Hexagram 57, line 6
上九Line 6 of Yielding (Wind)
Nine at the top · 巽 xùn
爻辭 The line text
巽在床下，喪其資斧，貞凶。The sixth line, undivided, shows the representative of penetration beneath a couch, and having lost the axe with which he executed his decisions. However firm and correct he may (try to) be, there will be evil.
巽在床下，上窮也。喪其資斧，正乎凶也。'The representative of penetration is beneath a couch:'—though occupying the topmost place, his powers are exhausted. 'He has lost the axe with which he executed his decisions:'—though he try to be correct, there will be evil.
In plain words
At the top, the hexagram repeats line two's image, 'yielding beneath the bed', but now with nothing to balance it: line six is yang at the end of the upper wind, far from any centre, and its humility is the humility of exhaustion. It 'loses its resources and its axe' — the axe being the tool with which one cuts and decides — so that even steadiness here leads to evil (貞凶). The small Image says the position is exhausted (上窮) and that trying to stay correct in it is precisely what makes it evil (正乎凶). Gentleness carried to the end stops penetrating and becomes a man who can no longer decide anything.
If this line is changing
If you have deferred so long that you no longer have the means or the nerve to decide, more patience will not help; recover your own judgment before you lose the rest.
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 巽 Xun (the Gentle) (wind).
- It has no correspondence (無應) with line 3: both lines are yang, so this line must find its support in its neighbours or in itself.
之卦 When this line moves
巽 Yielding (Wind) becomes ䷯ 48 井 Well
Water drawn up through wood: the well. Towns move, the well stays; it neither increases nor decreases — but a broken rope or a muddy well helps no one.
What it becomes48 · 井 WelljǐngThe six lines of 巽 Yielding (Wind)
- 初六Six at the beginningwavering · advance and retreat · soldier's resolve
- 九二Nine in the second placebeneath the bed · humble sincerity · centred
- 九三Nine in the third placeforced compliance · repeated yielding · exhausted will
- 六四Six in the fourth placeregret vanishes · threefold catch · merit
- 九五Nine in the fifth placethe ruler's command · three days before and after · good end
- 上九Nine at the topyielding exhausted · lost axe · no decision left
Read 巽 Yielding (Wind) for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Nine at the top of hexagram 57, Yielding (Wind), mean?
- At the top, the hexagram repeats line two's image, 'yielding beneath the bed', but now with nothing to balance it: line six is yang at the end of the upper wind, far from any centre, and its humility is the humility of exhaustion. It 'loses its resources and its axe' — the axe being the tool with which one cuts and decides — so that even steadiness here leads to evil (貞凶). The small Image says the position is exhausted (上窮) and that trying to stay correct in it is precisely what makes it evil (正乎凶). Gentleness carried to the end stops penetrating and becomes a man who can no longer decide anything.
- What does hexagram 57 become when line 6 changes?
- Yielding (Wind) becomes hexagram 48, 井 Well: Water drawn up through wood: the well. Towns move, the well stays; it neither increases nor decreases — but a broken rope or a muddy well helps no one.
- Is line 6 of Yielding (Wind) 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).