Hexagram 42: Increase
益Yì
Moving toward the good you see.
The passages below are historical language. Their references to fortune, danger, and the exemplary person belong to the text’s world. Our modern explanation is an invitation to reflect on your situation.
The Judgment
Classical Chinese
益。 利有攸往，利涉大川。
Our English rendering
Increase. It is favorable to have somewhere to go. Crossing a great river is favorable.
The Image
Classical Chinese
象曰：風雷，益。君子以見善則遷，有過則改。
Our English rendering
Wind and thunder: Increase. A person of integrity moves toward the good they see and corrects their faults.
A modern reading
Wind and thunder fill the Image with movement. Increase concerns capacity that can now be put to use, and the Judgment describes both setting out and crossing a great river. Added resources, help, or confidence can make a demanding undertaking possible. In a current situation, examine what has increased and what it enables. A benefit becomes easier to evaluate when you can name the work it supports and the people who will share its effects.
The Image makes increase a matter of conduct as well as resources. Seeing something good calls for moving toward it; seeing a fault calls for correction. That gives growth two practical forms: adopting a useful example and changing a behavior that causes trouble. Consider a recent benefit alongside a recent piece of feedback. Together they may show where you have both the means and the reason to make an improvement you previously postponed.
A question to sit with
What added capacity can you use to adopt a good example or correct a fault you already recognize?
Source and method
The Judgment and Image are classical passages from the Book of Changes. The English rendering and modern explanation are Meow Ching’s editorial work. This page covers these two passages; it does not translate the six individual line texts.
Read the classical text on Wikisource · Our sources and method