噬嗑

Hexagram 21: Biting Through → Hexagram 55: Abundance

噬嗑
Biting Through
Fire / Thunder
Abundance
Thunder / Fire
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 3, 6).

Line 3

六三 噬腊肉。遇毒。小吝。无咎。

shìbiting
preserved
ròumeat
and encounter
decay
xiǎosome small
lìnembarrassment
but no
jiùblame

Six in the third place means: Bites on old dried meat And strikes on something poisonous. Slight humiliation. No blame.

Line 6

上九 何校滅耳。凶。

wearing
xiàoa cangue
mièmiss
ěrthe ears
xiōngunfortunate

Nine at the top means: His neck is fastened in the wooden cangue, So that his ears disappear. Misfortune.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramFire ThunderThe Clinging → The Arousing
Lower TrigramThunder FireThe Arousing → The Clinging

Yilin Verse

一夫兩心,岐刺不深;所為無功,求事不成。

One man with two minds, the forked needle does not pierce deep; all that he does bears no fruit -- what he seeks cannot be achieved.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Fire and thunder enforce the law, and here a divided heart undermines everything. A man with two minds cannot drive his point home — the needle (岐刺) does not penetrate deeply. All his efforts come to nothing; every undertaking fails. The image of a forked needle that barely pierces the surface captures vacillation perfectly: half-commitment produces half-results, which amount to no results at all. From Biting Through to Abundance, thunder and lightning should arrive together in overwhelming force. Yet the verse shows the opposite: when inner resolve is split, even abundance's thunder and fire cannot combine into decisive action. Abundance requires wholeness of intent; a divided will squanders even the richest resources.

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