Hexagram 55, line 6
上六Line 6 of Plenty
Six at the top · 豐 fēng
爻辭 The line text
豐其屋，蔀其家，闚其戶，闃其无人，三歲不覿，凶。The topmost line, divided, shows its subject with his house made large, but only serving as a screen to his household. When he looks at his door, it is still, and there is nobody about it. For three years no one is to be seen. There will be evil.
豐其屋，天際翔也。闚其戶，闃其无人，自藏也。'He has made his house large:'—he soars (in his pride) to the heavens. 'He looks at his door, which is still, with no one about it:'—he (only) keeps himself withdrawn from all others.
In plain words
'The house is made abundant; the household is screened; peering at the door, silent, no one there; for three years no one is seen; ominous.' Line six is yin at the top of Zhen, the end of movement and the end of abundance: fullness has become a vast house with no one in it. The small Image reads the pride and the result: 天際翔也, he soars to the edge of heaven, and 自藏也, he has hidden himself away. Abundance pushed past its noon becomes isolation — the Tuan's 日中則昃 made literal. The person who built the biggest house finds that the size itself is the screen, and nobody comes.
If this line is changing
Whatever you have been enlarging has grown past the point where it serves anyone, including you; stop building, open the door, and go out to people before the silence settles in.
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 震 Zhen (the Arousing) (thunder).
- It corresponds (應) with line 3: one yin and one yang, the two lines answer each other across the hexagram.
之卦 When this line moves
豐 Plenty becomes ䷝ 30 離 Brightness (Fire)
Fire upon fire: brightness that clings to what feeds it. Success through correctness and clarity; tend the flame like a docile cow — gently and continuously.
What it becomes30 · 離 Brightness (Fire)líThe six lines of 豐 Plenty
- 初九Nine at the beginningmeeting one's match · equals · ten days
- 六二Six in the second placescreened · stars at noon · sincerity moves
- 九三Nine in the third placebanner-dark · broken arm · not for great things
- 九四Nine in the fourth placescreened again · meeting one's equal · act now
- 六五Six in the fifth placebrilliance comes · blessing and praise · the receptive ruler
- 上六Six at the tophouse too large · no one at the door · three years unseen
Read 豐 Plenty for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Six at the top of hexagram 55, Plenty, mean?
- 'The house is made abundant; the household is screened; peering at the door, silent, no one there; for three years no one is seen; ominous.' Line six is yin at the top of Zhen, the end of movement and the end of abundance: fullness has become a vast house with no one in it. The small Image reads the pride and the result: 天際翔也, he soars to the edge of heaven, and 自藏也, he has hidden himself away. Abundance pushed past its noon becomes isolation — the Tuan's 日中則昃 made literal. The person who built the biggest house finds that the size itself is the screen, and nobody comes.
- What does hexagram 55 become when line 6 changes?
- Plenty becomes hexagram 30, 離 Brightness (Fire): Fire upon fire: brightness that clings to what feeds it. Success through correctness and clarity; tend the flame like a docile cow — gently and continuously.
- Is line 6 of Plenty 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).