The I Ching: A Beginner's Guide to the 64 Hexagrams by Gavin - HTML preview
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Mountain over Thunder
Hexagram 27 shows an open mouth between two rm lines, asking what actually nourishes you and whether you earn that nourishment or merely take it.
THE JUDGMENT
颐：贞吉，观颐，⾃求⼜实。
Sustenance: to stay true brings good fortune. Observe how nourishment moves, and watch each one seek their own food.
THE IMAGE
⼭下有雷，颐；君⼦以慎⾔语，节饮⾷。
Thunder stirs beneath the mountain: Sustenance. The wise person is careful in speech and moderate in eating and drinking.
WHAT THIS HEXAGRAM MEANS
Hexagram 27 arrives in the received sequence after Great Taming (Hexagram 26), where resources and capability have been gathered and held in reserve. Once something has been accumulated, the next question is how it will be used to sustain life, so the sequence turns from storing up to feeding, tending, and providing for.
The Chinese name 颐 refers to the jaw and cheek, the part of the body that chews and speaks, and by extension the act of nourishing or being 152
nourished. In some editions the hexagram is also translated as Providing Nourishment. The judgment does not simply praise eating well; it says to stay true and then observe how nourishment moves — watch what a person seeks to ll their mouth with, and watch whether they earn their own sustenance or wait for someone else to supply it.
Read this way, Hexagram 27 is a character study disguised as an image of feeding. The six lines move from a base line that abandons its own judgment to chase another's plate, up through positions that reach for support in the wrong direction, and nally to a line that becomes the very source others depend on. The question threading through all of it is simple: are you nourishing yourself and others honestly, or are you living off borrowed strength while your own capacity for judgment goes unused?
THE FIGURE
Hexagram 27 joins Mountain over Thunder. Thunder below stirs, moves, and seeks; Mountain above stays still and holds its shape. Together they describe the working jaw: the lower part moves to take in food while the upper part stays xed, and the whole motion only functions when stillness and movement do their separate, proper jobs.
In the six-line diagram, counted from the bottom, a single yang line forms the base, four yin lines rise through the middle, and a nal yang line closes the top. This line structure, built from two trigrams read together, gives the whole gure the shape of an open mouth with teeth above and below — a picture the commentators read literally as the jaw itself, hinged at bottom and top, empty and waiting in the middle.
THE SIX LINES
Read a line only if it came out moving (a 6 or a 9 in the coin method).
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Envying another's plate BOTTOM LINE
初九：舍尔灵⻳，观我朵颐，凶。
You set aside your own sacred tortoise, the means of judging for yourself, and instead watch my jaws move with envious hunger: misfortune.
The bottom line shows someone setting aside their own sacred tortoise — their own capacity to judge and provide for themselves — to stare hungrily at what someone else is eating. The commentary reads this as the root failure of the whole hexagram: a person moved by desire, watching others rather than trusting their own resources, invites plain misfortune. Notice the moment you stop trusting your own judgment because someone else's situation looks more appealing, and return to what you can actually provide for yourself. When this line changes, the reading turns toward Hexagram 23, Stripping Away: unchecked envy slowly strips away the foundation you started with.
2
Reaching upward against the norm SECOND LINE
六⼆：颠颐，拂经，于丘颐，征凶。
Nourishment sought upside-down goes against what is proper; turning to the height above for support and pressing forward brings misfortune.
At the second line, nourishment is sought upside-down: instead of relying on its proper correspondence, the line turns to the height above for support, going against the usual pattern the relationship should follow. Pressing that request forward brings misfortune, because it asks a channel to provide what it was never meant to supply. This describes leaning on an elder, a patron, or an institution for something you should be securing through the correct, ordinary route. When this line changes, the situation moves toward Hexagram 41, Decrease: rather than pressing an improper request further, the sounder path is to reduce what you are asking for and simplify your needs instead.
154
Turning against your own nourishment THIRD LINE
六三：拂颐贞凶，⼗年勿⽤，⽆攸利。
To turn against the very source of nourishment brings misfortune even when held rm; for ten years it can serve no purpose, and nothing is gained.
The third line describes a more stubborn failure: turning against the very source that should sustain you, and holding to that refusal even when persistence is otherwise a virtue. The commentary calls this misfortune that stays misfortune for a long stretch — for ten years it accomplishes nothing, and no advantage follows. This is the position of someone who refuses help, correction, or proper support out of pride or mistrust, and then stalls rather than progresses. When this line changes, the reading points to Hexagram 22, Adornment: only once the refusal is set aside can attention return to how the situation is presented and shaped, rather than to blocking it outright.
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A tiger's steady watchfulness FOURTH LINE
六四：颠颐吉，虎视耽耽，其欲逐逐，⽆咎。
Nourishment given downward here brings good fortune. Watching with a tiger's steady, unblinking gaze, pursuing the need with urgency: no blame.
At the fourth line, nourishment again moves downward, but here it brings good fortune rather than misfortune, because the position and the direction are correct. The image is vivid: watching with a tiger's unbroken, patient gaze, pursuing the need with real urgency, and yet no blame follows. This describes someone in a position of some authority who provides for another with full attention and intent, rather than carelessly or resentfully. When this line changes, the situation resolves into Hexagram 21, Jaws Closing: once nourishment is given properly and watched over with this much care, any remaining obstruction between the parties still needs to be met directly and worked through.
5
Holding still under a weak claim FIFTH LINE
六五：拂经，居贞吉，不可涉⼤川。
Going against the usual pattern, yet staying settled and true brings good fortune; it is not the time to cross the great river.
The fth line again departs from the usual pattern — this position does not correspond properly with the line below it — yet staying settled and true still brings good fortune, provided no major undertaking is attempted. The line explicitly warns that this is not the moment to cross the great river. This describes leadership or responsibility carried from a position that lacks its normal support, where holding steady and trustworthy conduct compensates for a structurally weak claim. When this line changes, the reading turns toward Hexagram 42, Increase: patient, honest holding in a difficult position eventually opens onto a period where what you have carefully maintained begins to grow.
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Becoming the source others rely on TOP LINE
上九：繇颐，厉吉，利涉⼤川。
To become the very source others rely on for nourishment is a position of danger, yet good fortune follows; it is fruitful to cross the great river.
The top line arrives at the far end of the pattern: to be the very source from which nourishment ows for everyone below is a position of real danger, since so much now depends on this one line holding rm, yet good fortune follows, and it is fruitful even to cross the great river. This describes carrying the full weight of responsibility for others' sustenance — a founder, an elder, a provider whose steadiness everyone else counts on. When this line changes, the situation turns toward Hexagram 24, Return: having carried the weight to its limit, the pattern circles back toward renewal.
157
Great Exceeding
⼤过 · Dàguò