Hexagram 39, line 5
九五Line 5 of Impasse
Nine in the fifth place · 蹇 jiǎn
爻辭 The line text
大蹇朋來。The fifth line, undivided, shows its subject struggling with the greatest difficulties, while friends are coming to help him.
大蹇朋來，以中節也。'He struggles with the greatest difficulties, while friends are coming (to help him):'—he is in the central position, and possesses the requisite virtue.
In plain words
Great obstruction; friends come. Line five is the ruler of Jian — yang, central and correct, in the middle of Kan, the water — and it is the one line that cannot step back, because the danger is where it lives. The Judgment's 'it is favourable to see the great person' points here. What the text promises is not escape but help: 朋來, friends come, meaning the correctly placed lines of the hexagram, and above all its correspondent at two, the loyal minister struggling toward it. The small Image gives the reason: 'by being central and keeping measure' (以中節). A leader who stays steady at the centre of a crisis draws others to it.
If this line is changing
You are at the centre of the difficulty and cannot step out of it; hold your course with measure and let help reach you, because this is the line where it does.
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 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 坎 Kan (the Abysmal) (water).
- 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
蹇 Impasse becomes ䷎ 15 謙 Humility
A mountain hidden within the earth: greatness that stays low. The only hexagram whose six lines all turn out well — humility succeeds, and the superior person carries things through to the end.
What it becomes15 · 謙 HumilityqiānThe six lines of 蹇 Impasse
- 初六Six at the beginninggoing means difficulty · staying brings praise · wait
- 六二Six in the second placethe king's minister · difficulty upon difficulty · not for oneself
- 九三Nine in the third placeturning back · the inner circle rejoices · the one strong line below
- 六四Six in the fourth placejoining forces · already in the water · solid in its place
- 九五Nine in the fifth placethe great obstruction · friends arrive · central virtue
- 上六Six at the topgreat gain in staying · the will turned inward · following the noble
Read 蹇 Impasse for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Nine in the fifth place of hexagram 39, Impasse, mean?
- Great obstruction; friends come. Line five is the ruler of Jian — yang, central and correct, in the middle of Kan, the water — and it is the one line that cannot step back, because the danger is where it lives. The Judgment's 'it is favourable to see the great person' points here. What the text promises is not escape but help: 朋來, friends come, meaning the correctly placed lines of the hexagram, and above all its correspondent at two, the loyal minister struggling toward it. The small Image gives the reason: 'by being central and keeping measure' (以中節). A leader who stays steady at the centre of a crisis draws others to it.
- What does hexagram 39 become when line 5 changes?
- Impasse becomes hexagram 15, 謙 Humility: A mountain hidden within the earth: greatness that stays low. The only hexagram whose six lines all turn out well — humility succeeds, and the superior person carries things through to the end.
- Is line 5 of Impasse 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. 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).