屯
“Sprouting” — King Wen #3
A hard beginning: new growth struggling through obstacles. Gather helpers and put things in order.
The Judgment 卦辞
元亨，利貞；勿用有攸往，利建侯。
Zhun (indicates that in the case which it presupposes) there will be great progress and success, and the advantage will come from being correct and firm. (But) any movement in advance should not be (lightly) undertaken. There will be advantage in appointing feudal princes.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
磐桓；利居貞，利建侯。
The first NINE, undivided, shows the difficulty (its subject has) in advancing. It will be advantageous for him to abide correct and firm; advantageous (also) to be made a feudal ruler.
屯如，邅如，乘馬班如。匪寇婚媾。女子貞不字，十年乃字。
The second SIX, divided, shows (its subject) distressed and obliged to return; (even) the horses of her chariot (also) seem to be retreating. (But) not by a spoiler (is she assailed), but by one who seeks her to be his wife. The young lady maintains her firm correctness, and declines a union. After ten years she will be united, and have children.
即鹿無虞，惟入于林中，君子幾，不如舍，往吝。
The third SIX, divided, shows one following the deer without (the guidance of) the forester, and only finding himself in the midst of the forest. The superior man, acquainted with the secret risks, thinks it better to give up the chase. If he went forward, he would regret it.
乘馬班如，求婚媾，往吉，無不利。
The fourth SIX, divided, shows (its subject as a lady), the horses of whose chariot appear in retreat. She seeks, however, (the help of) him who seeks her to be his wife. Advance will be fortunate; all will turn out advantageously.
屯其膏，小貞吉，大貞凶。
The fifth NINE, undivided, shows the difficulties in the way of (its subject's) dispensing the rich favours that might be expected from him. With firmness and correctness there will be good fortune in small things; (even) with them in great things there will be evil.
乘馬班如，泣血漣如。
The topmost SIX, divided, shows (its subject) with the horses of his chariot obliged to retreat, and weeping tears of blood in streams.
Reading the Picture
Hexagram 3 places thunder (震) beneath water (坎) —movement breaking out of stillness below, water finding its way through hard gaps above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Sprouting”:a hard beginning: new growth struggling through obstacles. Gather helpers and put things in order Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
Questions About Hexagram 3
What does 屯 (zhūn) mean?
Hexagram 3 of the I Ching is named 屯 (zhūn), usually rendered "Sprouting" in English editions. Its figure pairs thunder (震) below with water (坎) above.
Which trigrams form hexagram 3?
坎 (Water) sits above and 震 (Thunder) sits below — the classical picture is movement breaking out of stillness beneath water finding its way through hard gaps.
How is hexagram 3 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 3 gives hexagram 50 — 鼎 (Holding). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 4 — 蒙 (Enveloping). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 23 — 剝 (Stripping).
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1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1899), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text. · For reflection and entertainment — not financial, medical, or life advice.