Cheng · support
A yin line directly below a yang line: the soft supports the firm. Usually smooth.
← I Ching
LAYER 02 · COURSE 4 · FREE
Reading the Lines
Course one introduced line positions; this one reads them in depth: support and riding, response, centrality, the ruling line, time and place.
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About 10 min
Support, riding, neighbours
Next-door lines, and “it rides on the firm”.
ONE THING TO REMEMBER
Yin below yang supports; yin above yang rides. Support is smooth, riding uneasy: clues, not verdicts.
Next-door lines: support, riding, neighbouring
Sheng · riding
A yin line directly above a yang line: the soft rides on the firm, an uneasy place. The Small Images often say “it rides on the firm”.
Bi · neighbours
Adjacent lines of opposite kind are neighbours, close to each other. Two of the same kind neither support nor ride.
Zhun Line 2 and Yu Line 5: the difficulty is riding the firm
Zhun · Line 2
屯如邅如，乘马班如，匪寇婚媾，女子贞不字，十年乃字。
Difficulty and hesitation. Horse and carriage turn back and forth. The one who comes is not a robber but seeks marriage. The woman remains constant and does not marry; after ten years she marries.
Small Image: “The difficulty of Line 2: it rides on the firm.” The yin Line 2 sits right on the yang Line 1.
Yu · Line 5
贞疾，恒不死。
Constancy in illness; enduring, yet not dying.
Small Image: it rides on the firm, yet being central it does not perish. Line 5 sits on Line 4, the only yang line and the real force.
Xiao Xu Line 4: rides Line 3, supports Line 5
Xiao Xu · Line 4
有孚，血去惕出，无咎。
There is trust. Bloodshed departs and fear leaves. No blame.
Small Image: “in accord with the one above.” It rides Line 3 (hence blood and fear) but supports Line 5 (hence in accord). Read together: danger, yet escape by joining the one above.
Bi · Line 4
外比之，贞吉。
Hold together outwardly. Constancy brings good fortune.
Small Image: “following the one above”: it supports Line 5.
Tap any line
- This line
- The Taming Power of the Small, Line 4 (六四)
- Stage
- Just inside the outer trigram: close to Line 5, often anxious
- Central / proper
- Proper, not central
- Correspondence
- answers Line 1 (初九) (yin and yang)
- Above
- supports Line 5 (九五) (soft below firm)
- Below
- rides on Line 3 (九三) (soft above firm)
- Ruler
- Yes: the only yin line, the one the rest turn to
Line text · Line 4 (六四)
有孚，血去惕出，无咎。
There is trust. Bloodshed departs and fear leaves. No blame.
Clues, not a verdict formula
Riding the firm signals unease, not misfortune: Yu Line 5 rides the firm yet “does not perish”. Use these to see the situation, then read the text itself.
Yin under yang supports; yin over yang rides.
Zhun 2, Yu 5: riding the firm.
Xiao Xu 4: rides below, supports above.
Try it now
4 small points in this lesson; get each right once and you pass. A miss is fine: it comes back two questions later, asked a new way.