Hexagram 61 — Center Returning
King Wen #61 · plain-language meaning, the Image, and the classical text
Inner truth. Sincerity from the center moves even distant hearts.
What Hexagram 61 Means 白话解读
Hexagram 61 places lake (兑) beneath wind (巽) — joy lifting what it touches below, gentle influence working inward above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Center Returning”: inner truth. Sincerity from the center moves even distant hearts. Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
The Image 象傳
澤上有風，中孚；君子以議獄緩死。
(The trigram representing the waters of) a marsh and that for wind above it form Kung Fû. The superior man, in accordance with this, deliberates about cases of litigation and delays (the infliction of) death.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
Wind above the marsh: inner truth. The wise examine cases carefully and hold back from death sentences.— plain-English rendering by The Hexagrams2
Hexagram 61 in Real Questions 實問實答
With money and work
Center Returning describes inner truth. Sincerity from the center moves even distant hearts — and that is the posture the tradition recommends for practical matters under this figure: joy lifting what it touches, 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 Center Returning about a choice, the figure's counsel is the same movement it pictures: inner truth. Sincerity from the center moves even distant hearts. 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 61
What does 中孚 (zhōng fú) mean?
Hexagram 61 of the I Ching is named 中孚 (zhōng fú), usually rendered "Center Returning" in English editions. Its figure is built from lake (兑) below and wind (巽) above — joy lifting what it touches beneath gentle influence working inward.
Is hexagram 61 a good omen?
The received text of hexagram 61 is warm: it contains 2 occurrences of 吉 (good fortune), 1 of 凶 (misfortune), and 2 of 無咎 (no blame). The classical verdict is broadly favourable — with the lines' own conditions attached.
What does hexagram 61 mean in love?
In a relationship reading, Center Returning points to inner truth. Sincerity from the center moves even distant hearts. The figure pairs lake (兑) beneath wind (巽) — joy lifting what it touches 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 61 mean for career and money?
Career and money questions read Center Returning through the figure itself: lake (兑) below, wind (巽) above — joy lifting what it touches held inside gentle influence working inward. The plain reading: Inner truth. Sincerity from the center moves even distant hearts. The text carries 2 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 61 mean?
A cast of hexagram 61 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 61 gives hexagram 62, 小過 (Small Exceeding). 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 61 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 61 gives hexagram 62 — 小過 (Small Exceeding). Turned upside down, the figure is itself — one of the eight hexagrams that stay unchanged when inverted. Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 27 — 頤 (Swallowing).
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
豚魚吉，利涉大川，利貞。
Zhong Fu (moves even) pigs and fish, and leads to good fortune. There will be advantage in crossing the great stream. There will be advantage in being firm and correct.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
虞吉，有他不燕。
I. The first NINE, undivided, shows its subject resting (in himself). There will be good fortune. If he sought to any other, he would not find rest.
鳴鶴在陰，其子和之；我有好爵，吾與爾靡之。
The second NINE, undivided, shows its subject (like) the crane crying out in her hidden retirement, and her young ones responding to her. (It is as if it were said), 'I have a cup of good spirits,' (and the response were), 'I will partake of it with you.'
得敵，或鼓或罷，或泣或歌。
The third SIX, divided, shows its subject having met with his mate. Now he beats his drum, and now he leaves off. Now he weeps, and now he sings.
月幾望，馬匹亡，無咎。
The fourth SIX, divided, shows its subject (like) the moon nearly full, and (like) a horse (in a chariot) whose fellow disappears. There will be no error.
有孚攣如，無咎。
The fifth NINE, undivided, shows its subject perfectly sincere, and linking (others) to him in closest union. There will be no error.
翰音登于天，貞凶。
The topmost NINE, undivided, shows its subject in chanticleer (trying to) mount to heaven. Even with firm correctness 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.