Hexagram 3, line 5
九五Line 5 of Sprouting
Nine in the fifth place · 屯 zhūn
爻辭 The line text
屯其膏，小貞吉，大貞凶。The fifth line, undivided, shows the difficulties in the way of (its subject's) dispensing the rich favours that might be expected from him. With firmness and correctness there will be good fortune in small things; (even) with them in great things there will be evil.
屯其膏，施未光也。'Difficulty is experienced (by the subject of the fifth line) in bestowing his rich favours:'—the extent to which they reach will not yet be conspicuous.
In plain words
'Its richness is obstructed: steadfastness in small things brings good fortune, in great things misfortune.' Line five is yang, central and correct, the ruler's seat — but it sits in the middle of Kan, the trigram of water and danger, and its favours (膏, fat or grease, what a ruler dispenses) cannot flow down. Below, the people are gathered around the first line, not around five. The small Image says the ruler's giving 'has not yet shone' (施未光也). Cheng Yi reads it as a leader whose authority is nominal in a time of difficulty: he should correct small things patiently, because attempting a great reform from a blocked position ends badly.
If this line is changing
Your reach is shorter than your title right now; fix what is small and within arm's length, and postpone the large gesture until the channel below you is open.
Where the line stands
- A solid line, yang — written 九 (nine), the number of an old yang 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 is central (中): the middle line of its trigram, the position the commentaries read as balanced and most favourable.
- It belongs to the upper trigram 坎 Kan (the Abysmal) (water).
- It corresponds (應) with line 2: one yin and one yang, the two lines answer each other across the hexagram.
之卦 When this line moves
屯 Sprouting becomes ䷗ 24 復 Returning
Thunder within the earth: the solstice, one yang line returning at the bottom. The turn has come — friends arrive, going out and coming in without harm, the way comes back in seven days.
What it becomes24 · 復 ReturningfùThe six lines of 屯 Sprouting
- 初九Nine at the beginninghesitating · staying put · winning the people
- 六二Six in the second placehorses turning back · not a robber · ten years
- 六三Six in the third placehunting without a guide · lost in the forest · better to give up
- 六四Six in the fourth placehorses turning back · seeking union · going is good
- 九五Nine in the fifth placeblocked generosity · small is fine · great is dangerous
- 上六Six at the tophorses turning back · weeping blood · cannot last
Read 屯 Sprouting for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Nine in the fifth place of hexagram 3, Sprouting, mean?
- 'Its richness is obstructed: steadfastness in small things brings good fortune, in great things misfortune.' Line five is yang, central and correct, the ruler's seat — but it sits in the middle of Kan, the trigram of water and danger, and its favours (膏, fat or grease, what a ruler dispenses) cannot flow down. Below, the people are gathered around the first line, not around five. The small Image says the ruler's giving 'has not yet shone' (施未光也). Cheng Yi reads it as a leader whose authority is nominal in a time of difficulty: he should correct small things patiently, because attempting a great reform from a blocked position ends badly.
- What does hexagram 3 become when line 5 changes?
- Sprouting becomes hexagram 24, 復 Returning: Thunder within the earth: the solstice, one yang line returning at the bottom. The turn has come — friends arrive, going out and coming in without harm, the way comes back in seven days.
- Is line 5 of Sprouting 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. It is central (中): the middle line of its trigram, the position the commentaries read as balanced and most favourable.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).