# Hexagram 16: Enthusiasm

Canonical page: https://thefreeiching.com/library/16
Last updated: 2026-10-07

```
━━━  ━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━━━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━  ━━━
```

- **Upper trigram:** [Zhen 震](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/zhen), Thunder, the arousing, movement
- **Lower trigram:** [Kun 坤](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/kun), Earth, the receptive, yielding
- **Lines, bottom to top:** 000100 (1 = solid yang, 0 = broken yin)

## Contemporary judgment

Enthusiasm. A time of natural, contagious momentum, but only if it arises from something true. Enthusiasm grounded in genuine inspiration carries others along effortlessly. Enthusiasm generated for effect exhausts itself and everyone near it.

## Image

Thunder rising from the earth. Music arising from the body of the world. The ancient kings composed music to honor the creative and offered it in sacrifice.

## Counsel

Follow what genuinely moves you, and move steadily in that direction. Do not perform inspiration you do not feel. The right people will join of their own accord; you do not need to persuade them. Keep your aim clear, and the current will gather around you.

## The six lines

*Numbered from the bottom upward. These line texts are read when that line is changing in a cast.*

### Line 1

> A six at the beginning means:
> Enthusiasm that comes to expression brings misfortune.

### Line 2

> A six in the second place means:
> Firm as a stone. Not a whole day.
> Perseverance brings good fortune.

### Line 3

> A six in the third place means:
> Enthusiasm that looks upward creates remorse.
> Hesitation brings remorse.

### Line 4

> A nine in the fourth place means:
> The source of Enthusiasm. He attains great things.
> Do not doubt!
> Friends gather around you
> as around a hairpin.

### Line 5

> A six in the fifth place means:
> Persistently ill, and yet never dying.

### Line 6

> A six at the top means:
> Deluded Enthusiasm.
> But if after completion one comes to change,
> this is no blame.

## Related hexagrams

- **Nuclear (lines 2 to 5):** [39 Obstruction](https://thefreeiching.com/library/39)
- **Inverse (turned upside down):** [15 Modesty](https://thefreeiching.com/library/15)
- **Opposite (every line flipped):** [9 Small Taming](https://thefreeiching.com/library/9)

## If one line changes

| Changing line | Relating hexagram |
| --- | --- |
| Line 1 | [51 The Arousing](https://thefreeiching.com/library/51) |
| Line 2 | [40 Deliverance](https://thefreeiching.com/library/40) |
| Line 3 | [62 Small Preponderance](https://thefreeiching.com/library/62) |
| Line 4 | [2 The Receptive](https://thefreeiching.com/library/2) |
| Line 5 | [45 Gathering Together](https://thefreeiching.com/library/45) |
| Line 6 | [35 Progress](https://thefreeiching.com/library/35) |

Previous: [15 Modesty](https://thefreeiching.com/library/15). Next: [17 Following](https://thefreeiching.com/library/17). [All sixty-four hexagrams](https://thefreeiching.com/library).

*The judgment, image and counsel are original contemporary paraphrases written for The Free I Ching. The line text is the CC0 translation from [jesshewitt/i-ching](https://github.com/jesshewitt/i-ching), derived from Richard Wilhelm's 1924 German edition.*

## Cite this page

The Free I Ching. "Hexagram 16: Enthusiasm." https://thefreeiching.com/library/16 (updated 2026-10-07).

*The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice. Short quotations with a link back are welcome. Please do not republish a page in full. The open data files at [/data](https://thefreeiching.com/data) are licensed CC BY 4.0.*

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Source: The Free I Ching (https://thefreeiching.com/library/16). The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice.