Hexagram 35, line 4
九四Line 4 of Advancing
Nine in the fourth place · 晉 jìn
爻辭 The line text
晉如鼫鼠，貞厲。The fourth line, undivided, shows its subject with the appearance of advancing, but like a marmot. However firm and correct he may be, the position is one of peril.
鼫鼠貞厲，位不當也。'(He advances like) a marmot. However firm and correct he may be, his position is one of peril:'—his place is not that appropriate for him.
In plain words
Advancing like a 鼫鼠 — Legge's 'marmot', a creature proverbial in Chinese for 'five skills and none mastered': it can climb, swim, dig, run and fly, and does each badly. Line four is the only yang in the upper trigram, yang in a yin place, sitting just below the ruler and just above the three yin lines pressing up from below. It holds a position it has not earned and fears losing, and the Image says plainly 'the place is not appropriate' (位不當). The text's verdict is that even steadiness here is perilous: an advance driven by anxious grasping cannot be made safe by sincerity alone.
If this line is changing
If you are holding a position by clutching at it, with many small talents and no real footing, stop advancing and either earn the place or let it go; grasping only makes it more precarious.
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 1: one yin and one yang, the two lines answer each other across the hexagram.
之卦 When this line moves
晉 Advancing becomes ䷖ 23 剝 Peeling Away
The mountain worn down by the earth beneath: yin has grown until one yang line remains at the top. Not a time to go anywhere; the structure is peeling away.
What it becomes23 · 剝 Peeling AwaybōThe six lines of 晉 Advancing
- 初六Six at the beginningpressed back · not yet trusted · generosity
- 六二Six in the second placeadvancing in sorrow · the grandmother's blessing · central and correct
- 六三Six in the third placetrusted by all · moving upward together · regret vanishes
- 九四Nine in the fourth placethe marmot · greedy advance · out of place
- 六五Six in the fifth placegain and loss aside · the bright ruler · going forward
- 上九Nine at the topadvancing with horns · one's own city · not yet glorious
Read 晉 Advancing for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Nine in the fourth place of hexagram 35, Advancing, mean?
- Advancing like a 鼫鼠 — Legge's 'marmot', a creature proverbial in Chinese for 'five skills and none mastered': it can climb, swim, dig, run and fly, and does each badly. Line four is the only yang in the upper trigram, yang in a yin place, sitting just below the ruler and just above the three yin lines pressing up from below. It holds a position it has not earned and fears losing, and the Image says plainly 'the place is not appropriate' (位不當). The text's verdict is that even steadiness here is perilous: an advance driven by anxious grasping cannot be made safe by sincerity alone.
- What does hexagram 35 become when line 4 changes?
- Advancing becomes hexagram 23, 剝 Peeling Away: The mountain worn down by the earth beneath: yin has grown until one yang line remains at the top. Not a time to go anywhere; the structure is peeling away.
- Is line 4 of Advancing 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).