䷋StandstillPǐ

The judgment

否之匪人，不利君子贞，大往小来

Earth below and heaven above: the two stop meeting. Nothing passes through here right now, and pushing spends what you will need later.

The image

The great departs and the small arrives. A closed door does not open because someone leans on it.

The six lines

Read from the bottom up. A line that moves is read here, and read again in the hexagram it becomes.

1. 初六Line 1

   拔茅茹以其汇，贞吉。亨

   Roots matted into one mass: pull one and the whole clump stirs, so at the start hold back together with your own kind.

   Marked in the textauspicioussuccess

2. 六二Line 2

   包承，小人吉，大人否。亨

   Absorbing every burden and every mood works from a low seat; from the seat that decides, it stops working.

   Marked in the textauspicioussuccess

3. 六三Line 3

   包羞

   At the inner edge of the matter, concealment no longer covers it; retreating and pushing forward each cost something.

4. 九四Line 4

   有命，无咎，畴离祉

   Near the seat of power, orders arrive from above: comply first, then sort out who shares the resulting benefit.

   Marked in the textno blame

5. 九五Line 5

   休否，大人吉。其亡其亡，系于包桑

   The standstill has just loosened a notch, and the one in charge steps free of it. Repeating to oneself, it will fall, it will fall, ties the rope to a clump of mulberry roots instead: shake it as you like, it does not move.

   Marked in the textauspicious

6. 上九Line 6

   倾否，先否后喜

   Pressure peaks and the situation tips over; the stretch before it turns is the hardest, and only after does it clear.

Where each changing line leads

Flip one line and it is a different hexagram. These are the six it becomes.

• 初六→InnocenceHexagram 25
• 六二→ConflictHexagram 6
• 六三→RetreatHexagram 33
• 九四→ContemplationHexagram 20
• 九五→ProgressHexagram 35
• 上九→GatheringHexagram 45