Hexagram 57 — Ground
King Wen #57 · plain-language meaning, the Image, and the classical text
The wind entering. Gentle, persistent penetration succeeds where force fails.
What Hexagram 57 Means 白话解读
Hexagram 57 places wind (巽) beneath wind (巽) — gentle influence working inward below, gentle influence working inward above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Ground”: the wind entering. Gentle, persistent penetration succeeds where force fails. Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
The Image 象傳
隨風，巽；君子以申命行事。
(Two trigrams representing) wind, following each other, form Sun. The superior man, in accordance with this, reiterates his orders, and secures the practice of his affairs.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
Wind following wind: the gentle. The wise repeat commands clearly and carry affairs through.— plain-English rendering by The Hexagrams2
Hexagram 57 in Real Questions 實問實答
With money and work
Ground describes the wind entering. Gentle, persistent penetration succeeds where force fails — and that is the posture the tradition recommends for practical matters under this figure: gentle influence working inward, 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 Ground about a choice, the figure's counsel is the same movement it pictures: the wind entering. Gentle, persistent penetration succeeds where force fails. 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 57
What does 巽 (xùn) mean?
Hexagram 57 of the I Ching is named 巽 (xùn), usually rendered "Ground" in English editions. Its figure is the doubled trigram wind (巽) — gentle influence working inward above and below.
Is hexagram 57 a good omen?
The received text of hexagram 57 is warm: it contains 3 occurrences of 吉 (good fortune), 1 of 凶 (misfortune), and 1 of 無咎 (no blame). 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 57 mean in love?
In a relationship reading, Ground points to the wind entering. Gentle, persistent penetration succeeds where force fails. The figure pairs wind (巽) beneath wind (巽) — gentle influence working inward 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 57 mean for career and money?
Career and money questions read Ground through the figure itself: wind (巽) below, wind (巽) above — gentle influence working inward held inside gentle influence working inward. The plain reading: The wind entering. Gentle, persistent penetration succeeds where force fails. The text carries 3 mentions of 吉 (good fortune) and 1 of 凶 (misfortune), so it is read as workable — provided the conduct the lines describe is kept.
What do the changing lines of hexagram 57 mean?
A cast of hexagram 57 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 57 gives hexagram 51, 震 (Shake). 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 57 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 57 gives hexagram 51 — 震 (Shake). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 58 — 兌 (Open). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 38 — 睽 (Polarising).
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
小亨，利有攸往，利見大人。
Xun intimates that (under the conditions which it denotes) there will be some little attainment and progress. There will be advantage in movement onward in whatever direction. It will be advantageous (also) to see the great man.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
進退，利武人之貞。
The first SIX, divided, shows its subject (now) advancing, (now) receding. It would be advantageous for him to have the firm correctness of a brave soldier.
巽在床下，用史巫紛若，吉，無咎。
The second NINE, undivided, shows the representative of Sun beneath a couch, and employing diviners and exorcists in a way bordering on confusion. There will be good fortune and no error.
頻巽，吝。
The third NINE, undivided, shows its subject penetrating (only) by violent and repeated efforts. There will be occasion for regret.
悔亡，田獲三品。
The fourth SIX, divided, shows all occasion for repentance (in its subject) passed away. He takes game for its threefold use in his hunting.
貞吉，悔亡，無不利。無初有終。先庚三日，後庚三日，吉。
The fifth NINE, undivided, shows that with firm correctness there will be good fortune (to its subject). All occasion for repentance will disappear, and all his movements will be advantageous. There may have been no (good) beginning, but there will be a (good) end. Three days before making any changes, (let him give notice of them); and three days after, (let him reconsider them). There will (thus) be good fortune.
巽在床下，喪其資斧，貞凶。
The sixth NINE, undivided, shows the representative of penetration beneath a couch, and having lost the axe with which he executed his decisions. However firm and correct he may (try to) be, there will be evil.
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.