I Ching Feng Meaning: Hexagram 55 Explained

Draw Feng 豐 and the first sentence I hear in class is: we have made it.

Those three characters are too fast. Feng is abundance, not a guarantee you double next month. Abundance is a situation: the matter is large enough, bright enough, seen enough. When it is bright, what do you fear most? Covering the lamp yourself, and still thinking it is noon.

Get the picture right first. Feng is Thunder over Fire, Zhen above Li. Fire below — brightness; thunder above — movement. Brightness with movement: therefore it can be abundant. Many people read it as Shi He 噬嗑, Fire over Thunder. Shi He is Li above Zhen: fire above, thunder below — biting through, judgment, biting open what is stuck. Swap above and below: one is abundance, one is biting through. Mix the pictures and all the advice after is wrong.

Feng is also not Da You 大有. Da You is Fire over Heaven: fire in the sky, possessing. Feng is abundance itself, and that abundance will pass noon. Having, and being abundant, are not the same matter.

Why after “obtaining a place to return” comes Feng

The Xu Gua says: 「得其所歸者必大，故受之以豐。豐者，大也。」 Those who have obtained a place to return must become great, so Feng follows. Feng means great. Before it is Gui Mei 歸妹. People have a place to return, force can gather. Gathered, the scene grows large. Draw Feng: often not luck from zero. After the stretch of “returned, seated, people complete,” the matter grows by itself.

The Tuan is plainer: 「豐，大也。明以動，故豐。」 Feng is great. Brightness with movement: therefore abundant. It relies on brightness, plus movement. No brightness, movement is blind. No movement, brightness is a lamp left standing. The judgment says 「勿憂，宜日中」— do not worry; it is fitting to be like the sun at noon. The same Tuan at once adds: the sun at noon then declines; the moon full then is eaten. Heaven and Earth have fullness and emptiness, let alone people.

So Feng is not telling you to be glad. It tells you, at noon, to make the matter clear, and remember noon will pass. Worry is extra. Pride is extra. What you truly use is brightness.

The Xiang says: 「雷電皆至，豐。君子以折獄致刑。」 Thunder and lightning both arrive, Feng. The superior person decides lawsuits and applies punishments. Thunder and lightning together, bright and moving: it suits making right and wrong clear, counting merit and fault, making public what should be public. It does not suit stirring muddy water again in the liveliness. In an abundant time, everyone’s eyes are watching. Every stroke you make will be magnified.

Career can be abundant; wealth is not forever noon

Ask about career and draw Feng: the scene leans large — a project scaled up, a name out, a shop busier, an event that moves people. It suits publishing, launching, opening, spreading results in daylight. Hiding it instead wastes this hexagram’s brightness.

In wealth, Feng most easily lets people hear “coming in a lot now” as “it will always be like this.” Seeing the Dipper at noon is a picture this hexagram repeats: clearly noon, and you see the Northern Dipper. The Dipper should be seen at night. Seeing it at noon means light is covered, or your judgment is no longer as bright as you think. Books look fine; inside you cannot see the numbers. Many people; decisions rely on rumor. Add leverage then, and you make abundance into emptiness.

In class I usually ask three things first: where does the money come from, who is blocking the light, can you still see the middle layer. Cannot see: light it first, do not expand first. An abundant year can push revenue, and still leave a length for decline. Decline is not disaster. The sun has gone west. Spend as if it were noon after it has gone west, and you become the upper six’s empty house.

Partnerships, going public, standing on a stage: Feng is common. It wants to “shine under Heaven.” If you ask about doing it quietly, gathering in low-key, selling the company and disappearing, Feng thinks you asked the wrong season. An abundant season, duty is also abundant. Being seen is a cost, not pure reward.

Feng in love: bright, so suspicion; large, so empty

Ask about love and draw Feng: the relationship’s visibility is high. Hot love, going public, a wedding, the clan watching: all Feng occasions. Brightness itself is not the problem. The problem is bu 蔀, a screen: curtains, rumor, face, words not finished. Six in the second: 「豐其蔀，日中見斗，往得疑疾。」 Abundance of screens; seeing the Dipper at noon; going, you obtain a disease of suspicion. Go forward and you get suspicion-sickness. Draw this kind of line: not that the other person is necessarily unfaithful. Light is not enough, and people think toward the dark. There is sincerity, issuing forth: fortunate. Use trust to lift what is covered, then fortunate. Keep guessing, and suspicion becomes illness.

If you are single and draw Feng, the occasion will be relatively abundant: a wedding banquet, a large event, a very bright social field. Many people does not mean you can meet deeply. Feng’s peach blossom leans “being seen,” not “being understood.” Chase only the brightest seat, and in the end you may only get liveliness.

If you are already together, Feng reminds two things. First, after the relationship grew large (marriage, meeting parents, doing business together), brightness cannot be dropped. Second, do not use a house, a scene, a circle of friends to separate the two of you. The upper six is this ending: the house very abundant, the home screened, looking through the door, empty of people, three years not seeing anyone. Abundance to emptiness. A handsome wedding, no one speaking at home: this line’s modern version.

A few lines of Feng must be taught right in class

You need not memorize all six at once. These must not be wrong.

Six in the second: 豐其蔀，日中見斗，往得疑疾。有孚發若，吉. A screen has come; at noon you see the Dipper. Abnormal. Charge forward and what you get is being suspected, and suspecting yourself. The break is not in arguing. It is in sincerity. Make public what can be public, make the books clear, spread the motive. Fa 發 is issuing light. Draw six in the second: light first, then advance.

Nine in the third: 豐其沛，日中見沫，折其右肱，無咎. Abundance of banners; seeing foam at noon; breaking the right arm; no blame. Pei 沛 is a heavier cover, banners, a canopy. Mo 沫 is a small point of light; some say a small star. Darker than seeing the Dipper. The right arm broken: the main hand cannot be used for a while. No blame is not nothing wrong. At this time, conceding a length, less forcing, instead no blame. Draw nine in the third: do not be the main force. Be support, wait for brightness to return.

Nine in the fourth: 豐其蔀，日中見斗，遇其夷主，吉. Abundance of screens; seeing the Dipper at noon; meeting an equal principal; fortunate. The same seeing the Dipper, and because you meet an equal (yi zhu 夷主), fortunate. Abundant and dark: do not carry it alone. Find someone of your rank, who can talk with you. A teacher, a peer, another department’s lead: all can be an equal principal. In Feng, a helper is often not someone who lifts you higher. It is someone who can turn the lamp up with you.

Six in the fifth: 來章，有慶譽，吉. Coming with brilliance; there is celebration and praise; fortunate. Zhang 章 is pattern, something clear coming by itself. There is celebration, a name: fortunate. This is Feng’s more in-position line. Draw six in the fifth: it suits gathering results into a form that can be seen — a work, a report, a public record. Still remember: praise is a noon thing. Do not mortgage the next ten years with it.

Upper six: 豐其屋，蔀其家，窺其戶，闃其無人，三歲不覿，凶. Abundance of the house; screening the home; peering at the door, empty of people; three years not seeing; unfortunate. The house extremely large, the home screened dead, looking through the door, still, no one, three years unseen. Abundance to emptiness. Draw the upper six: not an order to tear the house down. Do not add more scene. Finding people again matters more than making the scene larger. In career: a shell company, only a front and no staff: all empty of people.

The initial nine, 「遇其配主，雖旬無咎，往有尚」— meeting a matching principal; even a ten-day period, no blame; going has merit — can be mentioned: Feng just beginning, you need to meet a matching person in charge. Even if it takes ten days, it is not late; going forward still has merit. No match and you force forward, and the screens after come faster.

In class I teach only one sentence: the sun at noon then declines — in abundance, keep brightness

Students love to ask: in abundance, should I advance or guard?

Feng’s answer is not either-or. Fitting to be at noon: so do the work, shine, let brightness be there. What you guard is not stopping work. It is guarding brightness. Drop brightness, and however large the numbers, they are screens.

How to guard brightness: I have people do four earthy things.

1. Look at the numbers yourself. Do not only hear people who report good news. Seeing the Dipper at noon is often a middle layer blocking the light.
2. Merit and duty public together. Deciding lawsuits and applying punishments is not going after people. Right and wrong must be decided in the light.
3. In abundance, see people, not walls. The house can be large. There must be people at home.
4. Leave room for decline. Do not sign a contract until you cannot turn back. Do not use the body up in one abundant year.

Modern people’s Feng is not necessarily being emperor. Follower counts, a revenue month, a wedding month, the week you are in the news: all noon. Noon most avoids two kinds of people: one stacking another layer at once, one so frightened they dare not move. The Tuan says do not worry, not do not examine. What you examine is whether light is still there — not whether abundance will leave. Abundance will certainly leave. When it leaves, if you are still bright, the next hexagram can be received.

Feng’s next hexagram is Lü (Wanderer) 旅. The Xu Gua says those who are poor in greatness must lose their dwelling. Great to the extreme, you lose a place to land. So Feng is not the last station. After abundance, people often must go out, be a guest, find a place again. To see this line through, the next article is I Ching Lü (Wanderer) Meaning | Hexagram 56 How to Read: The Wanderer, How to Live as a Guest. How not to make yourself an arrogant dragon in abundance: I Ching Qian Meaning | Hexagram 1 How to Read: Hidden Dragon to Arrogant Dragon. How to walk in opening, how to leave a back hand: I Ching Tai Meaning | Hexagram 11 How to Read: Advance or Guard in Peace.

I Ching Feng FAQ

Is Feng great fortune — can I invest a large sum?

The direction is abundant, can be done, fitting to be seen. A large investment still looks at the line, and whether you are bright. Six in the second, nine in the third, seeing the Dipper, seeing foam: take the screen off first, then talk adding. The upper six still less for stacking. Illegal, staking cash at once in a project you do not understand: the name Feng will not make you clever.

Seeing the Dipper at noon: are there always petty people?

There may be people covering light. It may also be a system, a process, your own pride blocking the light. First check “who at noon is making night.” Do not grab a witch on the first move. There is sincerity, issuing forth: first shine yourself, and petty people have less to hide in. Only grab people, do not light: the Dipper is still there.

I drew Feng, and the family is very cold. Is the reading wrong?

Not necessarily wrong. Abundance of the house, screening the home: they can happen together. Outside very large, no one at home. Ask about career, draw Feng; ask about family, empty: a common split. Then go home and light a lamp yourself. Do not use the company’s abundance to deny emptiness at home.

What is the difference between Feng and Shi He?

Both thunder and fire, above and below reversed. Feng is thunder above, fire below: brightness with movement, abundance. Shi He is fire above, thunder below: using brightness to bite through an obstacle, leaning toward punishment, decision, eating open what is stuck. One fears passing noon. One fears biting the wrong thing. Reverse above and below, and advice to people becomes the opposite season.

For an online hexagram, try free love divination and match both birthdays with this reading.