初九：虞吉，有他不燕。
Settle your intention and choose trust carefully. Competing, contradictory attachments make inward rest difficult.
I Ching Hexagram 61
Zhōng Fú · Inner Truth
中孚 · Hexagram 61
Zhong Fu concerns trust arising from inward sincerity. Wind touches the Lake and receives a response without force. When motives, words, and conduct agree, people can connect deeply, while everyday facts continue to establish whether that confidence is deserved.
Upper trigram: Wind/Xùn
Lower trigram: Lake/Duì
The situation you may be in
You may need to build trust, express something important, or assess a promise. What matters is agreement between inward intention and outward conduct, rather than eloquence or how much you want to believe.
How to respond
State the actual intention, promise what you can fulfill, and leave room for a free response. Remain open to trust while observing facts, without demanding repeated demonstrations of loyalty.
Judgment and Image
Judgment
中孚：豚鱼吉，利涉大川，利贞。
Inner Truth. Pigs and fishes. Good fortune. It furthers one to cross the great water. Perseverance furthers.
Image
泽上有风，中孚；君子以议狱缓死。
Wind over lake: Inner Truth. The superior person discusses criminal cases in order to delay executions.
Applying it to real life
Love & relationships
Share needs and feelings honestly instead of testing the other person. Emotional resonance is valuable, but its intensity should not erase inconsistent conduct or established boundaries.
Career & work
Credibility comes from responding, honoring agreements, and describing difficulties accurately. Clarify expectations and acknowledge mistakes so sincerity has an observable responsibility behind it.
Choice & decisions
Consider intuition alongside conduct over time. Inward confidence can matter, but consequential commitments still need facts; wanting to trust is not the same as trustworthiness being established.
Timing & pace
Trust needs contact and promises kept rather than acceleration. Move closer with clear, steady response, and pause wider commitment if declarations continue without action.
The six changing lines
The lines unfold from the bottom upward, describing one pattern of change from its first appearance to its extreme. If your reading has a changing line, begin with that position.
九二：鸣鹤在阴，其子和之，我有好爵，吾与尔靡之。
Sincerity can find a response even out of sight. Sharing what is real need not depend on display or a prominent position.
六三：得敌，或鼓或罢，或泣或歌。
When every feeling rises and falls with another person, steadiness is lost. Recover your own measure before judging the relationship's responses.
六四：月几望，马匹亡，无咎。
A maturing trust may require releasing an incompatible attachment. Make the choice clear so the old tie does not divide the commitment.
九五：有孚挛如，无咎。
Integrity can bind people through dependability. Keep fulfilling the commitment rather than trying to hold the relationship through force.
上九：翰音登于天，贞凶。
Declarations have risen beyond what can be supported. Repeating them erodes trust; bring the words back within what can actually be done.
A common misreading
Zhong Fu does not make feeling a means of knowing every truth or recommend blind belief. Its final line warns of a voice rising beyond its substance. Trust must live in daily conduct, not only emotional intensity.
Related hexagrams
Text and interpretation
Updated 12 September 2026Reviewed by MysticEast Research
This page preserves the Chinese Judgment, Image, and line texts of the received Zhouyi. MysticEast's modern explanations are newly written to emphasize stages of change and practical judgment rather than fixed good-or-bad predictions.
Read the Zhouyi at the Chinese Text ProjectLet the hexagram meet your actual question
A guide gives you the map. A cast made with a clear question can help locate the exact stage of change you are experiencing.