Hexagram 21 of 64
噬嗑 shì kè
Biting Through
离 (lí, Fire) above · 震 (zhèn, Thunder) below
The Judgment 卦辞
Something is stuck between the jaws. There is no way around it — bite through. Set clear boundaries, be scrupulously fair, and let the obstruction be removed.
The Image 大象
Thunder and lightning: biting through. Kings of old fixed penalties clearly and enforced the law.
The six lines 爻辞
Each line of 噬嗑 has its own classical text. If a line in your cast is changing, its text is the heart of your reading.
Line 1 · 初九
Shackles that hide the toes: a small penalty, early. It stops worse — no blame.
「屦校灭趾，无咎」
Line 2 · 六二
Biting through the soft flesh, nose deep in it. Go easy — the point is clarity, not damage.
「噬肤灭鼻，无咎」
Line 3 · 六三
Biting dried meat and meeting something sour. Discomfort, not disaster.
「噬腊肉，遇毒，小吝无咎」
Line 4 · 九四
Biting tough dried gristle and finding a metal arrow. Hard positions call for straightness — good fortune.
「噬干胏，得金矢，利艰贞吉」
Line 5 · 六五
Biting through dry meat, finding gold. Firm and fair even in danger — no blame.
「噬干肉，得黄金，贞厉无咎」
Line 6 · 上九
The cangue hides the ears. Warnings went unheeded so long that punishment goes viral. Listen sooner.
「何校灭耳，凶」
If you drew this in a reading
A pattern of tension and craft. This hexagram belongs to the large middle family of mixed patterns: it works, but only along its own grain. Read the Judgment closely — mixed hexagrams usually name the exact condition on which their promise depends.
In yes/no questions this hexagram reads as “not yet clear” — the answer hinges on timing and execution.
The trigrams give the flavor: 离 (Fire) above — clarity and clinging — insight, illumination, dependence on fuel — over 震 (Thunder) below — arousing shock — movement, initiative, sudden change. Where those two energies meet, 噬嗑 is born.
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