Increase

The Judgment

Increase comes when those above lessen their own claims and direct strength toward those below. Such generosity enlarges the whole rather than merely shifting possession. This is a favorable time to undertake useful work and to cross a difficult boundary, provided the gain serves a worthy purpose. Opportunities should not be allowed to pass through timidity. Yet the blessing belongs to timely action and shared benefit, not to an appetite that calls every acquisition prosperity.

The Image

Wind and thunder lend force to one another: movement spreads, and spreading stirs new movement. The noble one responds by making improvement immediate. On seeing goodness, they move toward it; on recognizing a fault, they correct it. Thus growth becomes a living practice rather than an accumulation of advantages.

The two trigrams

The six lines

Read from the bottom up. A line speaks only when it moves — when the cast gives it as 6 or 9.

1. First line · the beginning · yang, nine

   Strength offered from above makes a substantial undertaking possible. Use the opening for work that brings genuine benefit, not for the enlargement of personal importance. Because the responsibility exceeds your ordinary station, only a thoroughly good outcome can justify accepting so great a charge.

2. Second line · the inner centre · yin, six

   Unexpected support arrives with a confirmation that cannot reasonably be dismissed. Preserve the steadiness that made you receptive to it. The benefit has a sacred dimension: as a ruler approaches the highest powers with reverence, so receive this increase without self-congratulation or careless expenditure.

3. Third line · the threshold · yin, six

   Even a distressing event can become the means of increase. Meet it with sincerity, keep to a balanced course, and place the facts openly before the responsible authority. What began as adversity need bring no fault when your conduct supplies trustworthy evidence of your purpose.

4. Fourth line · the minister · yin, six

   Keep to the middle and make your counsel known plainly; those above can then place confidence in it. A great transfer of circumstances, even the removal of a center of rule, may be supported. Success depends on reliable allegiance rather than restless love of change.

5. Fifth line · the ruler · yang, nine

   A heart sincerely intent on benefiting others needs no anxious inquiry into whether kindness will prosper. Its goodness is already the root of blessing. Those who receive such care answer with trust, recognizing the inner virtue from which the outward gifts have come.

6. Top line · the end · yang, nine

   One who seeks increase only for oneself eventually receives no help and may instead meet attack. The trouble is not a single refusal but an unstable heart, changing its loyalties with every prospect of gain. Without an enduring purpose, abundance becomes isolation and danger.