噬嗑
GUA 21 · SHI4 HE
BITING THROUGH
Overall Image (大象)
Thunder and lightning bite through
The early sovereigns, accordingly,
clarified penalties when declaring the laws▼
Overall Image (大象)
Thunder and lightning bite through
The early sovereigns, accordingly,
clarified penalties when declaring the laws
White-hot, jagged teeth and then a big crunch, with no pause between them. Clarity first and then vigorous movement. The cause of the problems has ended and all of the nonsense is done. The founders made a few simple laws, defined them clearly, and announced what the punishments were for their trespass. Then, when the social trust was betrayed, justice was done in bronze and blood. Everybody was warned, so committing a crime was to clearly ask for the consequences. And then the whole process came due. But the laws were few and clear then and all of those crimes had victims. Someone could use a truth for defense and reason could play the advocate.
Main Judgment (Biting Through) (卦辞)
Satisfaction
Worthwhile to execute justice▼
Main Judgment (Biting Through) (卦辞)
Satisfaction
Worthwhile to execute justice
The beast who reigns supreme in a land does not trouble himself with antagonists. He bites the one who makes trouble. A prince does not compete with gossips and traitors: he makes clear examples. This world already has too many people, and a hard enough time with trust. Then why not start cleaning up, right here and now? The ideal justice is seldom attained. The tangled mass of law is written by lawyers. Bad precedents in the courts are still precedents. Enforcement of the law is wildly inconsistent. Sometimes laws will make nearly everyone criminals, to give the state more control. The codes proliferate fruitlessly and rarely get pruned. Both sides of the dispute are argued by toothless advocates, with mouths full of mush, and each with less than half of the truth. It isn’t really a wonder then that crime and confusion prevail, that justice lacks teeth and moral force bite. To the gamblers the odds must look pretty good. What stands most in need of some lightning and thunder today is this system. Its obstacles, obstructions, predicaments and dilemmas are part of its very nature. The answer is less law, not more, against force and fraud, with victims.
Key Words (关键词)
Gnaw, chew, bite + close together, shut noisily, clamp down; meta-level solutions▼
Key Words (关键词)
Gnaw, chew, bite + close together, shut noisily, clamp down; meta-level solutions
Retributive justice, enforcement, force, execution, dispatch, severity, lex talionis Emphatic judgment; police action & power; legal recourse, punishment, sentence Cogency, credibility, teeth, bite, decisiveness, incisiveness, trenchancy; severance Instruments of justice, legal constraints, criminal law (dist Gua 06, civil disputes) Insufferable things; accountability, culpability; closure, finality, termination, ends
Structure & Connections
Structure Class
Xun-Zhen Family
This classification indicates the hexagram's role in the 12 Sovereign Cycle (Earthly Branches) or its structural family.
Astrology
note:Mars in Fire
planet:Mars
element:Fire
Tarot
card:Five of Wands
suit:Wands
Qabalah
note:Geburah in Atziluth
sphere:Geburah
The Lines
11st • YangSandaled feet, shackled in stocks, hiding the toes
Not a mistake▼
1
1st • YangSandaled feet, shackled in stocks, hiding the toes
Not a mistake
21.1x Sandaled feet, shackled in stocks, hiding the toes:
Not progressing
Few have never been first time offenders, although many have never been caught. This is a first misdemeanor, a minor mistake, a nibble on that great poison cheese. The knowledge that one has been stupid is all the wisdom most need in order to move on. To take the education needs little remorse and less resentment or rancor. This punishment speaks to the crime: to own two feet is not the license to trespass, or tread too far astray, or stay on this recent path. One is not free to go there again or move in that way the next time. Deprived awhile of toes, one relearns the value of walking more freely about. Restraints are there to mimic restraint and hint that to control this yourself would be better. The little debt to society is easy to redeem: just limit the options. You don’t shoot the dog until he brings home his third skunk.
22nd • YangBiting into tender meat, burying the nose
No harm done▼
2
2nd • YangBiting into tender meat, burying the nose
No harm done
21.2x Biting (into) tender meat, burying the nose:
Relying on firmness
He has lived a stressful and strenuous life. His meat has always been fairly tough. While dining with high born, gentler folk he’s taken too firm a bite. Meet the new marshal in town, with a nose that knows no art for the dainty, more for tracking the scents of the wild. This ever-so-delicate flesh is not a match for his usual chomp. His teeth bang loudly together and this makes the thin-skinned nibblers nervous. So much for doubting his place on the food chain. At least the bite has been bitten. But is he ready for too big a serving of justice, too poorly prepared to mete out some leniency, or too crude to comprehend fair mitigation? Does he mean to cut through the protocols thus? Will he beat some hapless jaywalker senseless? Who will teach whom a thing or two here? Maybe force and finesse can meet halfway, in firmness.
33rd • YangBiting into preserved meat
Encountering decay
A little embarrassing
But no blame▼
3
3rd • YangBiting into preserved meat
Encountering decay
A little embarrassing
But no blame
21.3x Encountering decay:
The position is not appropriate
Gnawing away at old, dried meat he bites into something gone bad. There will be some delay before he can execute justice, as he finds time unpleasantly stretched into long and unloveable moments, face first into the privy, with no way to save face, instill awe, gain credibility or set impressive examples. Things are more complex than first thought. The troubles he thought he could deal with quickly took some time to grow rotten, with underlying causes, hidden implications, toxic pathologies and clearly something festering. A sickening revelation. A revolting development. With roots down deep in the past, it is not easy to get this over and done with. Once he can get this out of his system and the bad taste out of his mouth, he will know to look for old problems, with deeper roots and causes long in need of correction.
44th • YangBiting on dry, bony meat
Securing funding and arrows
Warranting difficult persistence
Promising▼
4
4th • YangBiting on dry, bony meat
Securing funding and arrows
Warranting difficult persistence
Promising
21.4x Rewarding difficult persistence (with) promise:
Still an unknown
Getting ready to execute justice, the enforcer takes nourishment seriously. Already well-fed for the showdown, he trains his bite for the worst, gnashing and grinding and crushing, he even chews up the bone. Friends are a little nervous, but are glad to be on his side of the problem, and show support by pledging their money and arrows. The fierceness and the extent of this trouble are not yet perfectly known. The tiger takes his turf seriously and rarely has cogency troubles, or doubts about his ability to get to the throat of a problem. His bite is well-known and no laughing matter. Events could grow brutal as hell soon, but by tomorrow’s light things might not be as grim as expected. He might even frighten the problems away. But even one such as this could save some trouble by laying out traps and contingency plans.
55th • YangBiting into dried meat
Finding yellow metal
Persistence is trouble
Avoid mistakes▼
5
5th • YangBiting into dried meat
Finding yellow metal
Persistence is trouble
Avoid mistakes
21.5x Persistence (is) trouble, avoid mistakes:
Find the proper response
While everyone here at the table might know that finding an arrowhead in your meat is good luck, it is not half as well known that not finding this item until it’s too late is something less than lucky. You’ll still play a part in your luck here. Sufficiency to the task is the perfect quantum of vigor. Not enough bite will not get the job done. If the strength of the bite is tempered and only just barely sufficient, then a treasure awaits your discovery. But if the jaws are too strong to play the more sensitive parts, you will use up your treasure in having your teeth rebuilt. There is much less good fortune in not being ready for the more unlikely events. So when you execute justice and someone says to really crack down, think twice. Half a bite might be the best portion. There are mitigating circumstances and things which might be redeemed.
6Top • YangWearing the cangue, hiding the ears
Unfortunate▼
6
Top • YangWearing the cangue, hiding the ears
Unfortunate
21.6x Wearing the cangue, hiding the ears:
Quick to hear, (but) without clarity
Now he stands before you, unable to scratch his ears, a monument to his ignorance. Hey, here’s an omen. Having demonstrated his deafness to words of fair warning he may now be certified numb in the skull. It is not unusually cruel to punish this stupid, inferior head. That’s where the trouble is, in the thinking that got him here. Perhaps even now he finds ways to blame his parents and village. Maybe he will try to explain how he just went out of his mind. No criminal acts against other people are sane. This describes crime: it is not an excuse to commit one. And the one who sets him free before he learns to own his misdeeds is now an accomplice and partner in crime, as bad as the one who makes the bad laws. One more offense and someone will cut off his ears: a visual aid to the code. It may still be that he can do nothing.
Reference in Original Text & Resources
This content is derived from Bradford Hatcher's THE BOOK OF CHANGES: Yijing, Word By Word.
Original text for Hexagram 21 begins on Page 186-194.
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