Hexagram 32: Duration
䷟ 恆 Héng – The Book of Changes
The Judgment
Duration indicates successful progress and no error. But the advantage will come from being firm and correct; and movement in any direction whatever will be advantageous.
The Image
Thunder and wind: the image of Duration. Thus the superior man stands firm and does not change his method.
Description
Duration (Heng) shows thunder and wind, always moving yet forever paired: constancy that persists through change. Lasting things are not rigid; they renew themselves while keeping their direction. The figure asks for perseverance, reliable habits and loyalty to a chosen way.
The six lines
A line's place shapes its role: 1 the beginning, 2 the center of the inner world, 3 the threshold to the outside, 4 close to power, 5 the ruler's place, 6 the end and the excess. Keep this grid in mind and the line texts become much easier to read. More in the guide →
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Line 1: Old Yin (bottom)
Duration begins. Favorable — consistency builds strength; stay the course.
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Line 2: Old Yang
Duration with purpose. Favorable — long-term vision brings peace; align with time.
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Line 3: Old Yang
Duration with rigidity. Danger — stubbornness blocks growth; adapt with grace.
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Line 4: Old Yang
Duration with devotion. Favorable — commitment deepens connection; honor your path.
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Line 5: Old Yin
Duration with fatigue. Danger — endurance without renewal leads to collapse; rest is sacred.
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Line 6: Old Yin (top)
Duration fulfilled. Favorable — the cycle holds; stability is born.
Reading by area of life
❤️ What does hexagram 32 mean for relationships and private life?
Marriage, long friendship, a family that endures: bonds like these thrive on daily loyalty more than on passion. Keep the rituals that hold you together, honor commitments, and allow each other to grow within them. Constancy doesn't mean nothing changes; it means you change together while keeping the same direction. Boring weeks are part of a long love, not a sign that it has faded.
💼 What does hexagram 32 mean for work and money?
Persistence pays. Stay with your plan, your clients and your core competence. Frequent changes in strategy waste energy now. Build routines that hold up over years: regular saving, consistent quality, steady relationships. Adapt tactics when you must, but keep the long-term direction stable. A reputation for reliability, built slowly and kept carefully, is worth more than any quick win.
🌌 What does hexagram 32 mean for your personal path and spirituality?
The way is walked every day, not once. Choose a practice and keep it, through dull weeks and inspired ones alike, without waiting to feel like it. Small vows kept for years outweigh grand ones broken in a month. Constancy of method, combined with openness to renewal, is how real change happens. Like thunder and wind returning season after season, steady effort grows into a character that holds.
Nuclear hexagram
Lines 2, 3 and 4 form the lower trigram, lines 3, 4 and 5 the upper one. Leaving out the beginning and the end reveals the core of the situation, what is at work out of sight. It is a secondary aspect, not a second verdict. If it seems to contradict the main hexagram, that happens and is not an error. More in the guide →
Lines 2, 3, 4 and 3, 4, 5 form nuclear hexagram 43, Breakthrough (Resoluteness). It shows what is at work beneath the surface – an inner tendency, not a verdict on the situation itself.
Hexagram 43 – Breakthrough (Resoluteness)
Breakthrough requires the exhibition of the culprit's guilt in the royal court, and a sincere and earnest appeal for sympathy and support, with a consciousness of the peril involved. He should also make announcement in his own city, and show that it will not be well to have recourse at once to arms. In this way there will be advantage in whatever he shall go forward to.
The two trigrams
- Upper, outer: Zhen – Thunder
- The Arousing (Eldest Son). Within, it is the impulse to change, to wake up and break free; without, a sudden jolt that shatters rigidity and sets things moving.
- Lower, inner: Xun – Wind
- The Gentle (Eldest Daughter). Within, it works as quiet penetration that loosens inner blockages; without, as a connecting force that brings people and events together in the current of fate.