Hexagram 50
The CauldronDǐng 鼎
Also translated as The Vessel, Holding, Transformation of Substance.
Fire above Wind / Wood below
The hexagram looks like a ritual bronze cauldron: legs, belly, handles and carrying rings. Ding is the vessel in which raw materials are cooked and transformed into nourishment and offerings. It stands for culture, refinement and the structures that turn potential into something of value. After the revolution of Ge, Ding establishes the new order.
Judgment
鼎：元吉，亨。
The cauldron: supreme good fortune, success.
Image
木上有火，鼎；君子以正位凝命。
Fire on top of wood: the cauldron. Taking this as a model, the noble one rights their position and settles their mandate.
- Transformation into value
- Culture and refinement
- Nourishing others
- Establishing a new order
- Right placement
- cauldron
- transformation
- nourishment
- culture
- refinement
- structure
- Raw potential becomes valuable through the right container.
- Put yourself in the right place, and your purpose takes shape.
- What is cultivated should nourish others.
The six lines
Lines are numbered from the bottom. In a reading, only the lines that are changing apply to your cast.
Line 1Six at the beginning 初六
Line text
鼎顛趾，利出否，得妾以其子，无咎。
The cauldron with its feet turned up: favorable to tip out what is bad. Taking a concubine for the sake of her son. No blame.
Turning the cauldron over to clean it is necessary before something new can be cooked. Even an unconventional start can lead to good things.
- Clearing out the old
- Unconventional beginnings
- Keeping stale leftovers
- A fresh start after emptying out
Line 2Nine in the second place 九二
Line text
鼎有實，我仇有疾，不我能即，吉。
The cauldron holds food. My companions are envious but cannot come near me. Good fortune.
You have something of real substance. Others may be envious, but if you focus on your work, their envy cannot touch you.
- Substance attracts envy
- Focus protects
- Being distracted by others' jealousy
- Thriving despite envy
Line 3Nine in the third place 九三
Line text
鼎耳革，其行塞，雉膏不食，方雨虧悔，終吉。
The cauldron's ears are altered; it cannot be moved. The pheasant fat goes uneaten. When rain comes, regret fades. In the end, good fortune.
Your abilities are not recognized because you can't be 'picked up', with no handle, no connection. Stay patient. When tension breaks like rain, recognition comes.
- Unrecognized ability
- Patience
- Forcing recognition
- Eventual appreciation
Line 4Nine in the fourth place 九四
Line text
鼎折足，覆公餗，其形渥，凶。
The cauldron's leg breaks; the duke's stew spills over, and his person is drenched. Misfortune.
Taking on a responsibility too great for your strength, or relying on the wrong people, leads to failure and embarrassment.
- Overburdened
- Failure from weak support
- Accepting more than you can carry
- Recognizing your limits in time
Line 5Six in the fifth place 六五
Line text
鼎黃耳金鉉，利貞。
The cauldron with yellow ears and a bronze carrying bar. Steadfastness is favorable.
Someone modest and receptive at the center attracts capable helpers. Being approachable lets others carry the vessel with you.
- Approachable leadership
- Attracting capable help
- Being unapproachable
- Great work carried by many hands
Line 6Nine at the top 上九
Line text
鼎玉鉉，大吉，无不利。
The cauldron with a carrying bar of jade. Great good fortune; nothing is unfavorable.
Firmness and gentleness are perfectly combined, like hard and lustrous jade. Wise counsel is given and heeded, and everything goes well.
- Perfect balance
- Wise counsel
- Losing the balance between firm and gentle
- The fullest flowering of good fortune
Related hexagrams
Have a question on your mind?
Cast a readingChinese text: Zhouyi 周易 (received classical text). English rendering and notes: Site rendering. About our sources
Commentary
Wood (the lower trigram) feeds fire (the upper), and over the fire the cauldron cooks. Ding is one of the few hexagrams named for a human-made object. The ritual cauldron was a symbol of legitimate authority and of offering to what is highest. The reading may suggest a situation in which something is being refined or transformed: your talents, a project, an organization, through the right structure and patient work.
The image asks you to set your position right, to align yourself so that your purpose can solidify. The lines describe the cauldron in detail: overturned to empty out the old, filled with good food, its handles damaged, its legs broken, finally adorned with jade. In relation to a question, Ding may emphasize building the right structures, refinement and sharing what you have developed.