Shi He · Biting Through

The meaning

What the name means Shi He is biting through: something is in the mouth and it must be bitten through before the jaws can close.

The picture Thunder and lightning arriving together, loud and bright: what was stuck is bitten open and the truth is lit up.

The sense of the whole The whole hexagram is about clearing what is stuck. There is an obstacle in the middle and it cannot be passed over vaguely. Cut where it must be cut and ask where it must be asked, but with the right measure: harsher is not better.

In plain words: what this hexagram says

A hard piece is stuck in the mouth. This matter has to be bitten through, spoken plainly and dealt with; vagueness only keeps it stuck.

The upper trigram is Fire and the lower is Thunder: Fire above, Thunder 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

亨。利用獄。

The image

雷電，噬嗑；先王以明罰敕法。

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. 初九屨校滅趾，無咎。
2. 六二噬膚滅鼻，無咎。
3. 六三噬臘肉，遇毒；小吝，無咎。
4. 九四噬乾胏，得金矢，利艱貞，吉。
5. 六五噬乾肉，得黃金，貞厲，無咎。
6. 上九何校滅耳，兇。

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