Line 2 of
Hexagram 61: 中孚
“Center Returning” — King Wen #61 · 九二
Line 2 九二
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.'
— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1882 (public domain)
The Changed Hexagram 之卦
Line 2 changing turns hexagram 61 into䷩ Hexagram 42: 益 — “Augmenting”Read line 2 of hexagram 42 →Reading This Line
In the received Zhouyi text, line 2 of hexagram 61 is a strong (yang) line occupying the second line, settled inside the lower trigram. The classical line statement — 鳴鶴在陰，其子和之；我有好爵，吾與爾靡之。 — 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 61 Line 2
What does line 2 of hexagram 61 say?
The received text reads: 鳴鶴在陰，其子和之；我有好爵，吾與爾靡之。 In James Legge's 1882 translation: “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.'”
Which hexagram does line 2 change hexagram 61 into?
Changing only line 2 of hexagram 61 (中孚, “Center Returning”) gives hexagram 42 — 益 (yì, “Augmenting”). 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.