Hexagram 21 of 64
Biting Through
噬嗑 Shì Kè
Upper trigram: 離 Lí, fire
Lower trigram: 震 Zhèn, thunder
The judgment
亨。利用獄。
Success. It is fitting to apply legal proceedings.
The Great Image
雷電，噬嗑；先王以明罰敕法。
Thunder and lightning: Biting Through. In the same way, the former kings made penalties clear and set the laws in order.
The six lines
Lines are counted from the bottom. Read a line closely when it changes in your cast.
Line 1 初九
屨校滅趾，无咎。
Wearing wooden stocks that cover the toes. No blame.
A small restraint at the foot stops someone before they go further. Treat the old punishment as an image only, and ask what modest limit, set early, might keep a small mistake from growing.
Line 2 六二
噬膚滅鼻，无咎。
Biting into tender meat up to the nose. No blame.
The meat is soft and the biter goes in deep, nose and all. Consider whether you are going harder at an easy problem than it needs.
Line 3 六三
噬昔肉，遇毒；小吝，无咎。
Biting aged meat and meeting poison. Slight shame. No blame.
Old meat hides something unpleasant, and the bite brings a small embarrassment. An old matter may turn sour when reopened, so consider whether it still needs doing and how to do it cleanly.
Line 4 九四
噬乾胏，得金矢，利艱貞，吉。
Biting dried meat on the bone and finding a metal arrowhead. It is fitting to hold firm through hardship. Good fortune.
Tough meat on the bone hides a metal point, a hard thing inside a hard thing. Ask what a stubborn problem could show you about what it is made of, and whether you are ready for slow work.
Line 5 六五
噬乾肉，得黃金，貞厲，无咎。
Biting dried meat and finding yellow metal. Holding firm brings danger. No blame.
The dried meat is easier this time and the find is yellow, the color of the center. Consider how you would handle a decision that has something valuable attached, since the line still names danger.
Line 6 上九
何校滅耳，凶。
Carrying a wooden collar that hides the ears. Misfortune.
A heavy collar covers the ears, an old picture of someone past hearing. The punishment is nothing to admire, so ask instead where you may have stopped listening to warnings.
What this hexagram says
This hexagram is thunder below and fire above. The solid fourth line sits between the others like something caught between the teeth of an open mouth. It stands for biting through what blocks the way.
The judgment says there is success and that legal process is the fitting tool, which in the old world meant penalties. Ask what keeps two sides apart in your own situation, and what fair and open way of settling it could exist.
If your question is about a disagreement on a team or a stuck piece of work, tradition reads this as a time to address the blockage directly. The middle lines bite through meats of varying toughness, and the top line warns about a person who has stopped hearing. A real legal matter belongs with a lawyer, and this reading has no bearing on it.
A hexagram is a prompt for reflection. It cannot promise a result, and it is no substitute for medical, legal or financial advice.
Where this text comes from
The Chinese follows the Wikisource text of the Zhou Yi (its page for this hexagram, 周易/噬嗑), compared with the Project Gutenberg edition. The Great Image comes from the Wikisource page 周易/大象.
- Wikisource, 周易
Retrieved 2026-11-08
- Project Gutenberg eBook 25501, 易經
Retrieved 2026-11-08
Read this hexagram with its traditional commentaries in our library.
Where the sources differ
- In the first line, Wikisource (A) reads 屨校 (wearing stocks on the feet). Project Gutenberg (B) reads 履校 (treading in stocks).
- In the third line, Wikisource (A) reads 昔肉 (old meat) and Project Gutenberg (B) reads 臘肉 (dried meat). Wikisource also carries an inline alternative reading, 一作臘, while keeping 昔 as its base text.
- Project Gutenberg writes 無 where Wikisource has 无 in the first, second, third and fifth lines. These are variant forms of the same word.
The English renderings and the advice are by Cast & Chart. The advice is a modern reading and is not part of the classical text.