Hexagram 40 — Taking-Apart
King Wen #40 · plain-language meaning, the Image, and the classical text
Release. The knot loosens — forgive quickly, return to the ordinary, and move on.
What Hexagram 40 Means 白话解读
Hexagram 40 places water (坎) beneath thunder (震) — water finding its way through hard gaps below, movement breaking out of stillness above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Taking-Apart”: release. The knot loosens — forgive quickly, return to the ordinary, and move on. Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
The Image 象傳
雷雨作，解；君子以赦過宥罪。
(The trigram representing) thunder and that for rain, with these phenomena in a state of manifestation, form Kieh. The superior man, in accordance with this, forgives errors, and deals gently with crimes.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
Thunder and rain break out: deliverance. The wise pardon faults and forgive offences.— plain-English rendering by The Hexagrams2
Hexagram 40 in Real Questions 實問實答
With money and work
Taking-Apart describes release. The knot loosens — forgive quickly, return to the ordinary, and move on — and that is the posture the tradition recommends for practical matters under this figure: water finding its way through hard gaps, held inside a larger setting of movement breaking out of stillness. It names a shape of timing, not a sum.
For a decision
If you cast Taking-Apart about a choice, the figure's counsel is the same movement it pictures: release. The knot loosens — forgive quickly, return to the ordinary, and move on. 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 40
What does 解 (jiě) mean?
Hexagram 40 of the I Ching is named 解 (jiě), usually rendered "Taking-Apart" in English editions. Its figure is built from water (坎) below and thunder (震) above — water finding its way through hard gaps beneath movement breaking out of stillness.
Is hexagram 40 a good omen?
The received text of hexagram 40 is warm: it contains 4 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 40 mean in love?
In a relationship reading, Taking-Apart points to release. The knot loosens — forgive quickly, return to the ordinary, and move on. The figure pairs water (坎) beneath thunder (震) — water finding its way through hard gaps meeting movement breaking out of stillness — 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 40 mean for career and money?
Career and money questions read Taking-Apart through the figure itself: water (坎) below, thunder (震) above — water finding its way through hard gaps held inside movement breaking out of stillness. The plain reading: Release. The knot loosens — forgive quickly, return to the ordinary, and move on. The text carries 4 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 40 mean?
A cast of hexagram 40 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 40 gives hexagram 37, 家人 (Dwelling People). 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 40 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 40 gives hexagram 37 — 家人 (Dwelling People). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 39 — 蹇 (Limping). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 63 — 既濟 (Already 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
利西南。無所往，其來復吉。有攸往，夙吉。
In (the state indicated by) Jie advantage will be found in the south-west. If no (further) operations be called for, there will be good fortune in coming back (to the old conditions). If some operations be called for, there will be good fortune in the early conducting of them.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
無咎。
The first SIX, divided, shows that its subject will commit no error.
田獲三狐，得黃矢；貞吉。
The second NINE, undivided, shows its subject catch, in hunting, three foxes, and obtain the yellow (= golden) arrows. With firm correctness there will be good fortune.
負且乘，致寇至，貞吝。
The third SIX, divided, shows a porter with his burden, (yet) riding in a carriage. He will (only) tempt robbers to attack him. However firm and correct he may (try to) be, there will be cause for regret.
解而拇，朋至斯孚。
(To the subject of) the fourth NINE, undivided, (it is said), 'Remove your toes. Friends will (then) come, between you and whom there will be mutual confidence.'
君子維有解，吉，有孚于小人。
The fifth SIX, divided, shows (its subject), the superior man (= the ruler), executing his function of removing (whatever is injurious to the idea of the hexagram), in which case there will he good fortune, and confidence in him will be shown even by the small men.
公用射隼于高墉之上，獲之，無不利。
In the sixth SIX, divided, we see a feudal prince (with his bow) shooting at a falcon on the top of a high wall, and hitting it. (The effect of his action) will be in every way advantageous.
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.