初九：屦校灭趾，无咎。
A clear limit at the first misstep can prevent greater damage. Correcting course is more useful than treating every warning as hostility.
I Ching Hexagram 21
Shì Kè · Biting Through
噬嗑 · Hexagram 21
Shi He concerns biting through an obstruction so that separated parts can meet again. Thunder and Lightning bring action together with clarity. When a problem is definite, vague tolerance can do more damage than a proportionate and fair response.
Upper trigram: Fire/Lí
Lower trigram: Thunder/Zhèn
The situation you may be in
An unresolved disagreement, broken commitment, or damaging habit may be blocking the situation. Effort elsewhere cannot remove it. Identify the obstruction and determine how it can appropriately be addressed.
How to respond
Be specific, assess responsibility through facts, and respond proportionately. The purpose is to restore workable relationships and action, not release anger. Apply the same standards to yourself.
Judgment and Image
Judgment
噬嗑：亨。利用狱。
Biting Through has success. It is favorable to let justice be administered.
Image
雷电噬嗑；先王以明罚敕法。
Thunder and lightning: Biting Through. The ancient kings made penalties clear and enforced the laws.
Applying it to real life
Love & relationships
Repeated problems cannot be covered by vague promises forever. Discuss boundaries, trust, and concrete change clearly. Honesty can be firm without becoming humiliation or retaliation.
Career & work
Address a specific obstruction to cooperation by checking agreements, clarifying responsibility, and resolving the issue. Apply expectations consistently rather than changing them with status or personal ties.
Choice & decisions
Establish the evidence before choosing an action that removes the obstruction. Decisiveness does not require severity; an excessive response can create another problem.
Timing & pace
Once a clear problem is persistently blocking action, indefinite postponement is unhelpful. After addressing it, observe whether things can move again instead of making punishment a continuing relationship pattern.
The six changing lines
The lines unfold from the bottom upward, describing one pattern of change from its first appearance to its extreme. If your reading has a changing line, begin with that position.
六二：噬肤灭鼻，无咎。
The obstacle is manageable, but the response can still become excessive. Stop when the matter is resolved rather than extending it into an attack on the person.
六三：噬腊肉，遇毒；小吝，无咎。
An old problem may answer intervention with resentment. Hold to facts and proportion rather than abandoning necessary work because it is unwelcome.
九四：噬干胏，得金矢，利艰贞，吉。
A tough obstruction needs patience and firm standards. Careful examination can uncover the basis for a defensible response.
六五：噬干肉，得黄金，贞厉，无咎。
When responsible for a judgment, remain balanced and alert. The power to decide does not remove the need to consider harm to others.
上九：何校灭耳，凶。
Repeated refusal to hear warnings can leave little room to maneuver. Face what has been ignored and stop reproducing the damage.
A common misreading
Shi He does not authorize coercion or allow a reading to determine guilt. Its ancient punishment imagery emphasizes rules and consequences; actual disputes still need facts, fairness, and an appropriate process.
Related hexagrams
Text and interpretation
Updated 12 September 2026Reviewed by MysticEast Research
This page preserves the Chinese Judgment, Image, and line texts of the received Zhouyi. MysticEast's modern explanations are newly written to emphasize stages of change and practical judgment rather than fixed good-or-bad predictions.
Read the Zhouyi at the Chinese Text ProjectLet the hexagram meet your actual question
A guide gives you the map. A cast made with a clear question can help locate the exact stage of change you are experiencing.