Hexagram 32, line 3
九三Line 3 of Constancy
Nine in the third place · 恆 héng
爻辭 The line text
不恆其德，或承之羞，貞吝。The third line, undivided, shows one who does not continuously maintain his virtue. There are those who will impute this to him as a disgrace. However firm he may be, there will be ground for regret.
不恆其德，无所容也。'He does not continuously maintain his virtue:'—nowhere will he be borne with.
In plain words
'Not constant in one's virtue: someone may bring disgrace upon one; steadiness still brings regret.' Line three is yang in a yang place at the top of Xun — correct by position, but restless, the line about to leave the gentle lower trigram for the thunder above. It corresponds to the top line, which is itself agitated, and it keeps changing its mind. The text's 或 is pointed: the disgrace comes from 'someone', from others who stop relying on a person who cannot be relied on. The small Image is severe: 'nowhere will one be accommodated' (無所容也). Confucius quotes this line in the Analects as the reason a person without constancy cannot even be a diviner or a physician.
If this line is changing
Your changeability is being noticed, and the cost will be that people stop counting on you; pick one line of conduct and hold it even when it is dull.
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 belongs to the lower trigram 巽 Xun (the Gentle) (wind).
- It corresponds (應) with line 6: one yin and one yang, the two lines answer each other across the hexagram.
之卦 When this line moves
恆 Constancy becomes ䷧ 40 解 Release
Thunder and rain: the storm breaks and tension dissolves. Favourable to the southwest; if there is nowhere to go, returning brings good fortune; if there is, act early.
What it becomes40 · 解 ReleasexièThe six lines of 恆 Constancy
- 初六Six at the beginningdigging too deep · too much too soon · the start
- 九二Nine in the second placeregret vanishes · long in the centre · steady despite the place
- 九三Nine in the third placeinconstant · shame follows · nowhere welcome
- 九四Nine in the fourth placeno game in the field · wrong place · persistence wasted
- 六五Six in the fifth placeconstant in virtue · to follow one · to decide for oneself
- 上六Six at the topagitated constancy · shaking at the top · no achievement
Read 恆 Constancy for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Nine in the third place of hexagram 32, Constancy, mean?
- 'Not constant in one's virtue: someone may bring disgrace upon one; steadiness still brings regret.' Line three is yang in a yang place at the top of Xun — correct by position, but restless, the line about to leave the gentle lower trigram for the thunder above. It corresponds to the top line, which is itself agitated, and it keeps changing its mind. The text's 或 is pointed: the disgrace comes from 'someone', from others who stop relying on a person who cannot be relied on. The small Image is severe: 'nowhere will one be accommodated' (無所容也). Confucius quotes this line in the Analects as the reason a person without constancy cannot even be a diviner or a physician.
- What does hexagram 32 become when line 3 changes?
- Constancy becomes hexagram 40, 解 Release: Thunder and rain: the storm breaks and tension dissolves. Favourable to the southwest; if there is nowhere to go, returning brings good fortune; if there is, act early.
- Is line 3 of Constancy 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).