Hexagram 64, line 1
初六Line 1 of Not Yet Crossed
Six at the beginning · 未濟 wèi jì
爻辭 The line text
濡其尾，吝。The first line, divided, shows its subject (like a fox) whose tail gets immersed. There will be occasion for regret.
濡其尾，亦不知極也。'His tail gets immersed:'—this is the very height of ignorance.
In plain words
The first line is a weak line in a strong place at the bottom of the water, the little fox of the Judgment at the moment it steps into the river: it 'wets its tail' before it has gone anywhere. Unlike the same image in Ji Ji, where a strong first line wet its tail by braking, this yin line gets wet by starting — rushing into the crossing with no strength to carry it through. The text says humiliation. The small Image is harsh: 'it does not know its limit' (不知極也), it has not measured how deep the water is or how far it must go. In the hexagram of the unfinished, the first fault is to begin without knowing the extent of the task.
If this line is changing
You have started something whose size you have not measured; pull back before you are further in, and find out how deep the water is first.
Where the line stands
- A broken line, yin — written 六 (six), the number of an old yin 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 lower trigram 坎 Kan (the Abysmal) (water).
- It corresponds (應) with line 4: one yin and one yang, the two lines answer each other across the hexagram.
之卦 When this line moves
未濟 Not Yet Crossed becomes ䷥ 38 睽 Divergence
Fire rising and the lake sinking: two moving apart. Opposition — good fortune only in small matters; yet difference has its uses, as heaven and earth differ and still work together.
What it becomes38 · 睽 DivergencekuíThe six lines of 未濟 Not Yet Crossed
- 初六Six at the beginningwet tail · setting out too soon · not knowing limits
- 九二Nine in the second placeholding the wheel · steadiness · central and correct
- 六三Six in the third placenot yet across · advance is evil · yet cross the river
- 九四Nine in the fourth placerousing to the campaign · three years · will carried out
- 六五Six in the fifth placethe gentleman's light · sincerity · no regret
- 上九Nine at the topconfident feasting · head under water · losing measure
Read 未濟 Not Yet Crossed for a question about
Questions about this line
- What does Six at the beginning of hexagram 64, Not Yet Crossed, mean?
- The first line is a weak line in a strong place at the bottom of the water, the little fox of the Judgment at the moment it steps into the river: it 'wets its tail' before it has gone anywhere. Unlike the same image in Ji Ji, where a strong first line wet its tail by braking, this yin line gets wet by starting — rushing into the crossing with no strength to carry it through. The text says humiliation. The small Image is harsh: 'it does not know its limit' (不知極也), it has not measured how deep the water is or how far it must go. In the hexagram of the unfinished, the first fault is to begin without knowing the extent of the task.
- What does hexagram 64 become when line 1 changes?
- Not Yet Crossed becomes hexagram 38, 睽 Divergence: Fire rising and the lake sinking: two moving apart. Opposition — good fortune only in small matters; yet difference has its uses, as heaven and earth differ and still work together.
- Is line 1 of Not Yet Crossed 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).