Hexagram 9 小畜 changing to hexagram 12 否
Changing lines (counted from the bottom): 1, 2, 3, 4.
What to read
Four changing lines: read the two unchanged lines of the resulting hexagram; the lower one is the main one. (Rule set out by Zhu Xi in the Yixue qimeng.)
Hexagram 12 否, line 5
休否，大人吉。其亡其亡，繫于包桑。
In the fifth line, undivided, we see him who brings the distress and obstruction to a close,—the great man and fortunate. (But let him say), 'We may perish! We may perish!' (so shall the state of things become firm, as if) bound to a clump of bushy mulberry trees.
Hexagram 12 否, line 6
傾否，先否後喜。
The sixth line, undivided, shows the overthrow (and removal of) the condition of distress and obstruction. Before this there was that condition. Hereafter there will be joy.
The two hexagrams
Hexagram 9 小畜 — judgment
亨。密雲不雨，自我西郊。
Hsiâo Khû 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.
Hexagram 12 否 — judgment
否之匪人，不利君子貞，大往小來。
In Phî there is the want of good understanding between the (different classes of) men, and its indication is unfavourable to the firm and correct course of the superior man. We see in it the great gone and the little come.
The changing lines of hexagram 9
| Line | Chinese | Legge |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 復自道，何其咎，吉。 | The first line, undivided, shows its subject returning and pursuing his own course. What mistake should he fall into? There will be good fortune. |
| 2 | 牽復，吉。 | The second line, undivided, shows its subject, by the attraction (of the former line), returning (to the proper course). There will be good fortune. |
| 3 | 車說輹，夫妻反目。 | The third line, 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. |
| 4 | 有孚，血去惕出，无咎。 | The fourth line, 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. |
English: James Legge (1882), public domain. Chinese: Zhou Yi.
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0); Chinese Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.