Hexagram 43, line 5
九五Line 5 of Decisiveness
Nine in the fifth place · 夬 guài
爻辭 The line text
莧陸夬夬，中行无咎。The fifth line, undivided, shows (the small men like) a bed of purslain, which ought to be uprooted with the utmost determination. (The subject of the line having such determination), his action, in harmony with his central position, will lead to no error or blame.
中行无咎，中未光也。'If his action be in harmony with his central position, there will be no error:'—but his standing in the due mean is not yet clearly displayed.
In plain words
The ruler of Guai: 'purslane — be resolute, resolute; walking the middle path, no blame' (莧陸夬夬，中行無咎). Purslane is a soft, juicy weed that grows back as fast as it is pulled; the fifth line, yang and central in Dui, is the one directly beneath the yin at the top and therefore closest to it (比上六). Being so near, it is in danger of leniency, and the text doubles the word for resolution. Yet the small Image withholds full praise: 'the centre is not yet bright' (中未光也) — a ruler who has to be told twice to be firm, and who escapes only with 'no blame', has not yet made decisiveness fully its own.
If this line is changing
The thing you need to cut away is close to you and will keep growing back if you are gentle with it; be doubly firm, and know that merely avoiding blame is not yet a clear victory.
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 兌 Dui (the Joyous) (lake).
- It has no correspondence (無應) with line 2: 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 ䷡ 34 大壯 Great Vigor
Thunder above heaven: great strength on the move. Favourable to persevere correctly — real power stays within the bounds of propriety; the ram that butts the hedge gets stuck.
What it becomes34 · 大壯 Great Vigordà zhuàngThe 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 fifth place of hexagram 43, Decisiveness, mean?
- The ruler of Guai: 'purslane — be resolute, resolute; walking the middle path, no blame' (莧陸夬夬，中行無咎). Purslane is a soft, juicy weed that grows back as fast as it is pulled; the fifth line, yang and central in Dui, is the one directly beneath the yin at the top and therefore closest to it (比上六). Being so near, it is in danger of leniency, and the text doubles the word for resolution. Yet the small Image withholds full praise: 'the centre is not yet bright' (中未光也) — a ruler who has to be told twice to be firm, and who escapes only with 'no blame', has not yet made decisiveness fully its own.
- What does hexagram 43 become when line 5 changes?
- Decisiveness becomes hexagram 34, 大壯 Great Vigor: Thunder above heaven: great strength on the move. Favourable to persevere correctly — real power stays within the bounds of propriety; the ram that butts the hedge gets stuck.
- Is line 5 of Decisiveness 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).