Nourishment
- Upper Trigram
- Mountain
- Lower Trigram
- Thunder
The Judgment
The firm lines above and below are like the upper and lower jaws, the four yielding lines between them like teeth — the whole figure is a mouth: this hexagram is about nourishing, being nourished, and how you feed yourself and others. The mouth handles eating and also speaking, so this hexagram concerns both what you take in and what you put out. True nourishment is not only filling the belly but choosing with care everything you take in — food, information, company, words. In feeding others, too, what matters is whether it is fitting and rightly measured. The tone here is a return to the root of caring for yourself and those you love: rather than craving what is in someone else's bowl, tend to the quality of your own. What have you been feeding yourself lately — something that nourishes you, or something that drains you? And the words you speak to others — do they feed them, or wound them?
The Six Lines
First line
You leave unused the precious inner tortoise that could sustain you, and instead gaze at what is in another's mouth with watering lips — and so you go astray. This line is about chasing the branch and forsaking the root: you have resources enough to sustain yourself, yet envy of others makes you restless. It reminds you that nourishing begins with affirming your own worth; do not let admiration of others hollow out the ground you already stand on.
Second line
You invert the natural order of nourishment, forsaking the near for the far, begging food where you ought not — and to act so rashly is unfitting. This line is about seeking nourishment in the wrong direction: reaching up and out to cling to what you should not depend on loses all measure. It reminds you to nourish yourself by the right road; what is won through improper dependence cannot hold up for long.
Third line
You go against the right way of nourishment, and if you persist in it, for a long while little comes of it, and there is no benefit. This is a weightier line of the hexagram, about being led off by desire and feeding yourself by the wrong means. It does not rule you out; it asks you to turn back early — set your way of taking in straight, and do not let a spell of indulgence cost you the long run.
Fourth line
You seek nourishment from above, which is good — intent as a tiger fixed on its prey, carried by a strong and steady will — and so there is no fault. This line is about seeking nourishment with purpose: to care well for those and the matters in your charge, you actively reach upward for resources. As long as the motive is sound and the gaze is focused, this eager striving is worth crediting.
Fifth line
You cannot yet stand fully on your own, but keeping to the right path goes well; only it is not yet time to risk crossing the great river. This line is about nourishing within your means: you may still need others' help to hold to what is right, and there is no shame in that. It reminds you that now is the time to consolidate and stay steady, not to plunge into great storms before your wings are grown.
Top line
You have become the source on which many rely for nourishment; heavy and risky as this charge is, it leads to a good end, weighty enough even to carry an undertaking like crossing the great river. This line is the fulfillment of the hexagram: by now what you nourish is no longer only yourself but a whole company of people. The greater the responsibility, the more care it calls for — yet just so, you can accomplish larger things.
Reading the Change
This hexagram is about nourishing and being nourished; from the first line to the top, it runs through not forsaking the root for the branch, not seeking nourishment by the wrong road, seeking it with purpose, nourishing within your means, and becoming a source of nourishment for many. When a line changes, the manner of how you feed yourself and others turns at one particular stage. A change low down usually asks you to tend the quality of what you take in and not beg food where you should not; a change up top speaks to how, when you are able, you nourish more people. Read where the changing line falls, then the resulting hexagram, and you know which way this nourishing is flowing. Be careful what you feed on, and careful what you say.