Hexagram 11, line 6
上六Line 6 of Prosperity
Six at the top · 泰 tài
爻辭 The line text
城復于隍，勿用師。自邑告命，貞吝。The sixth line, divided, shows us the city wall returned into the moat. It is not the time to use the army. (The subject of the line) may, indeed, announce his orders to the people of his own city; but however correct and firm he may be, he will have cause for regret.
城復于隍，其命亂也。'The city wall returned back into the moat' shows how the (governmental) orders have (long) been in disorder.
In plain words
At the top of Tai 'the city wall falls back into the moat; do not use the army; announce orders from your own town; steadiness, humiliation.' The earth that was dug out to build the rampart returns to the ditch: what communication raised, its ending undoes. Yin at the end of Kun, with nothing above to respond to, the line cannot restore the age by force — 勿用師 — and even correct commands now carry only as far as one's own walls. The small Image gives the cause: 'the orders have fallen into disorder' (其命亂也). Peace does not end suddenly; it ends because governance has slackened over a long time.
If this line is changing
When what was built starts sliding back, do not try to force it up again; narrow your commands to what you can actually reach, and accept that the humiliation is the cost of a long neglect.
Where the line stands
- A broken line, yin — written 六 (six), the number of an old yin line that moves when cast.
- It is in its correct place (當位): a yang line in an odd position or a yin line in an even one, which the tradition reads as a line at ease where it stands.
- It belongs to the upper trigram 坤 Kun (the Receptive) (earth).
- It corresponds (應) with line 3: one yin and one yang, the two lines answer each other across the hexagram.
之卦 When this line moves
泰 Prosperity becomes ䷙ 26 大畜 Great Accumulation
Heaven inside the mountain: great power held and stored. Firm correctness brings success; serve in public rather than eating at home, and the great river can be crossed.
What it becomes26 · 大畜 Great Accumulationdà chùThe six lines of 泰 Prosperity
- 初九Nine at the beginninggrass with its roots · rising together · aim outward
- 九二Nine in the second placebearing the rough · fording the river · no cliques
- 九三Nine in the third placeno plain without slope · the turning point · enjoy with care
- 六四Six in the fourth placefluttering down · not rich · sincere neighbours
- 六五Six in the fifth placeDi Yi marries his sister · ruler humbles himself · central wish
- 上六Six at the topwall into the moat · do not use force · orders in disorder
Read 泰 Prosperity for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Six at the top of hexagram 11, Prosperity, mean?
- At the top of Tai 'the city wall falls back into the moat; do not use the army; announce orders from your own town; steadiness, humiliation.' The earth that was dug out to build the rampart returns to the ditch: what communication raised, its ending undoes. Yin at the end of Kun, with nothing above to respond to, the line cannot restore the age by force — 勿用師 — and even correct commands now carry only as far as one's own walls. The small Image gives the cause: 'the orders have fallen into disorder' (其命亂也). Peace does not end suddenly; it ends because governance has slackened over a long time.
- What does hexagram 11 become when line 6 changes?
- Prosperity becomes hexagram 26, 大畜 Great Accumulation: Heaven inside the mountain: great power held and stored. Firm correctness brings success; serve in public rather than eating at home, and the great river can be crossed.
- Is line 6 of Prosperity in its correct place?
- It is in its correct place (當位): a yang line in an odd position or a yin line in an even one, which the tradition reads as a line at ease where it stands.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).