# Hexagram 59: Dispersion

Canonical page: https://thefreeiching.com/library/59
Last updated: 2026-10-07

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

- **Upper trigram:** [Xun 巽](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/xun), Wind, the gentle, penetrating
- **Lower trigram:** [Kan 坎](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/kan), Water, the abysmal, danger
- **Lines, bottom to top:** 010011 (1 = solid yang, 0 = broken yin)

## Contemporary judgment

Dispersion. Hard feelings, stuck positions, inner ice: all begin to soften and scatter. Let go of what dissolves; what you could not release by will is being released by natural process. Meet this gently; dispersion done well is a great clearing.

## Image

Wind moving over water. The ancient kings offered sacrifice to the highest and established temples.

## Counsel

Allow dissolution. Do not cling to old positions or old resentments that have already begun to loosen. Ceremonies, rituals, and sincere gestures of good will can help: they give the dispersing energies a form to flow through. Afterward, something cleaner can begin.

## 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:
> He brings help with the strength of a horse. Good fortune!

### Line 2

> A nine in the second place means:
> In dispersion he hastens to his support.
> Remorse vanishes.

### Line 3

> A six in the third place means:
> He dissolves his ego. No remorse.

### Line 4

> A six in the fourth place means:
> He loosens himself from his group. Sublime good fortune!
> Through dissolution follows accumulation.
> That is something the ordinary do not think of.

### Line 5

> A nine in the fifth place means:
> His loud cries are dissolving like sweat.
> Dispersion! A king abides without blame.

### Line 6

> A nine at the top means:
> He dissolves his blood.
> Going away, keeping at a distance, going out is without blame.

## Related hexagrams

- **Nuclear (lines 2 to 5):** [27 Nourishment](https://thefreeiching.com/library/27)
- **Inverse (turned upside down):** [60 Limitation](https://thefreeiching.com/library/60)
- **Opposite (every line flipped):** [55 Abundance](https://thefreeiching.com/library/55)

## If one line changes

| Changing line | Relating hexagram |
| --- | --- |
| Line 1 | [61 Inner Truth](https://thefreeiching.com/library/61) |
| Line 2 | [20 Contemplation](https://thefreeiching.com/library/20) |
| Line 3 | [57 The Gentle](https://thefreeiching.com/library/57) |
| Line 4 | [6 Conflict](https://thefreeiching.com/library/6) |
| Line 5 | [4 Youthful Folly](https://thefreeiching.com/library/4) |
| Line 6 | [29 The Abysmal](https://thefreeiching.com/library/29) |

Previous: [58 The Joyous](https://thefreeiching.com/library/58). Next: [60 Limitation](https://thefreeiching.com/library/60). [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 59: Dispersion." https://thefreeiching.com/library/59 (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/59). The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice.