Hexagram 46 — Ascending
King Wen #46 · plain-language meaning, the Image, and the classical text
Ascending like a growing tree. Advance steadily toward the capable and the wise.
What Hexagram 46 Means 白话解读
Hexagram 46 places wind (巽) beneath earth (坤) — gentle influence working inward below, receptive ground holding all things above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Ascending”: ascending like a growing tree. Advance steadily toward the capable and the wise. Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
The Image 象傳
地中生木，升；君子以順德，積小以高大。
(The trigram representing) wood and that for the earth with the wood growing in the midst of it form Shăng. The superior man, in accordance with this, pays careful attention to his virtue, and accumulates the small developments of it till it is high and great.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
A tree grows out of the earth: ascent. The wise follow what is right in character, heaping small things into great height.— plain-English rendering by The Hexagrams2
Hexagram 46 in Real Questions 實問實答
With money and work
Ascending describes ascending like a growing tree. Advance steadily toward the capable and the wise — and that is the posture the tradition recommends for practical matters under this figure: gentle influence working inward, 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 Ascending about a choice, the figure's counsel is the same movement it pictures: ascending like a growing tree. Advance steadily toward the capable and the wise. 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 46
What does 升 (shēng) mean?
Hexagram 46 of the I Ching is named 升 (shēng), usually rendered "Ascending" in English editions. Its figure is built from wind (巽) below and earth (坤) above — gentle influence working inward beneath receptive ground holding all things.
Is hexagram 46 a good omen?
The received text of hexagram 46 is warm: it contains 4 occurrences of 吉 (good fortune), and 2 of 無咎 (no blame). The classical verdict is broadly favourable — with the lines' own conditions attached.
What does hexagram 46 mean in love?
In a relationship reading, Ascending points to ascending like a growing tree. Advance steadily toward the capable and the wise. The figure pairs wind (巽) beneath earth (坤) — gentle influence working inward 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 46 mean for career and money?
Career and money questions read Ascending through the figure itself: wind (巽) below, earth (坤) above — gentle influence working inward held inside receptive ground holding all things. The plain reading: Ascending like a growing tree. Advance steadily toward the capable and the wise. 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 46 mean?
A cast of hexagram 46 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 46 gives hexagram 25, 无妄 (Without Embroiling). 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 46 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 46 gives hexagram 25 — 无妄 (Without Embroiling). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 45 — 萃 (Clustering). 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
元亨，用見大人，勿恤。南征吉。
Sheng indicates that (under its conditions) there will be great progress and success. Seeking by (the qualities implied in it) to meet with the great man, its subject need have no anxiety. Advance to the south will be fortunate.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
允升，大吉。
The first SIX, divided, shows its subject advancing upwards with the welcome (of those above him). There will be great good fortune.
孚乃利用禴，無咎。
The second NINE, undivided, shows its subject with that sincerity which will make even the (small) offerings of the vernal sacrifice acceptable. There will be no error.
升虛邑。
The third NINE, undivided, shows its subject ascending upwards (as into) an empty city.
王用亨于岐山，吉無咎。
The fourth SIX, divided, shows its subject employed by the king to present his offerings on mount Kh?. There will be good fortune; there will be no mistake.
貞吉，升階。
The fifth six, divided, shows its subject firmly correct, and therefore enjoying good fortune. He ascends the stairs (with all due ceremony).
冥升，利于不息之貞。
The sixth six, divided, shows its subject advancing upwards blindly. Advantage will be found in a ceaseless maintenance of firm correctness.
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.