Ask only when in doubt
I Ching · three coins, six throws
Think of the one thing you cannot decide.
No need to type your question. Just keep it in mind.
Keep your question in mind.
Breathe in
Think of one thing you cannot decide, then press the red seal (起卦, “cast the hexagram”). After a few breaths three coins gather themselves and are thrown six times. The hexagram is read for you: the original Chinese text, a faithful translation and a reading in plain words. One question, one cast. If your mind is already made up, there is no need to ask.
Three coins are thrown together. A back counts 3, an inscribed side counts 2, so each throw adds up to 6, 7, 8 or 9. Seven (young yang) and eight (young yin) stay as they are; nine (old yang) and six (old yin) are changing lines. Six throws, from the bottom line to the top, make the primary hexagram. When the changing lines turn, you get the resulting hexagram.
The reading follows the seven rules of Zhu Xi (1130–1200). With no changing line, read the judgment; with one, read that line; with two, the upper line governs; with three, read both judgments; with four or five, read the unchanged lines of the resulting hexagram; with six, read the resulting hexagram’s judgment.
Each coin’s face is decided by a cryptographically secure random number, with even odds. The tumbling, colliding and landing of the coins is a real physics simulation. There are no accounts and your question is never recorded. Sources and method · Privacy · Support