I Ching · Hexagram 32 of 64
Hexagram 32: Heng （恒） — Duration
Heng is Thunder over Wind: thunder and wind, the constant workings of nature, whose great commotion brings the sweet rain down on all. The hexagram is about what endures and about holding to it, from a marriage that lasts to the white head, extended to the work of the Way, which must be carried to the end so that virtue ripens and the world is transformed.
At a glance
| Hexagram | 32 of 64 |
|---|---|
| Name | Heng 恒 · Duration |
| Upper trigram | Zhen （震）· Thunder |
| Lower trigram | Xun （巽）· Wind |
| Structure | Thunder over Wind |
| Lines | 6 lines |
The Judgment （卦辞）
Duration. Success. No blame. It is favorable to be steadfast. It is favorable to go forward.
ExplainedTo endure is to last. A person must persevere in what is truly worthwhile, the constant virtues of loyalty, filial devotion, integrity and rightness, and then he succeeds without obstruction, stands unshaken and comes at last to steadfastness, the wisdom and rightness of a true person, with a future that knows no limit. To endure in greed, anger and delusion is no true duration. Judge a person by whether he has any virtue worth naming, such as diligence, generosity or kindness, for one who at forty or fifty has none is hard to save. One should cultivate a virtue that all can name, and going forward also means that the end holds a beginning, for when this life closes the new one begins in the work of helping others.
Tuan Zhuan — Commentary on the Judgment （彖传）
Duration means lasting. The firm is above and the yielding below, thunder and wind together, compliant and moving, firm and yielding both responding: duration. Duration, success, no blame, favorable to be steadfast: he lasts in his way. The way of Heaven and earth is to endure and not cease. It is favorable to go forward: the end holds a beginning. The sun and moon receive Heaven and shine long; the four seasons change and complete long. The holy one lasts in his way and the world is transformed. Looking at what they endure, the nature of Heaven, earth and all things can be seen.
ExplainedDuration is lasting. The firm above and the yielding below, the eldest son and eldest daughter, thunder and wind joining as strength and gentleness reinforce each other, the image of husband and wife singing and answering. Compliant and moving means that within one listens and obeys and without one acts decisively. The second and fifth lines answer each other, firm and yielding, and so the bond lasts. How are success and steadfastness reached? Only by lasting in the Way, which is simple and easy but demands constancy, as Heaven and earth endure, sun and moon shine long and seasons turn to completion. A sage who lasts in the Way transforms the world, and the whole secret lies in one word, sincerity: unbroken sincerity never ceases, and what does not cease lasts, and lasting, grows distant and deep and high, joining its virtue to Heaven and earth and naturally transforming all beings.
Xiang Zhuan — Image Commentary （大象）
Thunder and wind: Duration. Thus the noble one stands and does not shift his direction.
ExplainedThunder and wind are the enduring workings of nature, the spring thunder, the rain on the wind, the growing of all things, and the noble one takes from this the rule of standing without shifting his direction, finding the unchanging ground on which to settle his life. All things in the world change, and only the square inch, the mysterious pass, is unmoved; set there, the heart knows all things, and removed from it, it wanders in darkness. At first no difference appears, but constancy brings the change, and Mencius at forty had a heart that could not be moved because he had found the place where movement stops.
The Six Lines （六爻）
The lines are read from the bottom upward. Each carries its own text, a Small Image commentary, and a plain-English reading.
Line 1 · YinLine 1
Deepening duration. Perseverance brings misfortune. Nothing is favorable.
Small ImageThe misfortune of deepening duration: he seeks depth at the start.
ExplainedTo deepen too soon is to seek the depths at the very beginning, and even with a right motive it brings misfortune: to take the fast and make great vows the moment one comes to the Way is to ask too much of the start. What advances quickly retreats quickly, and cultivation must grow slowly, maturing stage by stage like the athlete who warms up and the pitcher who throws in the bull pen. The same is true of teaching the young, for demanding too much too soon drives them away.
Line 2 · YangLine 2
Regret vanishes.
Small ImageThe second nine, regret vanishes: he can last in the center.
ExplainedTo last in the center is to keep the middle way long, holding the central opening and dwelling always in the divine light until it becomes habit and the heart never leaves the square inch, returning to zero with each rising emotion. To be able to last in the center is to have no regret, both because one does not regret choosing this road and because repentance burns away old karma. The heart is easily shaken and rueful, and only the middle way, the return of feeling to zero, ends regret forever; and from that lasting calm comes joy, and from joy light, and from light compassion, and at last the heart of a bodhisattva.
Line 3 · YangLine 3
He does not endure in his virtue. He may come to shame. Perseverance brings regret.
Small ImageHe does not endure in his virtue: there is nowhere he is received.
ExplainedNot to endure in virtue is to keep it only for a while, abandoning the practice midway, eating meat again after years of fasting, turning back from a vow once made. The Duke of Zhou says shame may come, for when the blessing is spent the disgrace appears and there is no room for luck. The image is even sterner: there is nowhere he is received, not that he dies, but that wherever he goes he is ill at ease. The one without virtue suffers even in splendor, while the one with virtue is clean even in adversity, for virtue is what makes a human being human.
Line 4 · YangLine 4
No game in the field.
Small ImageHe lasts long out of his place: how should he find game?
ExplainedTo hunt and find nothing is the lot of one who does not endure in virtue and loses his blessing in the end. A little virtue gave him what he had, and having abandoned the moral ground he first grows uneasy and at last loses all his fortune and fails in everything he attempts. He has been out of his place too long, away from his own nature, and blessing and virtue are bound together: virtue is the root and fortune the branch, and once the root is kept there is no need to worry about the branch, while fortune without virtue is a tree whose roots are cut.
Line 5 · YinLine 5
He endures in his virtue, steadfast. For a woman, good fortune; for a man, misfortune.
Small ImageThe woman is steadfast and fortunate: she follows one to the end. The man makes the right decisions; to follow the woman brings misfortune.
ExplainedContrary to the third line, here virtue endures and at last becomes steadfast, the maturity of wisdom able to bear affairs. Yet the line also answers a question about marriage: in old times a woman, even with an unworthy husband, held to one man to the end for the sake of her children and her house, and was rewarded with steadfast good fortune and good children, while a man might rightly put away an unworthy wife and marry again, and to be led by her brought misfortune. Today too it is often the mother who bears patiently for her children and is rewarded in them. The family is the root of society and must not be lightly shaken; whoever endures in virtue passes from constancy to the center to lasting virtue and at last to the fruit.
Line 6 · YinLine 6
Shaking duration. Misfortune.
Small ImageShaking duration from above: great achievement comes to nothing.
ExplainedTo shake duration is to set the most fundamental thing trembling, when a person no longer honors morality and rightness and turns the order upside down, laughing at poverty rather than at vice and taking money for the highest good. When an age prizes profit over the Way and puts career and study above the awakened heart, that is shaking duration, and those above who ignore virtue in the pursuit of economy will see even great undertakings fail. To build a great hall is easy and to raise the awakened heart is hard, and when the most important thing is shaken nothing high can stand. Each must ask which comes first, study, career, marriage, health, or the Way, and the answer is the Way, for only the awakened heart endures.
Key takeaway
Duration is holding to the Way to the end, so that a constant virtue ripens and the world is transformed.
Frequently asked questions
What does Hexagram 32 (Heng) mean in the I Ching?
Heng is Thunder over Wind: thunder and wind, the constant workings of nature, whose great commotion brings the sweet rain down on all. The hexagram is about what endures and about holding to it, from a marriage that lasts to the white head, extended to the work of the Way, which must be carried to the end so that virtue ripens and the world is transformed.
What is the judgment of Hexagram 32?
Duration. Success. No blame. It is favorable to be steadfast. It is favorable to go forward. To endure is to last. A person must persevere in what is truly worthwhile, the constant virtues of loyalty, filial devotion, integrity and rightness, and then he succeeds without obstruction, stands unshaken and comes at last to steadfastness, the wisdom and rightness of a true person, with a future that knows no…
What do the six lines of Hexagram 32 say?
Line 1: Deepening duration. Perseverance brings misfortune. Nothing is favorable. Line 2: Regret vanishes. Line 3: He does not endure in his virtue. He may come to shame. Perseverance brings regret. Line 4: No game in the field. Line 5: He endures in his virtue, steadfast. For a woman, good fortune; for a man, misfortune. Line 6: Shaking duration. Misfortune.
What is the main lesson of Hexagram 32 (Duration)?
Duration is holding to the Way to the end, so that a constant virtue ripens and the world is transformed.
Want the reading to be about you?
Enter your birth details to see your own BaZi (Four Pillars of Destiny) chart, your five-element balance and the key months ahead. Everything is calculated in your browser and nothing is stored.