I Ching Hexagram 12: Hindrance (否)
Overview
This hexagram is the opposite of the preceding one. Heaven is above, drawing farther and farther away, while the earth below sinks farther into the depths. The creative powers are not in relation. It is a time of standstill and decline. This hexagram is linked with the seventh month (August-September), when the year has passed its zenith and autumnal decay is setting in.
The Judgment — Wilhelm/Baynes Translation
STANDSTILL. Evil people do not further The perseverance of the superior man. The great departs; the small approaches.
— Richard Wilhelm & Cary F. Baynes, The I Ching or Book of Changes (Princeton University Press, 1950)
The Image — Wilhelm/Baynes Translation
Heaven and earth do not unite: The image of STANDSTILL. Thus the superior man falls back upon his inner worth In order to escape the difficulties. He does not permit himself to be honored with revenue.
— Richard Wilhelm & Cary F. Baynes, The I Ching or Book of Changes (1950)
Commentary
When, owing to the influence of inferior men, mutual mistrust prevails in public life, fruitful activity is rendered impossible, because the fundaments are wrong. Therefore the superior man knows what he must do under such circumstances; he does not allow himself to be tempted by dazzling offers to take part in public activities. This would only expose him to danger, since he cannot assent to the meanness of the others. He therefore hides his worth and withdraws into seclusion.
The Six Lines — Complete Commentary
Each line represents a stage in the unfolding situation. A line becomes "changing" when it transforms during divination.
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Line 1
When ribbon grass is pulled up, the sod comes with it. Each according to his kind. Perseverance brings good fortune and success.
The text is almost the same as that of the first line of the preceding hexagram, but with a contrary meaning. In the latter a man is drawing another along with him on the road to an official career; here a man is drawing another with him into retirement form public life. This is why the text says here, "Perseverance brings good fortune and success," and not "Undertakings bring good fortune." If it becomes impossible to make our influence count, it is only by retirement that we spare ourselves humiliation. Success in a higher sense can be ours, because we know how to safeguard the value of our personalities. -
Line 2
They bear and endure; This means good fortune for inferior people. The standstill serves to help the great man to attain success.
Inferior people are ready to flatter their superiors in a servile way. They would also endure the superior man if he would put an end to their confusion. This is fortunate for them. But the great man calmly bears the consequences of the standstill. He does not mingle with the crowd of the inferior; that is not his place. By his willingness to suffer personally he insures the success of his fundamental principles. -
Line 3
They bear shame.
Inferior people who have risen to power illegitimately do not feel equal to the responsibility they have taken upon themselves. In their hearts they begin to be ashamed, although at first they do not show it outwardly. This marks a turn for the better. -
Line 4
He who acts at the command of the highest Remains without blame. Those of like mind partake of the blessing.
The time of standstill is nearing the point of change into its opposite. Whoever wishes to restore order must feel himself called to the task and have the necessary authority. A man who sets himself up a capable of creating order according to his own judgment could make mistakes and end in failure. But the man who is truly called to the task is favored by the conditions of the time, and all those of like mind will share in his blessing. -
Line 5
Standstill is giving way. Good fortune for the great man. "What if it should fail, what if it should fail?" In this way he ties it to a cluster of mulberry shoots.
The time undergoes a change. The right man, able to restore order, has arrived. Hence "good fortune." But such periods of transition are the very times in which we must fear and tremble. Success is assured only through greatest caution, which asks always, "What if it should fail?" When a mulberry bush is cut down, a number of unusually strong shoots sprout from the roots. Hence the image of tying something to a cluster of mulberry shoots is used to symbolize the way of making success certain. Confucius says about this line:
Danger arises when a man feels secure in his position. Destruction threatens when a man seeks to preserve his worldly estate. Confusion develops when a man has put everything in order. Therefore the superior man does not forget danger in his security, not ruin when he is well established, nor confusion when his affairs are in order. In this way he gains personal safety and is able to protect the empire. -
Line 6
The standstill comes to an end. First standstill, then good fortune.
The standstill does not last forever. However, it does not cease of its own accord; the right man is needed to end it. This is the difference between a state of peace and a state of stagnation. Continuous effort is necessary to maintain peace: left to itself it would change into stagnation and disintegration. The time of disintegration, however, does not change back automatically to a condition of peace and prosperity; effort must be put forth in order to end it. This shows the creative attitude that man must take if the world is to be put in order.
♥ Hexagram 12 Hindrance — Love & Relationships
Hexagram 12, P'i the Standstill, is the honest and courageous hexagram of love's difficult seasons — those periods when genuine connection feels blocked, communication seems to flow in opposite directions, and the genuine energy of love and mutual understanding appears to have retreated into frustrating stagnation. Heaven pulls upward and Earth pulls downward; what should unite has separated.
The I Ching does not idealize love or pretend that all romantic periods are periods of harmonious flourishing. P'i appears because its conditions are genuine and real, and because the wisdom appropriate to those conditions is genuinely different from the wisdom appropriate to T'ai's harmonious abundance. When love is genuinely stagnant, the specific virtues required are inner cultivation, honest assessment, and strategic patience.
★ Hexagram 12 Hindrance — Career & Work
Hexagram 12, P'i the Standstill, is the honest hexagram for difficult professional periods — when genuine career progress seems blocked, when the organizational environment is genuinely unfavorable to genuine talent, and when the direct pursuit of genuine professional advancement is likely to be ineffective or counterproductive.
The professional conditions of P'i are well-described by the hexagram's imagery: Heaven and Earth do not unite — the ideals of genuine professional excellence and actual organizational reality have separated; the great of genuine professional contribution and authentic leadership departs, and the small of political gamesmanship, mediocre performance, and self-serving behavior approaches.
◆ Hexagram 12 Hindrance — Money & Finances
Hexagram 12, P'i the Standstill, is the I Ching's most important hexagram for navigating genuinely unfavorable financial conditions — the difficult periods characterized by genuine contraction, genuine risk increase, genuine investment return decline, or genuine financial difficulty. P'i honestly acknowledges these conditions and offers specific wisdom: fall back on genuine financial inner virtue, preserve genuine financial capital, and endure the difficult period with genuine financial discipline.
In financial terms, P'i describes the period when genuine financial momentum has stalled, when the conditions producing genuine positive financial outcomes have genuinely shifted, and when the overall financial environment genuinely does not support the same financial approach that served in more favorable conditions.
☤ Hexagram 12 Hindrance — Health & Wellbeing
Hexagram 12, P'i the Standstill, acknowledges the genuine reality of difficult health periods with honesty and compassion. There are periods in every life when health genuinely does not flow — when genuine illness, genuine injury, genuine chronic condition, or genuine exhaustion has produced a state of genuine health standstill that requires specific wisdom to navigate well.
The image of Heaven and Earth not uniting in health terms captures the experience of genuine systemic dysfunction — when active yang systems and restorative yin systems of the body are genuinely not working together in healthy coordination, when genuine illness has disrupted the harmonious flow that produces genuine health.
☯ Hexagram 12 Hindrance — Spiritual Growth
Hexagram 12, P'i the Standstill, addresses one of the most genuinely difficult and genuinely important aspects of the spiritual path: the experience of genuine spiritual obstruction — the dark night of the soul, the period when genuine spiritual practice seems to produce nothing, when the divine seems genuinely absent, when all the outer supports of spiritual life seem to have fallen away.
This hexagram's specific wisdom for spiritual life is contained in its central advice: fall back upon inner virtue, do not permit yourself to be honored with revenue. In spiritual terms, this means returning to the genuine foundations of genuine spiritual practice — genuine ethics, genuine compassion, genuine honesty, genuine service — when the more elevated spiritual experiences and the external spiritual supports are genuinely not available.
△ Hexagram 12 Hindrance — Business & Strategy
Hexagram 12, P'i the Standstill, is the genuinely important hexagram for businesses navigating genuinely unfavorable conditions — the difficult periods characterized by genuine market contraction, genuine competitive challenge, genuine organizational difficulty, or genuine external adversity that has produced genuine business stagnation.
In business terms, P'i describes the period when genuine business momentum has genuinely stalled — when market conditions have genuinely shifted unfavorably, when genuine customer demand has contracted, when organizational conditions have produced genuine dysfunction, or when some combination of external and internal challenges has produced a genuine business standstill.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Hexagram 12 Hindrance mean?
Heaven and earth are out of communion and all things are benumbed. What is above has no relation to what is below, and on earth confusion and disorder prevail. The dark power is within, the light power is without. Weakness is within, harshness without. Within are the inferior, and without are the superior. The way of inferior people is in ascent; the way of superior people is one the decline. But the superior people do not allow themselves to be turned from their principles. If the possibility o
Is Hexagram 12 a yes or no?
The I Ching does not provide simple yes or no answers. Hexagram 12, Hindrance, offers guidance about the quality and direction of the current moment. Consult the judgment and image texts above for specific direction relevant to your question.
What are the changing lines in Hexagram 12?
Changing lines indicate points of transformation within your reading. Each of the six lines in Hexagram 12 carries its own meaning — see the complete line commentary above for detailed guidance on each position.
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Sources
- Wilhelm, Richard & Baynes, Cary F. The I Ching or Book of Changes. Princeton University Press, 1950.
- Legge, James. The I Ching: Book of Changes. Dover Publications, 1963.
- Huang, Alfred. The Complete I Ching. Inner Traditions, 1998.
Commentary
Heaven and earth are out of communion and all things are benumbed. What is above has no relation to what is below, and on earth confusion and disorder prevail. The dark power is within, the light power is without. Weakness is within, harshness without. Within are the inferior, and without are the superior. The way of inferior people is in ascent; the way of superior people is one the decline. But the superior people do not allow themselves to be turned from their principles. If the possibility of exerting influence is closed to them, they nevertheless remain faithful to their principles and withdraw into seclusion.