晋 Progress
Upper trigram: Fire (fire) · Lower trigram: Earth (the earth)
Advancement — rise like the morning sun, openly and by merit.
Modern interpretation
Progress is favored. Advance openly and let genuine contribution earn its recognition — do not scheme for promotion, deserve it. The sun does not push the horizon; it simply rises and is seen.
The Judgment · 卦辞
康侯用锡马蕃庶，昼日三接。
“In Zin we see a prince who secures the tranquillity (of the people) presented on that account with numerous horses (by the king), and three times in a day received at interviews.” — James Legge, The Yî King (1882)
The six lines · 爻辞
Read from the bottom line upward. Each line pairs the received Chinese text with Legge's English translation.
晋如摧如，贞吉。罔孚，裕无咎。
“The first line, divided, shows one wishing to advance,and (at the same time) kept back. Let him be firm and correct, and there will be good fortune. If trust be not reposed in him, let him maintain a large and generous mind, and there will be no error.”
晋如，愁如，贞吉。受兹介福于，其王母。
“The second line, divided, shows its subject with the appearance of advancing, and yet of being sorrowful. If he be firm and correct, there will be good fortune. He will receive this great blessing from his grandmother.”
众允，悔亡。
“The third line, divided, shows its subject trusted by all (around him). All occasion for repentance will disappear.”
晋如鼫鼠，贞厉。
“The fourth line, undivided, shows its subject with the appearance of advancing, but like a marmot. However firm and correct he may be, the position is one of peril.”
悔亡，失得，勿恤。往吉，无不利。
“The fifth line, divided, shows how all occasion for repentance disappears (from its subject). (But) let him not concern himself about whether he shall fail or succeed. To advance will be fortunate, and in every way advantageous.”
晋其角，维用伐邑，厉吉，无咎，贞吝。
“The topmost line, undivided, shows one advancing his horns. But he only uses them to punish the (rebellious people of his own) city. The position is perilous, but there will be good fortune. (Yet) however firm and correct he may be, there will be occasion for regret.”
About changing lines
In a real I Ching reading, hexagrams are built by casting coins or yarrow stalks six times, bottom line first. Some lines come out “old” (unstable) — an old yin or old yang flips into its opposite, producing a second hexagram that shows where the situation is heading. The changing lines are the moving parts of your answer: read their individual line statements above, and they point to the direction of change.
Ask a question and cast the coins — free, with a plain-English interpretation grounded in the classical text.
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