Hexagram 30: The Clinging

Hexagram 30, The Clinging (Lí, 离), is formed of the upper trigram Fire (离) over the lower trigram Fire (离). Below is the classical judgment, the six line texts, and how to read this hexagram in a reading.

The Judgment

Trigrams

The outer (upper) trigram Fire describes the situation as it meets the world; the inner (lower) trigram Fire describes its inner disposition. Together they set the theme of The Clinging.

The Six Lines

• 初九 · Line 1 Steps crisscross at dawn; with due care, no blame.履错然，敬之，无咎。
• 六二 · Line 2 Yellow radiance — the balanced mean. Supreme good fortune.黄离，元吉。
• 九三 · Line 3 In the light of the setting sun, those who neither drum nor sing will moan their age. Misfortune.日昃之离，不鼓缶而歌，则大耋之嗟，凶。
• 九四 · Line 4 Sudden as a blaze it comes — burning, dying, discarded.突如其来如，焚如，死如，弃如。
• 六五 · Line 5 Tears in torrents, sighs of grief — and thus, good fortune.出涕沱若，戚嗟若，吉。
• 上九 · Line 6 The king sends forth the campaign: ringleaders felled, followers spared. No blame.王用出征，有嘉折首，获匪其丑，无咎。

Reading Hexagram 30 for Your Question

When The Clinging appears without changing lines, the judgment above stands as the whole answer. When you cast changing lines (a 6 or a 9), read those line texts first — they are the most specific guidance — then look to the relating hexagram they form for where the situation is heading. For love, career, or a decision, apply the theme of The Clinging to your own circumstances rather than reading it as a fixed prediction.