Hexagram 61, line 6
上九Line 6 of Inner Sincerity
Nine at the top · 中孚 zhōng fú
爻辭 The line text
翰音登于天，貞凶。The topmost line, undivided, shows its subject in chanticleer (trying to) mount to heaven. Even with firm correctness there will be evil.
翰音登于天，何可長也。'Chanticleer (tries to) mount to heaven:'—but how can (such an effort) continue long?
In plain words
The top line is yang at the end of the wind and of the hexagram, and its image is 'the cock's crow rising to heaven' — a bird that cannot fly sending its voice where its body cannot follow. This is sincerity gone to excess: reputation, assurance and words have climbed past what the inner truth can support, and the text says that even steadiness here is evil. The received reading is of a trust that has become belief in one's own sound. The small Image asks the only question that matters: 'how could it last?' (何可長也). At the end of inner truth, the crow goes up and the bird stays on the ground.
If this line is changing
If your confidence is now carried by how it sounds rather than by what it rests on, stop broadcasting; bring the claim back down to what you can actually stand behind.
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 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
中孚 Inner Sincerity becomes ䷻ 60 節 Measure
Water above the lake: the lake holds just so much. Success through limits — but bitter, excessive limitation cannot be sustained; measure that fits is the point.
What it becomes60 · 節 MeasurejiéThe six lines of 中孚 Inner Sincerity
- 初九Nine at the beginningsettled trust · no other · purpose unchanged
- 九二Nine in the second placethe calling crane · answered in kind · shared cup
- 六三Six in the third placedepending on another · drum and stop · weep and sing
- 六四Six in the fourth placemoon nearly full · losing the team-mate · mounting upward
- 九五Nine in the fifth placesincerity that binds · closest union · correct place
- 上九Nine at the topcock crowing at heaven · sound without substance · cannot last
Read 中孚 Inner Sincerity for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Nine at the top of hexagram 61, Inner Sincerity, mean?
- The top line is yang at the end of the wind and of the hexagram, and its image is 'the cock's crow rising to heaven' — a bird that cannot fly sending its voice where its body cannot follow. This is sincerity gone to excess: reputation, assurance and words have climbed past what the inner truth can support, and the text says that even steadiness here is evil. The received reading is of a trust that has become belief in one's own sound. The small Image asks the only question that matters: 'how could it last?' (何可長也). At the end of inner truth, the crow goes up and the bird stays on the ground.
- What does hexagram 61 become when line 6 changes?
- Inner Sincerity becomes hexagram 60, 節 Measure: Water above the lake: the lake holds just so much. Success through limits — but bitter, excessive limitation cannot be sustained; measure that fits is the point.
- Is line 6 of Inner Sincerity 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).