Small Taming
- In Chinese
- 小畜 xiǎochù
- Above
- The Gentle, wind
- Below
- The Creative, heaven
Did you get this hexagram?
Mark your changing lines and keep your cast.
Mark my castWhat hexagram 9 means
Hexagram 9 is wind over heaven. Five whole lines are checked by one broken line in the fourth place, and Legge reads the name as “small restraint”.
The judgment still speaks of a way through. In Legge it says “there will be progress and success”.
Its picture is a sky full of cloud that gives no rain. Wilhelm has “Dense clouds, no rain from our western region”.
Legge gives the reason the restraint is small. The check given by the one divided line “to all the undivided lines cannot be great”. He describes the upper trigram as “docile flexibility, which cannot long be successful against the strength” of the lower one.
The judgment and the image
The judgment
小畜亨。密雲不雨，自我西郊。
THE TAMING POWER OF THE SMALL Has success. Dense clouds, no rain from our western region.
success things flow and come through
The image
風行天上，《小畜》。君子以懿文德。
The wind drives across heaven: The image of THE TAMING POWER OF THE SMALL.Thus the superior man Refines the outward aspect of his nature.
What the commentaries say
The commentary on the judgment explains the name. In this hexagram “the weak line occupies its (proper) position, and (the lines) above and below respond to it”.
It then gives the ground for the success of the judgment. “Strong lines are in the central places, and the will (of their subjects) will have free course.”
The same commentary reads the clouds without rain as movement that has not finished. They “indicate the movement (of the strong lines) still going forward”. The western border in the judgment tells it that the influence “has not yet been widely displayed”.
The image is wind moving above the sky. From it the commentary draws a rule for a person, who “adorns the outward manifestation of his virtue”. Wilhelm gives the same rule in other words. The superior man “Refines the outward aspect of his nature”.
Legge explains what the rain stands for. It is “the emblem of the blessings flowing from good training and good government”. In the judgment those blessings are held back, and “The dense clouds do not empty their stores”.
Legge also quotes another reader, P. Regis, who saw in the clouds without rain a claim about which family was worthy of the supreme seat. He adds a caution of his own. “The intimation is not put in the Text, however, so clearly as by P. Regis.”
The six lines
First line
復自道，何其咎，吉。
Return to the way. How could there be blame in this? Good fortune.
good fortune it goes well
The strong line turns back to its own road, and the text asks what mistake there could be in that. Legge reads that its subject, despite the check of line 4, “resumes his movement, and will act according to his strong nature, and go forward”. The commentary adds that “it is right that there should be good fortune”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 57, The Gentle
Second line
牽復，吉。
He allows himself to be drawn into returning. Good fortune.
good fortune it goes well
This line returns because the first line draws it. Wilhelm has “He allows himself to be drawn into returning”. Legge notes that its subject “will make common cause with the subject of line 1”. The commentary points to its central place and says he will not “err in what is due from him”. The text gives it good fortune, as it gave the first line.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 37, The Family
Third line
輿說輻。夫妻反目。
The spokes burst out of the wagon wheels. Man and wife roll their eyes.
no verdict
The picture is a carriage that has lost a part and a couple who look on each other with averted eyes. Wilhelm has “The spokes burst out of the wagon wheels”. Legge explains that the line, not being in the centre, “is supposed to be less able to resist the restraint of line 4”. Legge calls these the ill omens of the line. The commentary says its subject is like a husband who “cannot maintain correctly his relations with his wife”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 61, Inner Truth
Fourth line
有孚血去惕出，无咎。
If you are sincere, blood vanishes and fear gives way. No blame.
no blame there is no mistake in it
This is the one broken line of the hexagram, the one that restrains the rest. Legge says it “might well expect wounds, and feel apprehension in trying to restrain the others”. What the text shows in it is sincerity, and it says “The danger of bloodshed is thereby averted”. Legge adds that it is the first line of the upper trigram, “whose attribute is docile flexibility”. In his reading “The strong lines are moved to sympathy and help”. The commentary gives one more reason, that the lines “above agree in aim with him”. The line ends with “There will be no mistake”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 1, The Creative
Fifth line
有孚攣如，富以其鄰。
If you are sincere and loyally attached, You are rich in your neighbor.
no verdict
Sincerity appears again, now in a strong line. Its subject is “drawing others to unite with him”, and the commentary adds that “he does not use only his own rich resources”. Wilhelm puts the wealth in the neighbor, “You are rich in your neighbor”. Legge names the neighbours as lines 4 and 6, who “effect their common object”.
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 26, Great Taming
Sixth line
既雨既處，尚德載。婦貞厲。月幾望，君子征凶。
The rain comes, there is rest. This is due to the lasting effect of character. Perseverance brings the woman into danger. The moon is nearly full. If the superior man persists, Misfortune comes.
danger there is dangermisfortune it goes badly
The rain falls at last and the advance stops. Legge writes that “the idea of the hexagram has run its course”, and the commentary says the power “has accumulated to the full”. The text then warns of peril, with a moon “approaching to the full”, and of evil for the one who presses on. Legge places the peril in “weakness that has achieved such a result, if it plume itself on it”. The commentary says of the one who presses on that “he will find himself obstructed”. Legge's advice is plain. “Let the superior man, when he has attained his end, remain in quiet.”
When only this line changes, it becomes hexagram 5, Waiting
Hexagram 9 unchanging
If none of your six lines is moving, you read the hexagram as a whole. That is the judgment and the image above, without any of the line texts.
The book gives the reason. Lines that do not move are “non-moving lines, which serve only as structural matter in the hexagram, without intrinsic meaning of their own”.
For hexagram 9 unchanging, what remains is the success of the judgment under dense clouds that give no rain, and the image that asks a person to refine the outward form of their nature.
Questions people ask
What does hexagram 9 mean?
It describes a small restraint, one broken line checking five whole ones. The judgment still says “there will be progress and success”, under dense clouds that give no rain.
What does hexagram 9 unchanging mean?
With no moving lines you read only the judgment and the image. For hexagram 9 that is success under clouds without rain, and the image of a person who refines “the outward aspect of his nature”.
What does hexagram 9 changing to 1 mean?
It is hexagram 9 with its fourth line moving. That line is the one broken line, whose subject is “possessed of sincerity”, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 1, six whole lines.
What does hexagram 9 changing to 5 mean?
It is hexagram 9 with its top line moving. That line shows the rain fallen and the advance stayed, with a warning of “evil” for the one who presses on, and when it changes the hexagram becomes number 5.
Is hexagram 9 a good sign?
The judgment speaks of success, and the first two lines end in good fortune. The third line shows a couple at odds, and the top line warns of peril and of evil for pressing on.
Richard Wilhelm, translated by Cary F. Baynes. Hsiâo Khû in James Legge. The Taming Power of the Small in Wilhelm and Baynes.
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