Line 4 of
Hexagram 59: 渙
“Dispersing” — King Wen #59 · 六四
Line 4 六四
渙其群，元吉；渙有丘，匪夷所思。
The fourth SIX, divided, shows its subject scattering the (different) parties (in the state); which leads to great good fortune. From the dispersion (he collects again good men standing out, a crowd) like a mound, which is what ordinary men would not have thought of.
— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1882 (public domain)
The Changed Hexagram 之卦
Line 4 changing turns hexagram 59 into䷅ Hexagram 6: 訟 — “lawsuit”Read line 4 of hexagram 6 →Reading This Line
In the received Zhouyi text, line 4 of hexagram 59 is a yielding (yin) line occupying the fourth line, risen into the upper trigram. The classical line statement — 渙其群，元吉；渙有丘，匪夷所思。 — is what commentators from the Ten Wings onward have read as the figure's own commentary on this one position. James Legge's 1882 rendering, quoted above, keeps the imagery of the original: each line of a hexagram is read as a stage of the same picture, and this page collects the source text for that stage. If you treat the line as moving in the traditional way, flipping it alone produces the changed hexagram linked above; readers have long used that pair of figures to compare a situation as given with the same situation one line different. As always with classical divination texts, this is presented for cultural and reference interest — the text itself carries no prediction about any modern reader's situation.
Questions About Hexagram 59 Line 4
What does line 4 of hexagram 59 say?
The received text reads: 渙其群，元吉；渙有丘，匪夷所思。 In James Legge's 1882 translation: “The fourth SIX, divided, shows its subject scattering the (different) parties (in the state); which leads to great good fortune. From the dispersion (he collects again good men standing out, a crowd) like a mound, which is what ordinary men would not have thought of.”
Which hexagram does line 4 change hexagram 59 into?
Changing only line 4 of hexagram 59 (渙, “Dispersing”) gives hexagram 6 — 訟 (sòng, “lawsuit”). This is the classical way a changed hexagram is derived from moving lines.
Are line pages available for every hexagram?
Yes. Every one of the 64 hexagrams now has six line pages — one per line from the bottom line up to the top line — each with the classical Chinese text, Legge's 1882 translation, and the changed hexagram that line produces when it moves.
1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1882), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text. · For reflection and reference — not financial, medical, or life advice.