
The received text of hexagram 37 is warm: it contains 5 occurrences of 吉 (good fortune). The classical verdict is broadly favourable — with the lines' own conditions attached (the text notes possible regret 悔 where the moment is mishandled).
What does hexagram 37 mean in love?
In a relationship reading, Dwelling People points to the family and the inner circle. Order begins at home, with clear roles and warmth. The figure pairs fire (离) beneath wind (巽) — light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates meeting gentle influence working inward — 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 37 mean for career and money?
Career and money questions read Dwelling People through the figure itself: fire (离) below, wind (巽) above — light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates held inside gentle influence working inward. The plain reading: The family and the inner circle. Order begins at home, with clear roles and warmth. The text carries 5 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 37 mean?
A cast of hexagram 37 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 37 gives hexagram 40, 解 (Taking-Apart). 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 37 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 37 gives hexagram 40 — 解 (Taking-Apart). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 38 — 睽 (Polarising). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 64 — 未濟 (Not Yet Fording).
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
利女貞。
For (the realisation of what is taught in) Jia Ren, (or for the regulation of the family), what is most advantageous is that the wife be firm and correct.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
閒有家，悔亡。
The first NINE, undivided, shows its subject establishing restrictive regulations in his household Occasion for repentance will disappear.
無攸遂，在中饋，貞吉。
The second SIX, divided, shows its subject taking nothing on herself, but in her central place attending to the preparation of the food. Through her firm correctness there will be good fortune.
家人嗃嗃，悔厲，吉；婦子嘻嘻，終吝。
The third NINE, undivided, shows its subject (treating) the members of the household with stern severity. There will be occasion for repentance, there will be peril, (but) there will (also) be good fortune. If the wife and children were to be smirking and chattering, in the end there would be occasion for regret.
富家，大吉。
The fourth SIX, divided, shows its subject enriching the family. There will be great good fortune.
王假有家，勿恤，吉。
The fifth NINE, undivided, shows the influence of the king extending to his family. There need be no anxiety; there will be good fortune.
有孚，威如，終吉。
The topmost NINE, undivided, shows its subject possessed of sincerity and arrayed in majesty. In the end there will be good fortune.
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.