# Kun 坤: Earth

Canonical page: https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/kun
Last updated: 2026-10-07

- **Symbol:** ☷ 坤
- **Natural image:** Earth
- **Quality:** the receptive, yielding
- **Family role:** Mother
- **Lines, bottom to top:** 000 (1 = solid yang, 0 = broken yin)

A trigram is a stack of three lines. Each hexagram is two trigrams: one below (the lower, inner or earlier situation) and one above (the upper, outer or later situation). Kun appears in sixteen of the sixty-four hexagrams, eight times as the upper trigram and eight as the lower.

## Kun as the upper trigram

- [2 The Receptive](https://thefreeiching.com/library/2)
- [7 The Army](https://thefreeiching.com/library/7)
- [11 Peace](https://thefreeiching.com/library/11)
- [15 Modesty](https://thefreeiching.com/library/15)
- [19 Approach](https://thefreeiching.com/library/19)
- [24 Return](https://thefreeiching.com/library/24)
- [36 Darkening of the Light](https://thefreeiching.com/library/36)
- [46 Pushing Upward](https://thefreeiching.com/library/46)

## Kun as the lower trigram

- [2 The Receptive](https://thefreeiching.com/library/2)
- [8 Holding Together](https://thefreeiching.com/library/8)
- [12 Standstill](https://thefreeiching.com/library/12)
- [16 Enthusiasm](https://thefreeiching.com/library/16)
- [20 Contemplation](https://thefreeiching.com/library/20)
- [23 Splitting Apart](https://thefreeiching.com/library/23)
- [35 Progress](https://thefreeiching.com/library/35)
- [45 Gathering Together](https://thefreeiching.com/library/45)

See also the [eight trigrams](https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams).

## Cite this page

The Free I Ching. "Kun 坤: Earth." https://thefreeiching.com/trigrams/kun (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/trigrams/kun). The I Ching is a tool for reflection, not a prediction. Nothing here forecasts events or replaces professional advice.