In love
In matters of the heart, Heng underlines a faithfulness that is nourished: shared habits, a regular presence, and the freedom to grow together.
Hexagram 32
I Ching hexagram 32: Duration (Heng)
Heng means duration, constancy: what lasts does not harden, it renews itself while keeping its direction.
- constancy
- duration
- faithfulness
The essentials
Heng at a glance
For you, Heng invites you to hold a direction over time: what matters settles in through regularity, not through the brilliance of a single day.
A strength
A quiet faithfulness to what matters, which renews itself instead of wearing out.
Something to watch
Confusing duration with immobility: clinging to a habit that no longer makes sense is not constancy.
- What it advises
- Keep your course on what matters, with regularity, while accepting to adjust the means rather than stubbornly holding on.
- Its opposite
- 42. Increase (Yi)
The situation
Heng describes what endures. Wind beneath Thunder: two forces that answer each other, each in its place, without opposing one another. According to the Judgment, the way is clear, without fault, with an advantage in holding to your integrity, whatever the direction.
But the hexagram makes clear that duration is not rigidity. The sun and the moon last while constantly changing place; what is constant is the path, not the position. True faithfulness accepts renewing itself.
It invites you to recognize what deserves to last and to maintain it regularly, leaving room for adjustments.
The image: Thunder above Wind
- AboveThunder: the shock that awakens
- BelowWind: gentleness that penetrates
Thunder above Wind: two forces that answer each other. The commentary on the image reads in it advice about stability: hold your place without changing course.
Consult the I Ching
Throw three coins six times: your hexagram, the lines that change, and the direction they point to.
Free, no account · nothing is sent · no predictions
The six lines
- 1st line (bottom) · brokenWanting duration too fast, right from the start: even with good intentions, this lacks realism. It takes time for something to hold.
- 2nd line · solidRegret disappears: the position is right, the measure is kept. Here constancy comes without effort.
- 3rd line · solidNot holding to your virtue with constancy: others use it to blame you, and regret follows. You do not hold steady by changing your mind.
- 4th line · solidA field where there is no game: the effort is there, but it goes to the wrong place. Persevering this way bears no fruit.
- 5th line · brokenKeeping constantly to your own way: judged favorable for the one who follows, unfavorable for the one who decides.
- 6th line (top) · brokenAgitating yourself to obtain duration: a bad omen. What lasts does not rush.
Heng in your life
At work
Over the long run, Heng favors constancy in a trade or a long-term project rather than successive turns.
The I Ching helps you reflect on how to act: it does not say what is coming.
How is it built?
- Character
- 恆 (héng)
- Number
- 32 in the King Wen sequence
- Trigrams
- Thunder (震) above, Wind (巽) below
- Inner hexagram
- 43. Breakthrough (Guai) (lines 2 to 4 and 3 to 5)
- Read upside down
- 31. Influence (Xian)
- Symbol
- ䷟ (U+4DDF)
The English names are the usual renderings of the Chinese characters; the texts rely on the Chinese and on early public-domain translations (Legge, 1882; Philastre, 1885–1893).
Sources
- Wikipedia (English), “List of hexagrams of the I Ching,” read on October 15, 2026: numbers, characters, pinyin, lower and upper trigrams.
- Wikipedia (English), “Bagua,” read on October 15, 2026: lines of the eight trigrams, from bottom to top.
- James Legge (1815–1897), The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East, vol. XVI, 1882 (Wikisource): public domain.
- Paul-Louis-Félix Philastre (1837–1902), Le Yi King ou Livre des changements de la dynastie des Tsheou, Annales du Musée Guimet, 1885–1893: public domain (the author died more than 70 years ago).
Frequently asked questions about hexagram 32
What does I Ching hexagram 32 mean?
Hexagram 32, Heng, means duration: a constancy that holds over time by keeping its direction, without hardening or scattering.
Which hexagram is the opposite of hexagram 32?
It is hexagram 42, Yi, Increase. Heng speaks of what lasts, Yi of what grows: stability on one side, momentum on the other.