# Hexagram 30: The Clinging

Canonical page: https://thefreeiching.com/library/30
Last updated: 2026-10-07

```
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━━━━━━━
━━━  ━━━
━━━━━━━
```

- **Upper trigram:** [Li 離](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/li), Fire, the clinging, clarity
- **Lower trigram:** [Li 離](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/li), Fire, the clinging, clarity
- **Lines, bottom to top:** 101101 (1 = solid yang, 0 = broken yin)

## Contemporary judgment

The clinging. Fire burns by clinging to what sustains it; clarity depends on what you are devoted to. Attach yourself to what is true, lasting, and worthy, and your light will burn steadily and far. Attach yourself to what is merely bright or exciting, and the fire will soon consume itself.

## Image

Fire upon fire. The great illumination. The superior person, by perpetuating a clear brightness, shines over the four regions of the world.

## Counsel

Examine your attachments: to work, to people, to ideas, to self-images. Which ones give you durable clarity, and which ones flare and then leave you depleted? Cling to what is true; release what is merely stimulating. Your brightness is only as reliable as its fuel.

## 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:
> The footprints run crisscross.
> If one is earnest about it: no blame.

### Line 2

> A six in the second place means:
> Yellow glow. Sublime good fortune.

### Line 3

> A nine in the third place means:
> In the glow of the setting sun
> people either beat on the pot and sing,
> or loudly sigh over the approach of old age.
> Misfortune.

### Line 4

> A nine in the fourth place means:
> His coming is sudden;
> he flares up, dies down, is thrown away.

### Line 5

> A six in the fifth place means:
> Weeping in streams, sighing and lamenting. Good fortune!

### Line 6

> A nine at the top means:
> The king uses him to set forth and to chastise.
> It is best then to kill the leaders
> and take the followers prisoner. No blame.

## Related hexagrams

- **Nuclear (lines 2 to 5):** [28 Great Preponderance](https://thefreeiching.com/library/28)
- **Inverse (turned upside down):** itself
- **Opposite (every line flipped):** [29 The Abysmal](https://thefreeiching.com/library/29)

## If one line changes

| Changing line | Relating hexagram |
| --- | --- |
| Line 1 | [56 The Wanderer](https://thefreeiching.com/library/56) |
| Line 2 | [14 Great Possession](https://thefreeiching.com/library/14) |
| Line 3 | [21 Biting Through](https://thefreeiching.com/library/21) |
| Line 4 | [22 Grace](https://thefreeiching.com/library/22) |
| Line 5 | [13 Fellowship](https://thefreeiching.com/library/13) |
| Line 6 | [55 Abundance](https://thefreeiching.com/library/55) |

Previous: [29 The Abysmal](https://thefreeiching.com/library/29). Next: [31 Influence](https://thefreeiching.com/library/31). [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 30: The Clinging." https://thefreeiching.com/library/30 (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/30). The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice.