I Ching Oracle Lookup - Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning

Yin-Yang symbol

Welcome to Hexagram 3, Difficulty at the Beginning. The table below maps every combination of changing lines to its resulting hexagram — 63 transformations plus the unchanging reading. The notation reads from the bottom line upward: 3.1.5 means Hexagram 3 with lines 1 and 5 changing.

䷂
3
 		 ䷂
3.1
8		 ䷂
3.2
60		 ䷂
3.3
63		 ䷂
3.4
17		 ䷂
3.5
24		 ䷂
3.6
42		 ䷂
3.1.2
29
䷂
3.1.3
39		 ䷂
3.1.4
45		 ䷂
3.1.5
2		 ䷂
3.1.6
20		 ䷂
3.2.3
5		 ䷂
3.2.4
58		 ䷂
3.2.5
19		 ䷂
3.2.6
61
䷂
3.3.4
49		 ䷂
3.3.5
36		 ䷂
3.3.6
37		 ䷂
3.4.5
51		 ䷂
3.4.6
25		 ䷂
3.5.6
27		 ䷂
3.1.2.3
48		 ䷂
3.1.2.4
47
䷂
3.1.2.5
7		 ䷂
3.1.2.6
59		 ䷂
3.1.3.4
31		 ䷂
3.1.3.5
15		 ䷂
3.1.3.6
53		 ䷂
3.1.4.5
16		 ䷂
3.1.4.6
12		 ䷂
3.1.5.6
23
䷂
3.2.3.4
43		 ䷂
3.2.3.5
11		 ䷂
3.2.3.6
9		 ䷂
3.2.4.5
54		 ䷂
3.2.4.6
10		 ䷂
3.2.5.6
41		 ䷂
3.3.4.5
55		 ䷂
3.3.4.6
13
䷂
3.3.5.6
22		 ䷂
3.4.5.6
21		 ䷂
3.1.2.3.4
28		 ䷂
3.1.2.3.5
46		 ䷂
3.1.2.3.6
57		 ䷂
3.1.2.4.5
40		 ䷂
3.1.2.4.6
6		 ䷂
3.1.2.5.6
4
䷂
3.1.3.4.5
62		 ䷂
3.1.3.4.6
33		 ䷂
3.1.3.5.6
52		 ䷂
3.1.4.5.6
35		 ䷂
3.2.3.4.5
34		 ䷂
3.2.3.4.6
1		 ䷂
3.2.3.5.6
26		 ䷂
3.2.4.5.6
38
䷂
3.3.4.5.6
30		 ䷂
3.1.2.3.4.5
32		 ䷂
3.1.2.3.4.6
44		 ䷂
3.1.2.3.5.6
18		 ䷂
3.1.2.4.5.6
64		 ䷂
3.1.3.4.5.6
56		 ䷂
3.2.3.4.5.6
14		 ䷂
3.1.2.3.4.5.6
50

About the Transformations of Hexagram 3

Hexagram 3, Difficulty at the Beginning (屯 Zhūn), places Thunder below Water. The lower trigram supplies activation at the figure's base, while the upper trigram encloses that emergence within depth and difficulty. This mixed composition divides the transformation space into two immediate domains: movement among lines 1–3 modifies Thunder, and movement among lines 4–6 modifies Water; combinations spanning both halves reconstruct the relation between activation and containment.

For every entry in the table, each designated changing line inverts and the resulting six-line pattern is identified as a second hexagram. Six entries isolate the effect of a single moving line, while fifty-seven record the multi-line possibilities. The unchanging entry completes the set: without any inversion, there is no secondary figure, and the Judgment of Hexagram 3 alone governs.

At the most extensive transformation, all six lines change and Difficulty at the Beginning resolves into its complement, Hexagram 50, The Cauldron. Its adjacent King Wen partner is instead Hexagram 4, Immaturity. That sequential relationship is formed by inversion: turning Hexagram 3 upside down produces Hexagram 4, so the pair presents the same line structure in reversed vertical orientation rather than through wholesale polarity reversal.

For the full Judgment, Image, and line texts, see Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning →