Hexagram 43, line 4
九四Line 4 of Decisiveness
Nine in the fourth place · 夬 guài
爻辭 The line text
臀无膚，其行次且。牽羊悔亡，聞言不信。The fourth line, undivided, shows one from whose buttocks the skin has been stripped, and who walks slowly and with difficulty. (If he could act) like a sheep led (after its companions), occasion for repentance would disappear. But though he hear these words, he will not believe them.
其行次且，位不當也。聞言不信，聰不明也。'He walks slowly and with difficulty:'—he is not in the place appropriate to him. 'He hears these words, but does not believe them:'—he hears, but does not understand.
In plain words
'No skin on the buttocks, walking haltingly; if he were led like a sheep, regret would vanish — but hearing the words, he does not believe' (臀無膚，其行次且，牽羊悔亡，聞言不信). Line four is yang in a yin place, the first line of Dui and the entry into the upper trigram: strong, but out of place, and so neither able to sit still nor to advance smoothly. The remedy offered is to follow the strong lines ahead of it as a sheep follows the flock. The small Image gives both diagnoses: the halting comes from the wrong position (位不當也), and the refusal to listen from hearing without understanding (聰不明也). The same image of stripped skin appears at the third line of Gou, the inverted hexagram.
If this line is changing
You are uncomfortable where you are and pushing on alone will not work; the advice to fall in behind others who are moving the same way is good advice, and the real risk is that you will not take it.
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 兌 Dui (the Joyous) (lake).
- It has no correspondence (無應) with line 1: both lines are yang, so this line must find its support in its neighbours or in itself.
之卦 When this line moves
夬 Decisiveness becomes ䷄ 5 需 Attending
Clouds rising to heaven: rain that will come in its time. Confident waiting — not idle, but nourishing yourself until the crossing is safe.
What it becomes5 · 需 AttendingxūThe six lines of 夬 Decisiveness
- 初九Nine at the beginningstrength in the toes · advancing too soon · cannot prevail
- 九二Nine in the second placealarm cry · armed at night · no anxiety
- 九三Nine in the third placestrength in the face · walking alone · soaked but blameless
- 九四Nine in the fourth placeno skin on the buttocks · halting · hears but does not believe
- 九五Nine in the fifth placepurslane · resolute at the centre · not yet bright
- 上六Six at the topno one to call · the last yin · cannot last
Read 夬 Decisiveness for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Nine in the fourth place of hexagram 43, Decisiveness, mean?
- 'No skin on the buttocks, walking haltingly; if he were led like a sheep, regret would vanish — but hearing the words, he does not believe' (臀無膚，其行次且，牽羊悔亡，聞言不信). Line four is yang in a yin place, the first line of Dui and the entry into the upper trigram: strong, but out of place, and so neither able to sit still nor to advance smoothly. The remedy offered is to follow the strong lines ahead of it as a sheep follows the flock. The small Image gives both diagnoses: the halting comes from the wrong position (位不當也), and the refusal to listen from hearing without understanding (聰不明也). The same image of stripped skin appears at the third line of Gou, the inverted hexagram.
- What does hexagram 43 become when line 4 changes?
- Decisiveness becomes hexagram 5, 需 Attending: Clouds rising to heaven: rain that will come in its time. Confident waiting — not idle, but nourishing yourself until the crossing is safe.
- Is line 4 of Decisiveness 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).