How to Ask the I Ching a Question: Which Questions Suit a Cast
Doubt first, then cast
Divination is for settling doubts. In the Zuozhuan ("Zuo Commentary"), eleventh year of Duke Huan, someone proposes divining first, and the reply is "Where there is no doubt, why divine?": if nothing is in doubt, there is nothing to divine about.
So what suits a cast is a matter of this kind: it is specific, it is your own affair, you truly cannot decide, and there is something you yourself can do about it. Conversely, there is no need to cast in the following cases:
- Trivial matters. What to have for lunch is not worth a hexagram.
- Matters you have already decided. If all you want is to hear "go ahead", the hexagram cannot help.
- Improper matters. As Zhang Zai of the Northern Song said: "The Changes gives counsel to the noble one, not to petty people."
- Testing it. Taking something whose answer you already know to check whether the oracle "works" is pointless: which way the coins land is random, and a hexagram does not predict in the first place (see Is the I Ching accurate?).
Asking "what should I do" beats asking "will it happen"
The judgments and line statements describe a situation, and the attitude to take in that situation. The phrases that turn up so often in them, "it is favorable to stay true" (利贞), "it is favorable to see the great person" (利见大人), "do not act" (勿用), "to set forth brings misfortune" (征凶), are all addressed to a course of action: this is fitting, that is not. The text is not a report about the future.
So if you ask "Should I do this now?", "Is this the right way to go about it?" or "Is this a time to advance or to hold my ground?", the text you read will connect. If you ask "Will it happen?", "Will it work out?" or "What is he thinking?", the text holds no answer of that kind, and you can only force one onto it.
| A poorly suited question | What is wrong with it | What to ask instead |
|---|---|---|
| How will my luck be this year? | Too broad; there is no specific matter in it | Is now the right time to move to this job? |
| Will he come back to me? | It asks about another person's mind and about the future | In this relationship, should I reach out now, or let it rest for a while? |
| Is it better to join company A or company B? | Two matters packed into one hexagram; you cannot tell which one the text is talking about | Ask about one only: is it right to join company A? Or cast a separate hexagram for each |
| Is so-and-so talking about me behind my back? | It pries into someone else, and there is no way to verify it | Do not cast; or ask: how should I handle my relationship with so-and-so right now? |
| Is this illness of mine serious? | That is a question for a doctor | Do not cast |
Ask about one thing at a time
One question, one cast. A hexagram answers a single question; only then do you know, as you read, where the images in the text are supposed to land.
The most common fault is a question with two options in it: "stay or leave", "choose A or choose B". You get "good fortune": does it mean staying is fortunate, or leaving? It cannot be read. There are two ways out. Ask only about the option you lean toward: "Is it right to leave now?" Or treat the two options as two matters and cast a separate hexagram for each, reading each on its own. The second way does not count as casting twice for one matter, because two matters were being asked about from the start; but do not, once both are cast, pick the hexagram with the better text to suit your own wishes.
Do not cast to pry into other people's private affairs. If someone has not asked you to and you divine about their private business, what you read cannot be checked, and it has nothing to do with what you yourself should do. For something that involves them and that you cannot decide, turn the question back on yourself: how should I deal with this?
Make the scope clear as well. "Now", "these six months", "this time": with a scope, your reading of the text will not drift without bounds.
Before you ask, and after
- In your mind, put what you are asking into a single sentence. This site does not require you to write the question down and does not record it, but the sentence has to be there. If you cannot get it into one sentence, the matter is not yet thought through; think first.
- Ask yourself: if the reading is good, and if it is bad, what would I do in each case? If you would do the same thing whatever you read, you have already made up your mind and there is no need to cast.
- Settle the question before you cast, and do not change it partway.
- If the text you read is not to your liking, do not cast again either. The same matter is not asked about repeatedly; for the reasoning, see One question, one cast. Only when the matter has changed in substance, and become a new matter, do you cast another hexagram.
Once you have thought it through, you can cast a hexagram. For how to read it once it is cast, see How to read a hexagram step by step.