Hexagram 58, line 5
九五Line 5 of Pleasure (Lake)
Nine in the fifth place · 兌 duì
爻辭 The line text
孚于剝，有厲。The fifth line, undivided, shows its subject trusting in one who would injure him. The situation is perilous.
孚于剝，位正當也。'He trusts in one who would injure him:'—his place is that which is correct and appropriate.
In plain words
Line five is the ruler of Dui, yang in the central and correct place of the upper lake, and the one line in the hexagram that touches the top line, a yin line that would strip it. The text says it 'trusts in one who would peel it away' (孚於剝) and calls the situation perilous. Here the strength of the position becomes the danger: a sincere ruler of a joyful age extends trust to everyone near him, including the flatterer at his elbow. The small Image's remark that the place is 'correct and appropriate' is read by the commentators as a warning — precisely because this line is in the right place it has further to fall if it is deceived.
If this line is changing
Ask who, among the people you are glad to trust, is pleasing you for their own ends; your position is sound, but sincerity extended to a flatterer is the one thing that can undo 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 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
兌 Pleasure (Lake) becomes ䷵ 54 歸妹 Marrying the Younger Sister
Thunder over the lake: the younger sister married as a secondary wife. Undertakings bring misfortune; nothing is favourable — a relationship or position entered on unequal terms must be managed with great care.
What it becomes54 · 歸妹 Marrying the Younger Sisterguī mèiThe six lines of 兌 Pleasure (Lake)
- 初九Nine at the beginningharmonious joy · nothing to doubt · self-contained
- 九二Nine in the second placesincere joy · trust · regret vanishes
- 六三Six in the third placeseeking pleasure · flattery · wrong place
- 九四Nine in the fourth placeweighing pleasures · unsettled · keeping away from harm
- 九五Nine in the fifth placetrusting the wrong one · danger · correct place
- 上六Six at the topdrawing others in · pleasure as lure · not yet bright
Read 兌 Pleasure (Lake) for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Nine in the fifth place of hexagram 58, Pleasure (Lake), mean?
- Line five is the ruler of Dui, yang in the central and correct place of the upper lake, and the one line in the hexagram that touches the top line, a yin line that would strip it. The text says it 'trusts in one who would peel it away' (孚於剝) and calls the situation perilous. Here the strength of the position becomes the danger: a sincere ruler of a joyful age extends trust to everyone near him, including the flatterer at his elbow. The small Image's remark that the place is 'correct and appropriate' is read by the commentators as a warning — precisely because this line is in the right place it has further to fall if it is deceived.
- What does hexagram 58 become when line 5 changes?
- Pleasure (Lake) becomes hexagram 54, 歸妹 Marrying the Younger Sister: Thunder over the lake: the younger sister married as a secondary wife. Undertakings bring misfortune; nothing is favourable — a relationship or position entered on unequal terms must be managed with great care.
- Is line 5 of Pleasure (Lake) 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).