否Pi · Standstill
In one sentence
This is a time when everything is blocked and shut off. It is not a good time to get things done.
Above and below are out of touch, good people and good things are held down, and much effort brings little return. This is not your fault; it is the way the times are. Pull in, keep a low profile, keep yourself safe, and don't be greedy for the fame and gain in front of you. Come out again when the situation changes.
Asking about work, love or money
- Work
- Those above and those below are cut off from each other. No one listens to what you say, good ideas are held down, and you give much for little return. This is not your fault; it is the times. Now is not the moment for getting things done. Do not strain to make a showing, and do not flatter anyone for the sake of position or benefit. Keep a low profile, keep yourself intact, and wait for the situation to change.
- Love
- Words no longer get through between the two of you. What you say the other person cannot take in, and what they are thinking you cannot reach. If you are single, it is also hard to meet the right person just now. Do not force a fit, and do not wrong yourself to buy a relationship. Step back first and look after yourself. In a situation like this, forcing things does not produce a good result.
- Money
- The large goes out and the small comes in; this is not a time for making money. Live frugally, tighten your spending, and count it a win to hold on to what you have. A benefit that arrives at your door at a time like this most likely comes with a price, so do not be greedy. Do not expand, do not borrow, do not follow the crowd, and wait until things open up again.
This is the hexagram as a whole. If your cast has changing lines, the line text governs; each line's page has its own reading for work, love and money.
The judgment
In plain wordsBlocked and shut off; this is not the kind of world people ought to have. Even keeping to the right course brings the noble one little advantage; the great has gone and the small has come.
The Tuan commentary
否之匪人，不利君子貞，大往小來。則是天地不交而萬物不通也，上下不交而天下无邦也。內陰而外陽，內柔而外剛，內小人而外君子，小人道長，君子道消也。
"Standstill: this is not the human way. It is not favorable for the noble one to stay true. The great goes, the small comes." This means that heaven and earth do not meet and all things do not go through; above and below do not meet and all under heaven is without states. Yin within and yang without; the yielding within and the firm without; petty people within and the noble one without. The way of petty people grows; the way of the noble one wanes.
The Tuan (“judgment”) commentary is one of the Ten Wings. It explains the hexagram name and the judgment from the two trigrams and the positions of the lines.
The image
天地不交，否。君子以儉德辟難，不可榮以祿。
Heaven and earth do not meet: Pi (Standstill). The noble one holds to frugal virtue to keep clear of trouble, and cannot be honored with a salary.
The lines
Six at the beginning
Text拔茅茹，以其彙，貞吉亨。Pulling up thatch grass: the roots come up joined, each with its kind. Staying true brings good fortune and success.In plain wordsPull up one stalk of thatch grass and a whole string comes up joined at the roots — the wrong people, too, come in groups. But the bad has not yet shown its head; keep to the right course now and there is good fortune, and things go through. More on this line →
Six in the second place
Text包承，小人吉，大人否亨。Bearing and accepting. For petty people, good fortune. For the great person, keeping to the standstill brings success.In plain wordsBearing with and deferring. For petty people, acting this way is good fortune. A person of integrity should rest content in being shut off, and not drop their principles just because others are deferring to them; that is how things go through. More on this line →
Six in the third place
Text包羞。Shame held within.In plain wordsHarboring thoughts that cannot bear the light; wanting to harm someone but not yet having managed it. More on this line →
Nine in the fourth place
Text有命无咎，疇離祉。There is a mandate. No blame. The companions share in the blessing.In plain wordsThis is heaven's mandate, and there is no blame; your companions share in the blessing too. The blockage is more than half over, and the turning point is near. More on this line →
Nine in the fifth place
Text休否，大人吉。其亡其亡，繫于苞桑。Bringing the standstill to a halt. For the great person, good fortune. 'It may be lost, it may be lost!' Tie it to the clustered mulberry.In plain wordsThe blocked situation is brought to a stop; a person of virtue who meets this has good fortune. But you must keep thinking at every moment 'it is about to be lost, it is about to be lost,' and only then will it be as secure as something tied to the roots of a mulberry tree. More on this line →
Nine at the top
Text傾否，先否後喜。The standstill is overturned. First standstill, then joy.In plain wordsThe blocked situation has been toppled. First hardship, then joy. More on this line →
Lines are counted from the bottom. “Nine” is a yang (solid) line, “six” a yin (broken) line. A line applies to your reading only when it is a changing line.
Related hexagrams
Primary, resulting, nuclear, opposite and inverted hexagrams explained →
In the hexagram calendar
In the Tang monk Yixing’s Dayan calendar, Pi belongs to the second pentad of End of Heat, “Heaven and earth grow austere” (August 28 to September 1, 2027). It is also one of the twelve sovereign hexagrams, standing for the seventh month of the traditional calendar: three yin below and three yang above, heaven and earth apart.
The twelve sovereign hexagrams → The 24 solar terms, 72 pentads and their hexagrams →