# Hexagram 22: Grace

Canonical page: https://thefreeiching.com/library/22
Last updated: 2026-10-07

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

- **Upper trigram:** [Gen 艮](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/gen), Mountain, keeping still
- **Lower trigram:** [Li 離](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/li), Fire, the clinging, clarity
- **Lines, bottom to top:** 101001 (1 = solid yang, 0 = broken yin)

## Contemporary judgment

Grace. Beauty, form, and clarity of presentation bring small success. But do not mistake the ornament for the substance. Grace supports what is essentially sound; it cannot rescue what is essentially unsound. Keep the inner reality true, and let the outer form honor it.

## Image

Fire at the foot of the mountain, illuminating it. The superior person brings order to the details of daily life but does not presume to decide great matters by appearances.

## Counsel

Attend to how you present yourself and your work: clarity of form matters, and care in small things speaks. But do not confuse polish with substance. When a choice must be made between looking right and being right, choose being right. Let your grace serve your truth, not conceal its absence.

## The six lines

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

### Line 1

> A nine at the beginning means:
> He lends grace to his toes, leaves the wagon, and walks.

### Line 2

> A six in the second place means:
> He lends grace to his beard on the chin.

### Line 3

> A nine in the third place means:
> Graceful and moist.
> Lasting perseverance brings good fortune.

### Line 4

> A six in the fourth place means:
> Grace or simplicity?
> A white horse comes as if in flight:
> He is no robber; he would woo in due time.

### Line 5

> A six in the fifth place means:
> Grace in hills and gardens.
> The bundle of silk is meager and small.
> Humiliation, but in the end good fortune.

### Line 6

> A nine at the top means:
> Plain grace.
> No blame.

## Related hexagrams

- **Nuclear (lines 2 to 5):** [40 Deliverance](https://thefreeiching.com/library/40)
- **Inverse (turned upside down):** [21 Biting Through](https://thefreeiching.com/library/21)
- **Opposite (every line flipped):** [47 Oppression](https://thefreeiching.com/library/47)

## If one line changes

| Changing line | Relating hexagram |
| --- | --- |
| Line 1 | [52 Keeping Still](https://thefreeiching.com/library/52) |
| Line 2 | [26 Great Taming](https://thefreeiching.com/library/26) |
| Line 3 | [27 Nourishment](https://thefreeiching.com/library/27) |
| Line 4 | [30 The Clinging](https://thefreeiching.com/library/30) |
| Line 5 | [37 The Family](https://thefreeiching.com/library/37) |
| Line 6 | [36 Darkening of the Light](https://thefreeiching.com/library/36) |

Previous: [21 Biting Through](https://thefreeiching.com/library/21). Next: [23 Splitting Apart](https://thefreeiching.com/library/23). [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 22: Grace." https://thefreeiching.com/library/22 (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/22). The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice.