Yijing CompassI Ching reading
All hexagrams

Hexagram 9 · King Wen sequence

Small Restraint

小畜 · xiǎo xù

Modern reflection

Small restraints and steady care shape larger outcomes.

Lower trigram: 乾 Heaven
Upper trigram: 巽 Wind

Historical source

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.

(The trigram representing) the sky, and that representing wind moving above it, form Hsiâo Khû The superior man, in accordance with this, adorns the outward manifestation of his virtue.

James Legge, 1882, public domain. Historical wording is shown for source transparency, not as a guaranteed prediction.

Changing-line passages

  1. Line 1The first NINE, undivided, shows its subject returning and pursuing his own course. What mistake should he fall into? There will be good fortune.
  2. Line 2The second NINE, undivided, shows its subject, by the attraction (of the former line), returning (to the proper course). There will be good fortune.
  3. Line 3The third NINE, 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. Line 4The fourth SIX, 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.
  5. Line 5The fifth NINE, undivided, shows its subject possessed of sincerity, and drawing others to unite with him. Rich in resources, he employs his neighbours (in the same cause with himself).
  6. Line 6The topmost NINE, undivided, shows how the rain has fallen, and the (onward progress) is stayed;--(so) must we value the full accumulation of the virtue (represented by the upper trigram). But a wife (exercising restraint), however firm and correct she may be, is in a position of peril, (and like) the moon approaching to the full. If the superior man prosecute his measures (in such circumstances), there will be evil.

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