Glossary
Lower and Upper Trigrams in a Hexagram
Once you understand that every hexagram is two stacked trigrams, you can begin reading a figure as an interaction between an inner base and an outer situation.
In short
A hexagram contains two trigrams: the lower trigram formed by the bottom three lines, and the upper trigram formed by the top three lines.
What the lower trigram is
The lower trigram is built from the bottom three lines of the hexagram. It gives the base structure of the figure.
In interpretation, it is often useful to treat it as the inner condition, underlying pattern, or root movement of the situation.
What the upper trigram is
The upper trigram is built from the top three lines of the hexagram. It gives the outer or situational layer of the figure.
Read alongside the lower trigram, it helps explain how the pattern is expressed or encountered.
Why the distinction matters
Learning to separate lower and upper trigrams makes hexagrams easier to read structurally. It lets you see one figure as a relation between two simpler ones.
That relation is often more illuminating than trying to memorize a hexagram as a single block.