Pi · Standstill

The meaning

What the name means Pi (read pǐ) is blockage: nothing goes through.

The picture Heaven above, earth below, each in its place, and yet each going its own way with no meeting.

The sense of the whole The whole hexagram is about a time when nothing passes. Words do not get in and matters do not move; there is no need to batter at it. Pull in your edge, hold your place, save your strength, and let this stretch go by.

In plain words: what this hexagram says

Nothing gets through and everyone shuts their door. Pull in your edge, hold your ground, and do not clash head-on now.

The upper trigram is Heaven and the lower is Earth: Heaven above, Earth below. When you read it, first picture the two together as a scene, then set it against the original below. The plain words speak only of stance and do not foretell.

The judgement

否之匪人，不利君子貞，大往小來。

The image

天地不交，否；君子以儉德闢難，不可榮以祿。

The six lines

From the bottom up, the first line is the lowest. When you cast this hexagram and a line is changing, read the matching one. The original is classical Chinese.

1. 初六拔茅茹，以其匯，貞吉亨。
2. 六二包承，小人吉，大人否亨。
3. 六三包羞。
4. 九四有命無咎，疇離祉。
5. 九五休否，大人吉。其亡其亡，繫於苞桑。
6. 上九傾否，先否後喜。

To learn how to read a hexagram, see "How to read a hexagram"; for changing lines, see "Changing lines and the resulting hexagram".