Hexagram 3, line 6
上六Line 6 of Sprouting
Six at the top · 屯 zhūn
爻辭 The line text
乘馬班如，泣血漣如。The topmost line, divided, shows (its subject) with the horses of his chariot obliged to retreat, and weeping tears of blood in streams.
泣血漣如，何可長也。'He weeps tears of blood in streams:'—how can the state (thus emblemed) continue long?
In plain words
For the third time the horses halt and turn, but now the rider only weeps tears of blood. Line six is yin at the very top of Kan, the end of the hexagram and the depth of its danger, with no yang to correspond to (line three is yin) and nowhere further to go. The sprouting that began in the first line has not broken through here; the difficulty has become despair. The small Image asks the only question that matters: 'how can this go on?' (何可長也). Commentators from Wang Bi on read the line as the end of a bad road rather than a permanent condition — the weeping cannot last, and so the situation must change, by giving way if not by will.
If this line is changing
You have ridden to the end of a road that was never going to open; grieve what did not work, and then dismount, because this state cannot be sustained and should not be.
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 坎 Kan (the Abysmal) (water).
- It has no correspondence (無應) with line 3: both lines are yin, so this line must find its support in its neighbours or in itself.
之卦 When this line moves
屯 Sprouting becomes ䷩ 42 益 Augmenting
Wind and thunder strengthening each other: increase. Favourable to undertake something and to cross the great river; those above give to those below, and everyone rejoices.
What it becomes42 · 益 AugmentingyìThe 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 Six at the top of hexagram 3, Sprouting, mean?
- For the third time the horses halt and turn, but now the rider only weeps tears of blood. Line six is yin at the very top of Kan, the end of the hexagram and the depth of its danger, with no yang to correspond to (line three is yin) and nowhere further to go. The sprouting that began in the first line has not broken through here; the difficulty has become despair. The small Image asks the only question that matters: 'how can this go on?' (何可長也). Commentators from Wang Bi on read the line as the end of a bad road rather than a permanent condition — the weeping cannot last, and so the situation must change, by giving way if not by will.
- What does hexagram 3 become when line 6 changes?
- Sprouting becomes hexagram 42, 益 Augmenting: Wind and thunder strengthening each other: increase. Favourable to undertake something and to cross the great river; those above give to those below, and everyone rejoices.
- Is line 6 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.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).