Shi and Ying lines: the self and response lines in Six Lines divination

In Six Lines divination, one line of every hexagram is marked 世 (shi, "the self") and the line three places away is marked 應 (ying, "the response"). The self line stands for you, the person asking; the response line stands for the other side — another person, the other party in a deal, or the matter you are reaching toward. Their positions are not chosen by the cast; they follow from where the hexagram sits in Jing Fang's eight palaces.

Where the self and response lines sit

Every hexagram belongs to one of eight palaces, and within its palace it has a "generation" (see Jing Fang's eight palaces). The generation fixes the self line, and the response is always three lines away from it:

• Pure hexagram (本宮): self on line 6, response on line 3.
• First generation: self on 1, response on 4.
• Second generation: self on 2, response on 5.
• Third generation: self on 3, response on 6.
• Fourth generation: self on 4, response on 1.
• Fifth generation: self on 5, response on 2.
• Wandering soul (遊魂): self on 4, response on 1.
• Returning soul (歸魂): self on 3, response on 6.

Because the pairs are always 1–4, 2–5 or 3–6, the self and response lines occupy the same positions that the classical commentaries treat as "corresponding" — the lower and upper trigram answering each other (see line correspondence).

Why they sit there

The palaces are generated by changing lines one at a time, and the self line sits on the line that changed last. Take the Qian palace:

• Hexagram 1, Qian, all yang, is the pure hexagram; nothing has changed yet, and the self sits at the top.
• Change line 1 and you get 44, Gou: first generation, self on line 1.
• Change lines 1–2: 33, Dun, self on line 2. Lines 1–3: 12, Pi, self on line 3. Lines 1–4: 20, Guan, self on line 4. Lines 1–5: 23, Bo, self on line 5.
• The top line is never changed (that would leave the palace). Instead, line 4 is changed back: 35, Jin, the "wandering soul", self on line 4 — the line that just moved.
• Finally the whole lower trigram returns to Qian: 14, Da You, the "returning soul", self on line 3, the top of the restored trigram.

So the self marks the point where the hexagram has most recently departed from its palace's pure form. That is a structural fact, not a judgement; it is why two hexagrams can share a lower trigram but have their self lines in different places.

Finding the self line without the palace table

Practitioners memorise a short rhyme, the 尋世訣, that finds the self line by comparing the two trigrams line by line — bottom with bottom ("earth"), middle with middle ("human"), top with top ("heaven"):

天同二世天變五，地同四世地變初，本宮六世三世異，人同遊魂人變歸。

In plain terms: if only the top lines match, it is a second-generation hexagram; if only the top lines differ, fifth. If only the bottom lines match, fourth; if only the bottom lines differ, first. If all three match, it is a pure hexagram (self on 6); if all three differ, third generation. If only the middle lines match, wandering soul; if only the middle lines differ, returning soul.

Try it on Hexagram 11, Tai: Qian below, Kun above. Every pair differs — so third generation, self on line 3, response on line 6. The rhyme tells you the self line; you still need the palace (Tai is in the Kun palace) to label the six relatives.

What they represent

• The self line is you: your position, your side of the matter, your own household or ground. If a question has no more specific focus, many readers take the self line itself as the focus.
• The response line is whatever stands opposite you: the other person in a relationship, the employer or client, the counterparty, the place you are going, the matter you hope will answer.

The relative that sits on each line colours it. A self line holding Siblings in a money question suggests you are competing for the same resource; a response line holding Officer in a job question points to the employer's side.

How they are read

Readers look at the two lines separately and then at the relation between them:

• Strength. Is the self line supported by the month and day, or weak, void (旬空) or clashed? A weak self line suggests your position or resolve is thin; a strong one, that you can carry the matter.
• Generation and control. If the response line's element generates the self line's, the other side is inclined to help you; if the self generates the response, you are the one giving or investing. If one controls the other, there is pressure in that direction.
• Combination and clash. If the two branches form a combination (六合), the sides tend to come together; if they clash (六沖), they pull apart.
• Movement and voidness. A moving self line suggests you are about to act or change your stance; a moving response line, that the other side is. A void response line is often read as the other party not really being there — not committed, or not engaged.

In Tai, the self line carries 辰 earth and the response line 酉 metal. Earth generates metal, so the self feeds the response — you are the giving side. And 辰 and 酉 form a combination: the two sides fit together. That is a fair echo of Tai itself, "heaven and earth in communion".

In Gou the self is 丑 earth on line 1 and the response 午 fire on line 4: fire generates earth, so the response feeds the self — a promising start when you need something from the other side, provided the response line is not void or broken by the day. When the focus line of your question sits on the self line itself, the manuals treat the matter as close to hand; when it sits on the response, it is in the other party's hands. Tradition also attaches a mood to the generations: wandering-soul hexagrams with restlessness and being away, returning-soul hexagrams with coming back and settling. Treat that as a hint, never as a verdict.

Schools weigh these signs differently, and the relation between self and response is usually secondary to the use spirit when the question has a clear focus. For a question about another person, see also asking the I Ching about someone else.

Using the self and response lines in your own reading

• Find them first. On the chart shown with your cast, the self and response marks are already placed.
• Decide who the response is before you look: name the other party or the matter in one word.
• Check the self line's strength by month, day and voidness, then the response line's.
• Read the relation — generating, controlling, combining or clashing — as a description of how the two sides currently stand, not as a fixed outcome.
• Return to your focus line. If your question has a clear use spirit, let it lead and use the self and response as context.