Hexagram 21, line 6
上九Line 6 of Biting Together
Nine at the top · 噬嗑 shì kè
爻辭 The line text
何校滅耳，凶。The sixth line, undivided, shows one wearing the cangue, and deprived of his ears. There will be evil.
何校滅耳，聰不明也。'He wears the cangue and is deprived of his ears:'—he hears, but will not understand.
In plain words
The top line is the other party who is bitten: 'carrying the cangue so that his ears disappear — evil.' Where line one was stopped at the feet before it could walk, line six has gone all the way, and the heavy wooden collar covers the ears. The small Image reads the image literally and morally: he hears but does not understand (聰不明也). The 繫辭 pairs it with line one as the small person whose 'evil accumulates until it cannot be hidden'; a yang line at the end of Li, the hexagram's clarity, which took in none of the light.
If this line is changing
Warnings have been given and not heard, and the consequence is now heavy; if this line is yours, stop defending the course and listen while listening still counts.
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 離 Li (the Clinging) (fire).
- 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
噬嗑 Biting Together becomes ䷲ 51 震 Shock (Thunder)
Thunder upon thunder: shock. It arrives with alarm and is followed by laughter; the shock shakes a hundred miles, yet the sacrificial spoon is not dropped.
What it becomes51 · 震 Shock (Thunder)zhènThe six lines of 噬嗑 Biting Together
- 初九Nine at the beginningfeet in the stocks · stopped early · no blame
- 六二Six in the second placebiting soft flesh · easy and deep · riding the strong
- 六三Six in the third placeold dried meat · meeting poison · wrong place
- 九四Nine in the fourth placemeat on the bone · metal arrows · hard but right
- 六五Six in the fifth placedried meat · yellow gold · firm amid danger
- 上九Nine at the topthe cangue · deaf to warning · evil
Read 噬嗑 Biting Together for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Nine at the top of hexagram 21, Biting Together, mean?
- The top line is the other party who is bitten: 'carrying the cangue so that his ears disappear — evil.' Where line one was stopped at the feet before it could walk, line six has gone all the way, and the heavy wooden collar covers the ears. The small Image reads the image literally and morally: he hears but does not understand (聰不明也). The 繫辭 pairs it with line one as the small person whose 'evil accumulates until it cannot be hidden'; a yang line at the end of Li, the hexagram's clarity, which took in none of the light.
- What does hexagram 21 become when line 6 changes?
- Biting Together becomes hexagram 51, 震 Shock (Thunder): Thunder upon thunder: shock. It arrives with alarm and is followed by laughter; the shock shakes a hundred miles, yet the sacrificial spoon is not dropped.
- Is line 6 of Biting Together 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).