Hexagram 12: Standstill
䷋ 否 (Pǐ) · Stagnation. Retreat and conserve until things shift.
stagnation, withdrawal, integrity, waiting it out
Lower trigram: Earth ☷ · Upper trigram: Heaven ☰
The judgment
Heaven and earth have drawn apart, and nothing flows between them. What is great is leaving and what is petty draws near. In a time like this, influence tends to go to the wrong places; keep your integrity, don't trade your values for a seat at the table, and conserve your strength until things shift.
The image
The sky rises away and the earth sinks below, and nothing passes between them. Keep your gifts quiet and live simply, turn down rewards that would compromise you, and stay out of the scramble for position.
The six lines
Read only the lines that changed in your casting, counting from the bottom.
- Line 1 (bottom): Pull up one blade of grass and others come with it. When the times are wrong, step back together with those who share your values.
- Line 2: Others try to win you over with flattery and easy favors, and those who go along may do well for a while. Your own way through is to keep apart from it.
- Line 3: Those who rose by wrong means begin to feel ashamed. That stirring of conscience is the first small change.
- Line 4: A turning point arrives, and you act from a sense of something higher than yourself. There is no blame, and those with you share in the good.
- Line 5: The standstill is beginning to lift, and good fortune comes. Keep a healthy doubt in mind and fasten your hopes to something firm, like a rope tied to deep-rooted mulberry.
- Line 6 (top): The standstill ends. First the stuck time, then good fortune, though it takes your own effort to bring the change about.
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