Hexagram 32, line 5
六五Line 5 of Constancy
Six in the fifth place · 恆 héng
爻辭 The line text
恆其德，貞，婦人吉，夫子凶。The fifth line, divided, shows its subject continuously maintaining the virtue indicated by it. In a wife this will be fortunate; in a husband, evil.
婦人貞吉，從一而終也。夫子制義，從婦凶也。'Such firm correctness in a wife will be fortunate:'—it is hers to the end of life to follow with an unchanged mind. The husband must decide what is right, and lay down the rule accordingly:—for him to follow (like) a wife is evil.
In plain words
'Constant in one's virtue; steady. For a wife, good fortune; for a husband, misfortune.' Line five is yin in the ruler's place, central but yielding, and its constancy is the constancy of following: it corresponds to the strong second line and keeps faith with it to the end. The small Image accepts this on one side and refuses it on the other — 'a wife follows one to the end' is right, but 'the husband must decide what is fitting' (夫子制義), and for him to follow like a wife is wrong. Strip the Zhou household from the image and the point is about roles: the same unwavering loyalty is a virtue in the one whose task is to support and a failure in the one whose task is to judge.
If this line is changing
Ask which role you hold here: if your part is to support, unwavering loyalty is exactly right; if your part is to decide, deferring to another's judgment out of habit will fail you.
Where the line stands
- A broken line, yin — written 六 (six), the number of an old yin 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 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 震 Zhen (the Arousing) (thunder).
- 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
恆 Constancy becomes ䷛ 28 大過 Great Excess
The lake drowning the trees: the ridgepole bends under too much weight. An extraordinary situation, strong in the middle and weak at the ends — something must give way or be done.
What it becomes28 · 大過 Great Excessdà guòThe 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 Six in the fifth place of hexagram 32, Constancy, mean?
- 'Constant in one's virtue; steady. For a wife, good fortune; for a husband, misfortune.' Line five is yin in the ruler's place, central but yielding, and its constancy is the constancy of following: it corresponds to the strong second line and keeps faith with it to the end. The small Image accepts this on one side and refuses it on the other — 'a wife follows one to the end' is right, but 'the husband must decide what is fitting' (夫子制義), and for him to follow like a wife is wrong. Strip the Zhou household from the image and the point is about roles: the same unwavering loyalty is a virtue in the one whose task is to support and a failure in the one whose task is to judge.
- What does hexagram 32 become when line 5 changes?
- Constancy becomes hexagram 28, 大過 Great Excess: The lake drowning the trees: the ridgepole bends under too much weight. An extraordinary situation, strong in the middle and weak at the ends — something must give way or be done.
- Is line 5 of Constancy 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. 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).