# Hexagram 31: Influence

Canonical page: https://thefreeiching.com/library/31
Last updated: 2026-10-07

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

- **Upper trigram:** [Dui 兌](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/dui), Lake, the joyous, open
- **Lower trigram:** [Gen 艮](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/gen), Mountain, keeping still
- **Lines, bottom to top:** 001110 (1 = solid yang, 0 = broken yin)

## Contemporary judgment

Influence: a stirring of connection. Two come into relation, drawn by a mutual response. This is how real communication begins. Receive the stirring without grasping at it; be open without losing your own center. The attraction deepens into something lasting when sincerity, not manipulation, guides it.

## Image

Lake above, mountain below. The superior person receives others in emptiness and so stays open to them.

## Counsel

Allow yourself to be genuinely moved. Do not rush to define, possess, or control what is stirring between you and another (or between you and an opportunity). Respond honestly to what arises; stay grounded in yourself. Real connection survives the tests that pretend ones fail.

## 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:
> The influence expresses itself in the big toe.

### Line 2

> A six in the second place means:
> The influence expresses itself in the calves. Misfortune!
> Tarrying brings good fortune!

### Line 3

> A nine in the third place means:
> The influence expresses itself in the thighs.
> It holds to what follows it.
> To continue is humiliating.

### Line 4

> A nine in the fourth place means:
> Perseverance brings good fortune! Remorse vanishes.
> If one thinks back and forth in agitation,
> only the friends follow
> on whom one consciously directs one's thoughts.

### Line 5

> A nine in the fifth place means:
> The influence expresses itself in the neck.
> No remorse.

### Line 6

> A six at the top means:
> The influence expresses itself in the jaws,
> cheeks, and tongue.

## Related hexagrams

- **Nuclear (lines 2 to 5):** [44 Coming to Meet](https://thefreeiching.com/library/44)
- **Inverse (turned upside down):** [32 Duration](https://thefreeiching.com/library/32)
- **Opposite (every line flipped):** [41 Decrease](https://thefreeiching.com/library/41)

## If one line changes

| Changing line | Relating hexagram |
| --- | --- |
| Line 1 | [49 Revolution](https://thefreeiching.com/library/49) |
| Line 2 | [28 Great Preponderance](https://thefreeiching.com/library/28) |
| Line 3 | [45 Gathering Together](https://thefreeiching.com/library/45) |
| Line 4 | [39 Obstruction](https://thefreeiching.com/library/39) |
| Line 5 | [62 Small Preponderance](https://thefreeiching.com/library/62) |
| Line 6 | [33 Retreat](https://thefreeiching.com/library/33) |

Previous: [30 The Clinging](https://thefreeiching.com/library/30). Next: [32 Duration](https://thefreeiching.com/library/32). [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 31: Influence." https://thefreeiching.com/library/31 (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/31). The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice.