Daily I-Ching · Wednesday, April 22, 2026
益 Hexagram 42: Increase
A time of abundance flowing downward — those above give to those below. The counsel is to be generous, to act boldly on a clear good, and to use the moment for true betterment.
Reflect today: Where in the day does the pattern of increase already show itself, and what single act would answer it well?
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Today's Meaning
A time of abundance flowing downward — those above give to those below. The counsel is to be generous, to act boldly on a clear good, and to use the moment for true betterment. The privileged should notice and emulate what is admirable, and promptly correct their own failings.
Practice
- Name Increase. Look for the place where increase is already shaping the day: A time of abundance flowing downward — those above give to those below.
- Practice the Image. Let the Image become conduct: the superior person, if they see good, they imitate it; if they have faults, they rid themselves of them.
- Answer Hexagram 42. Before the day ends, make one visible choice that fits Increase instead of forcing the day to answer your preference.
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The Illustrated Story
A landowner in a good year found his granaries overflowing. He could have raised the price of grain; the famine was still remembered. Instead he lowered it, sold at cost to the poor, and lent seed to tenants who had none. The next year, when hail ruined his own harvest, those tenants brought him baskets without being asked. "Increase flows downhill," he said, "and if you do not let it flow, it pools and rots. A good year is only good if others remember it kindly." The generous in abundance build the levees that save them in drought.
Continue to the full Hexagram 42 page for Judgment, Image, trigrams, and line commentary.
Open Full Hexagram 42