小畜
“Small Accumulating” — King Wen #9
Small restraints hold great energy in check. Prepare quietly and influence gently for now.
The Judgment 卦辞
亨。密雲不雨，自我西郊。
Xiao Xu indicates that (under its conditions) there will be progress and success. (We see) dense clouds, but no rain coming from our borders in the west.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
復自道，何其咎？吉。
The first NINE, undivided, shows its subject returning and pursuing his own course. What mistake should he fall into? There will be good fortune.
牽復，吉。
The second NINE, undivided, shows its subject, by the attraction (of the former line), returning (to the proper course). There will be good fortune.
輿說輻，夫妻反目。
The third NINE, undivided, suggests the idea of a carriage, the strap beneath which has been removed, or of a husband and wife looking on each other with averted eyes.
有孚，血去惕出，無咎。
The fourth SIX, divided, shows its subject possessed of sincerity. The danger of bloodshed is thereby averted, and his (ground for) apprehension dismissed. There will be no mistake.
有孚攣如，富以其鄰。
The fifth NINE, undivided, shows its subject possessed of sincerity, and drawing others to unite with him. Rich in resources, he employs his neighbours (in the same cause with himself).
既雨既處，尚德載；婦貞厲，月幾望；君子征凶。
The topmost NINE, undivided, shows how the rain has fallen, and the (onward progress) is stayed - (so) must we value the full accumulation of the virtue (represented by the upper trigram). But a wife (exercising restraint), however firm and correct she may be, is in a position of peril, (and like) the moon approaching to the full. If the superior man prosecute his measures (in such circumstances), there will be evil.
Reading the Picture
Hexagram 9 places heaven (乾) beneath wind (巽) —creative force pressing upward below, gentle influence working inward above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Small Accumulating”:small restraints hold great energy in check. Prepare quietly and influence gently for now Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
Questions About Hexagram 9
What does 小畜 (xiǎo xù) mean?
Hexagram 9 of the I Ching is named 小畜 (xiǎo xù), usually rendered "Small Accumulating" in English editions. Its figure pairs heaven (乾) below with wind (巽) above.
Which trigrams form hexagram 9?
巽 (Wind) sits above and 乾 (Heaven) sits below — the classical picture is creative force pressing upward beneath gentle influence working inward.
How is hexagram 9 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 9 gives hexagram 16 — 豫 (Providing-For). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 10 — 履 (Treading). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 38 — 睽 (Polarising).
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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.