Hexagram 37, line 4
六四Line 4 of Household
Six in the fourth place · 家人 jiā rén
爻辭 The line text
富家，大吉。The fourth line, divided, shows its subject enriching the family. There will be great good fortune.
富家大吉，順在位也。'The family is enriched, and there is great good fortune:'—this is due to the docility (belonging to the subject of the line), and its being in its correct place.
In plain words
Enriching the household: great good fortune. Line four is yin in its correct place, the first line of Xun, the trigram of wind and of gentle penetration, and it sits directly beneath the ruler at five. 富 here is less about wealth than about fullness: a house that has what it needs because it is well kept, where the people in it prosper and the atmosphere is abundant. The small Image gives the whole reason in four characters: 'compliant, and in its place' (順在位). It is one of the few lines in the Book with an unqualified 大吉, and it earns it by doing the right thing in the right position rather than by any striking act.
If this line is changing
Keep doing the unglamorous work of making the people around you flourish, from exactly the place you are in; this is the line where quiet devotion is rewarded in full.
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 巽 Xun (the Gentle) (wind).
- 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
家人 Household becomes ䷌ 13 同人 People United
Fire rising to heaven: people gathering in the open field. Fellowship succeeds when it is public and principled rather than clannish, and it makes great undertakings possible.
What it becomes13 · 同人 People Unitedtóng rénThe six lines of 家人 Household
- 初九Nine at the beginningsetting boundaries · at the outset · before wills change
- 六二Six in the second placethe inner place · nourishing · gentle correctness
- 九三Nine in the third placesternness · laughter and chatter · losing measure
- 六四Six in the fourth placeenriching the household · compliance in place · great good fortune
- 九五Nine in the fifth placethe king comes home · mutual love · no anxiety
- 上九Nine at the topsincerity and dignity · turning inward · good fortune in the end
Read 家人 Household for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Six in the fourth place of hexagram 37, Household, mean?
- Enriching the household: great good fortune. Line four is yin in its correct place, the first line of Xun, the trigram of wind and of gentle penetration, and it sits directly beneath the ruler at five. 富 here is less about wealth than about fullness: a house that has what it needs because it is well kept, where the people in it prosper and the atmosphere is abundant. The small Image gives the whole reason in four characters: 'compliant, and in its place' (順在位). It is one of the few lines in the Book with an unqualified 大吉, and it earns it by doing the right thing in the right position rather than by any striking act.
- What does hexagram 37 become when line 4 changes?
- Household becomes hexagram 13, 同人 People United: Fire rising to heaven: people gathering in the open field. Fellowship succeeds when it is public and principled rather than clannish, and it makes great undertakings possible.
- Is line 4 of Household 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).