噬嗑
“Gnawing Bite” — King Wen #21
An obstruction sits between the jaws. Firm justice clears away what blocks union.
The Judgment 卦辞
亨，利用獄。
Shi He indicates successful progress (in the condition of things which it supposes). It will be advantageous to use legal constraints.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
屨校滅趾，無咎。
The first NINE, undivided, shows one with his feet in the stocks and deprived of his toes. There will be no error.
噬膚滅鼻，無咎。
The second SIX, divided, shows one biting through the soft flesh, and (going on to) bite off the nose. There will be no error.
噬臘肉，遇毒；小吝，無咎。
The third SIX, divided, shows one gnawing dried flesh, and meeting with what is disagreeable. There will be occasion for some small regret, but no (great) error.
噬幹胏，得金矢；利艱貞，吉。
The fourth NINE, undivided, shows one gnawing the flesh dried on the bone, and getting the pledges of money and arrows. It will be advantageous to him to realise the difficulty of his task and be firm,--in which case there will be good fortune.
噬乾肉，得黃金，貞厲，無咎。
The fifth SIX, divided, shows one gnawing at dried flesh, and finding the yellow gold. Let him be firm and correct, realising the peril (of his position). There will be no error.
何校滅耳，凶。
The sixth NINE, undivided, shows one wearing the cangue, and deprived of his ears. There will be evil.
Reading the Picture
Hexagram 21 places thunder (震) beneath fire (离) —movement breaking out of stillness below, light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Gnawing Bite”:an obstruction sits between the jaws. Firm justice clears away what blocks union Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
Questions About Hexagram 21
What does 噬嗑 (shì kè) mean?
Hexagram 21 of the I Ching is named 噬嗑 (shì kè), usually rendered "Gnawing Bite" in English editions. Its figure pairs thunder (震) below with fire (离) above.
Which trigrams form hexagram 21?
离 (Fire) sits above and 震 (Thunder) sits below — the classical picture is movement breaking out of stillness beneath light and clarity clinging to what it illuminates.
How is hexagram 21 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 21 gives hexagram 48 — 井 (Welling). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 22 — 賁 (Adorning). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 39 — 蹇 (Limping).
Ask your own question
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1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1899), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text. · For reflection and entertainment — not financial, medical, or life advice.