HEXAGRAM 21 · shì kè

Biting Through

Biting through the blockage: using clear rules where order has been jammed

火雷噬嗑Classical Chinese included

Translation approach

The Chinese source stays visible. Where an editorial close rendering is available, it stays near the wording before Astro I Ching expands into cultural interpretation. Why we separate these layers →

CLASSICAL CHINESE

The source anchor

Read the source first. The English layer below remains accountable to these passages rather than replacing them with a simplified verdict.

卦辞 · Judgment

噬嗑：亨。利用狱。

Close rendering

Biting Through: success. Favorable to use judgment and penalties.

《大象》 · Image

雷电噬嗑；先王以明罚敕法。

Close rendering

Thunder and lightning: Biting Through. The former kings therefore made penalties clear and laws firm.

How to read the middle layer

Close rendering stays near wording and sequence. It is not presented as the only possible translation; the cultural reading below is where Astro I Ching explains image, structure, and practical logic in fuller English.

ASTRO I CHING · CULTURAL READING

Why this hexagram says what it says

Cultural reading of the image

Thunder and Fire appear together. Shi He imagines something caught between the teeth: only by biting through the obstruction can the mouth close again.

Cultural reading of the judgment

The hexagram is less interested in punishment for its own sake than in the removal of a real obstruction through explicit standards and proportionate action.

SIX LINES · ONE STORY

How the hexagram develops from bottom to top

Line 1 · 初九

Classical Chinese

屦校灭趾，无咎。

Close rendering

Feet placed in the stocks until the toes are covered. No blame.

Cultural reading

Small wrongdoing stopped early is easier to correct than a problem allowed to harden.

Line 2 · 六二

Classical Chinese

噬肤灭鼻，无咎。

Close rendering

Biting through tender flesh until the nose is covered. No blame.

Cultural reading

Even when an obstruction is easy to remove, excessive force can injure the person solving it.

Line 3 · 六三

Classical Chinese

噬腊肉，遇毒；小吝，无咎。

Close rendering

Biting dried meat and encountering poison. A little regret; no blame.

Cultural reading

Some blockages contain something unpleasant or toxic, so diagnosis is part of the work, not only enforcement.

Line 4 · 九四

Classical Chinese

噬干胏，得金矢，利艰贞，吉。

Close rendering

Biting dried meat on the bone and finding a metal arrowhead. Favorable to recognize difficulty and remain correct. Good fortune.

Cultural reading

At the hardest point, persistence within proper bounds matters more than brute strength.

Line 5 · 六五

Classical Chinese

噬干肉，得黄金，贞厉，无咎。

Close rendering

Biting dried meat and finding yellow metal. Constancy is dangerous; no blame.

Cultural reading

Even close to resolution, awareness of danger remains necessary; progress does not erase consequence.

Line 6 · 上九

Classical Chinese

何校灭耳，凶。

Close rendering

Carrying a wooden cangue so that the ears are covered. Misfortune.

Cultural reading

Repeatedly refusing to hear warning can eventually damage the very capacity to listen and judge.

BRING IT BACK TO LIFE

What this can help you notice

Useful when a system keeps failing around one concrete blockage and clearer standards or enforcement are needed.

A common misreading

Biting Through is not a license for severity. The point is to remove a real obstruction with proportionate and intelligible rules.

Keep the classical text and the interpretive layer separate: one is the source, the other is Astro I Ching's explanation of how the source can be read.

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