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Chapter 21 of 68
易经
Biting Through: Success. Favorable for administering justice.
The Hexagram Biting Through symbolizes biting through to achieve connection. Just as the upper and lower jaws must bite through whatever is in the mouth before passage can be restored, this hexagram indicates success, particularly favorable for applying punishments and rendering clear judgments in legal disputes. When obstacles exist between things, they must be removed with decisive and forceful action before the smooth flow of order can be restored.
The Commentary on the Hexagram Text says: There is something in the mouth, hence the name "Biting Through." Biting through brings success. The strong and weak are clearly distinguished; movement with clarity, like thunder and lightning combining, becomes manifest. The yielding obtains the central position and ascends—although the position is not entirely appropriate, it is favorable for administering justice.
The Commentary explains: There is something stuck in the mouth, hence the name "Biting Through"—one must bite it apart before achieving success. In this hexagram, the strong and weak are clearly distinguished: the lower trigram Zhen represents movement, and the upper trigram Li represents clarity. Action combined with clarity is like thunder and lightning joining together to become brilliantly manifest. The yielding line occupies the central position and moves upward (the fifth line, yin, resides in the honored position)—although the position is not absolutely perfect, it is precisely suited for rendering judgments and administering punishments.
The Commentary on the Image says: Thunder and lightning combine to form Biting Through; the ancient sage kings, observing this image, made punishments clear and rectified the laws.
The Commentary on the Image says: Thunder (Zhen) and lightning (Li) combine to form the image of Biting Through. Observing this hexagram, the ancient sage kings clarified punishments and rectified statutes, ensuring that good and evil were distinctly distinguished and that orders were enforced and prohibitions observed.
Initial Nine: Wearing shackles that cover the toes—no blame.
The Initial Nine line text: Wearing restraints on the feet that cover the toes, but there is no disaster. This applies a light punishment to a first-time offender, causing them to take warning and not dare to repeat the offense.
The Commentary on the Image says: Wearing shackles that cover the toes means stopping transgressions.
The Commentary explains: Shackles covering the toes are meant to prevent continued wrongdoing. A small punishment serves as a great warning, precisely to prevent more serious errors.
Six in the Second Place: Biting through soft flesh, penetrating to the nose—no blame.
The Six in the Second Place line text: Biting through flesh, deep enough to cover the nose—there is no disaster. This metaphorically represents punishment applied thoroughly and decisively. Although it may appear overly severe, because the yin line rides atop a strong yang line, it must be resolute.
The Commentary on the Image says: Biting through flesh to the nose means riding atop strength.
The Commentary explains: Biting through flesh deep to the nose is because the yin line in the second place rides above the strong yang line of the first position—when the soft must control the strong, greater force is required to achieve results.
Six in the Third Place: Biting dried meat and encountering poison—small humiliation, no blame.
The Six in the Third Place line text: Biting preserved meat and encountering a poisonous taste—there is slight difficulty, but no great disaster. Dried meat is hard and difficult to bite, and it carries a poisonous flavor—this metaphorically represents encountering resistance or backlash in the process of administering punishment, but ultimately no blame results.
The Commentary on the Image says: Encountering poison means the position is inappropriate.
The Commentary explains: Encountering the poisoned flavor is because the yin line in the third place occupies a yang position—the position is inappropriate; therefore, one easily encounters trouble in handling affairs.
Nine in the Fourth Place: Biting dried meat with bone, obtaining a metal arrow—favorable for perseverance in difficulty, good fortune.
The Nine in the Fourth Place line text: Biting dried meat with bone and obtaining a bronze arrow—favorable for maintaining integrity through hardship, bringing good fortune. The "metal arrow" symbolizes firmness and clear judgment. Though encountering difficulty, as long as one persists in integrity, good fortune will ultimately arrive.
The Commentary on the Image says: Favorable for perseverance through difficulty brings good fortune—but the light has not yet fully shone.
The Commentary explains: Being favorable for perseverance through difficulty and bringing good fortune indicates that the way has not yet been fully illuminated. This shows that although Nine in the Fourth Place is on the right path, the situation remains challenging and demands continued effort.
Six in the Fifth Place: Biting dried meat, obtaining yellow gold—maintaining integrity with vigilance, no blame.
The Six in the Fifth Place line text: Biting dried meat and obtaining yellow gold—maintaining correctness while remaining vigilant brings no disaster. "Yellow gold" symbolizes the virtue of centrality and firm integrity. Occupying the honored position, one renders judgments through the Mean, acting with prudence and self-restraint—thus no blame arises.
The Commentary on the Image says: Perseverance with vigilance brings no blame—the approach is fitting.
The Commentary explains: Maintaining integrity with a vigilant mind and ultimately avoiding blame is because the handling is appropriate. Although the fifth line, being yin, occupies the honored position, it adheres to the Middle Way and maintains a vigilant attitude, enabling it to complete its mission properly.
Top Nine: Wearing a cangue that covers the ears—misfortune.
The Top Nine line text: Shouldering a great cangue that covers the ears—misfortune. This represents the extreme of punishment, where grave crimes meet with severe penalties. It symbolizes one who refuses to heed counsel and persists in wrongdoing, ultimately heading toward ruin.
The Commentary on the Image says: Wearing a cangue that covers the ears means the hearing is not clear and the mind is not illuminated.
The Commentary explains: Shouldering a heavy cangue that obscures the ears is because one's perception is dull and one's judgment is clouded. Failure to listen to sound advice and inability to distinguish right from wrong—this is the root cause of heading toward danger.
The central teaching of the Biting Through hexagram is "using decisive strength to clear obstructions, and using clear insight to restore smooth passage." The entire hexagram takes "something in the mouth that must be bitten apart before passage is possible" as its fundamental image, extending to penal law and litigation in social governance. When there is an obstruction in the mouth, the jaw cannot close without biting; when there is evil in society, order cannot be restored without punishment. However, the fundamental purpose of punishment is not punishment itself, but "clarifying punishments and rectifying laws" —through fair and explicit legal standards, people are made to take warning, ultimately achieving the ideal state of "no litigation."
Examining the line structure, the entire hexagram presents a progressive process:
This is a complete chain from prevention to punishment and then to deterrence.
In a contemporary context, the Biting Through hexagram can be understood as "how to eliminate obstructions and malignancies within a system."
🌆 Organizational Management Perspective: Every organization encounters "what is stuck in the mouth" during its operation—institutional loopholes, behavioral violations, and unhealthy tendencies. The Biting Through hexagram provides the answer: these must be removed through clear, decisive, and just means. The Initial Nine "shackles covering the toes" corresponds to early warning systems and lightweight accountability mechanisms in modern management—intervening promptly when problems first emerge yields the lowest cost and the best results. The Top Nine "cangue covering the ears" serves as a warning: if one refuses to heed feedback and denies the need for correction, the eventual cost will be severe.
⚖️ Rule of Law Perspective: "Clarifying punishments and rectifying laws" aligns closely with core principles of modern rule of law—laws must be publicly explicit, and their enforcement must be fair and consistent. "Favorable for administering justice" does not mean heavier punishment is always better; rather, it means procedural justice and substantive justice are equally important.
🔍 Personal Development Perspective: Biting Through also metaphorically represents the "obstructions" within each person's inner world—prejudices, fixed obsessions, and harmful habits. To achieve inner smoothness, one must possess the courage to "bite through": to break apart the old habits and delusions that hinder growth.
| Scenario | Wisdom from Biting Through | Recommended Actions |
|---|---|---|
| Team Management | Tolerating violations early amounts to sowing the seeds of future disaster | Following Initial Nine's "small punishment, great warning"—use lightweight accountability to stop losses early |
| Institutional Design | Unclear rules lead to ineffective enforcement | Reference "clarifying punishments and rectifying laws"—establish explicit rules before discussing enforcement |
| Facing Resistance | Eliminating chronic problems inevitably meets backlash (Six in the Third "encountering poison") | Prepare mentally; do not abandon the righteous path due to minor setbacks |
| Self-Improvement | Breaking bad habits requires the determination to "bite through" | Break large goals into executable "small bites," progressing layer by layer |
| Crisis Management | Top Nine's "covering the ears" warns of the danger of being blind and deaf | Establish open feedback channels; actively solicit critical opinions |
Decision-Making Methodology: The Biting Through hexagram provides a practical framework of "Hypothesis—Action—Review": First hypothesize the location of the obstruction (identify the problem) → Act with decisive means (remove the obstacle) → Review whether smoothness has been restored (validate the hypothesis). If not yet smooth, continue searching for the next "object in the mouth."
The Biting Through hexagram embodies a profound philosophical proposition: the dialectical unity of "destruction" and "construction." The process of biting apart food is simultaneously the destruction of its original form and the precondition for its transformation into nourishment. Punishment may appear harsh, yet it serves the restoration of overall order. This implies that true "success" does not lie in avoiding conflict but in confronting conflict and transforming it.
Another point worthy of deep consideration is that the entire hexagram uses the "mouth" as its central image—and the mouth is the organ shared by both speech and food. What Biting Through bites apart is not only food but also potentially the obstructions in discourse—prejudice, falsehood, and misunderstanding. Thus, this hexagram also suggests: obstacles in communication require "biting force" to clear them—candid dialogue and direct confrontation of differences restore the smooth flow of human relationships.