鼎
“Holding” — King Wen #50
The cauldron. Refinement and nourishment — the institutions of the superior mature.
The Judgment 卦辞
元吉，亨。
Ding gives the intimation of great progress and success.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
鼎顛趾，利出否；得妾以其子，無咎。
The first SIX, divided, shows the caldron overthrown and its feet turned up. (But) there will be advantage in its getting rid of what was bad in it. (Or it shows us) the concubine (whose position is improved) by means of her son. There will be no error.
鼎有實，我仇有疾，不我能即，吉。
The second NINE, undivided, shows the caldron with the things (to be cooked) in it. (If its subject can say), 'My enemy dislikes me, but he cannot approach me,' there will be good fortune.
鼎耳革，其行塞。雉膏不食；方雨虧悔，終吉。
The third NINE, undivided, shows the caldron with (the places of) its ears changed. The progress (of its subject) is (thus) stopped. The fat flesh of the pheasant (which is in the caldron) will not be eaten. But the (genial) rain will come, and the grounds for repentance will disappear. There will be good fortune in the end.
鼎折足，覆公餗，其形渥，凶。
The fourth NINE, undivided, shows the caldron with its feet broken; and its contents, designed for the ruler's use, overturned and spilt. Its Subject will be made to blush for shame. There will be evil.
鼎黃耳，金鉉，利貞。
The fifth six, divided, shows the caldron with yellow ears and rings of metal in them. There will be advantage through being firm and correct.
鼎玉鉉，大吉，無不利。
The sixth NINE, undivided, shows the caldron with rings of jade. There will be great good fortune, and all action taken will be in every way advantageous.
Reading the Picture
Hexagram 50 places wind (巽) beneath fire (离) —gentle influence working inward below, light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Holding”:the cauldron. Refinement and nourishment — the institutions of the superior mature Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
Questions About Hexagram 50
What does 鼎 (dǐng) mean?
Hexagram 50 of the I Ching is named 鼎 (dǐng), usually rendered "Holding" in English editions. Its figure pairs wind (巽) below with fire (离) above.
Which trigrams form hexagram 50?
离 (Fire) sits above and 巽 (Wind) sits below — the classical picture is gentle influence working inward beneath light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates.
How is hexagram 50 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 50 gives hexagram 3 — 屯 (Sprouting). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 49 — 革 (Skinning). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 43 — 夬 (Displacement).
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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.