Hexagram 13, line 4
九四Line 4 of People United
Nine in the fourth place · 同人 tóng rén
爻辭 The line text
乘其墉，弗克攻，吉。The fourth line, undivided, (shows its subject) mounted on the city wall; but he does not proceed to make the attack (he contemplates). There will be good fortune.
乘其墉，義弗克也，其吉，則困而反則也。'He is mounted on his city-wall;' but yielding to the right, 'he does not proceed to make the attack (he contemplated).' (Where it is said), 'There will be good fortune,' (that shows how) he feels the strait he is in, and returns to the rule of law.
In plain words
Line four 'mounts the wall but cannot attack; good fortune.' Like three it is a strong line that wants the yin at two, and it has climbed higher — onto the rampart that three forms between them — yet it does not carry the assault through. Strong in a soft place, it has enough give in it to stop. The small Image reads 弗剋 as 'by rightness it cannot' (義弗剋也), and the good fortune as 'in difficulty, it returns to the rule' (困而反則也). Cheng Yi praises this line: to be on the wall and climb down again is harder, and better, than never to have climbed.
If this line is changing
You have gone a long way toward taking something that is not rightly yours; stopping now, on the wall, is not weakness but the good fortune of the line.
Where the line stands
- A solid line, yang — written 九 (nine), the number of an old yang line that moves when cast.
- It is not in its correct place (不當位): a yang line in an even position or a yin line in an odd one, which the tradition reads as a line under some strain — often the reason a text sounds a warning.
- It belongs to the upper trigram 乾 Qian (the Creative) (heaven).
- It has no correspondence (無應) with line 1: both lines are yang, so this line must find its support in its neighbours or in itself.
之卦 When this line moves
同人 People United becomes ䷤ 37 家人 Household
Wind coming out of fire: the household. Favourable for steadfastness within the home; when the roles in a family are right, the wider world is set right.
What it becomes37 · 家人 Householdjiā rénThe six lines of 同人 People United
- 初九Nine at the beginningat the gate · open fellowship · no partiality
- 六二Six in the second placefellowship with kin · clannishness · regret
- 九三Nine in the third placearms hidden in the grass · spying from the hill · three years
- 九四Nine in the fourth placeon the wall · does not attack · returns to the rule
- 九五Nine in the fifth placeweeping then laughing · the great army · they meet
- 上九Nine at the topin the outskirts · no regret · aim unfulfilled
Read 同人 People United for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Nine in the fourth place of hexagram 13, People United, mean?
- Line four 'mounts the wall but cannot attack; good fortune.' Like three it is a strong line that wants the yin at two, and it has climbed higher — onto the rampart that three forms between them — yet it does not carry the assault through. Strong in a soft place, it has enough give in it to stop. The small Image reads 弗剋 as 'by rightness it cannot' (義弗剋也), and the good fortune as 'in difficulty, it returns to the rule' (困而反則也). Cheng Yi praises this line: to be on the wall and climb down again is harder, and better, than never to have climbed.
- What does hexagram 13 become when line 4 changes?
- People United becomes hexagram 37, 家人 Household: Wind coming out of fire: the household. Favourable for steadfastness within the home; when the roles in a family are right, the wider world is set right.
- Is line 4 of People United in its correct place?
- It is not in its correct place (不當位): a yang line in an even position or a yin line in an odd one, which the tradition reads as a line under some strain — often the reason a text sounds a warning.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).