Hexagram of the Day Tuesday, December 2, 2025: #9 The Taming Power of the Small (小畜)

畜 (taming/restraining) is pronounced chi/xu, fan-qie chì-liù, the same as in hexagram Daxu (The Taming Power of the Great).

Xun is also the name of a three-line trigram. One yin lies hidden beneath two yang lines; therefore its virtue is gentleness/submissiveness and penetrating inwards, and its symbols are wind and wood. 'Small' refers to the yin.

'Taming' carries the meaning of halting and restraining. With Xun above and Qian below, yin tames yang.

Moreover, the hexagram has only a single yin line at Six in the Fourth Place; all five yang lines above and below are tamed by it, hence it is called Xiaoxu (The Taming Power of the Small).

Furthermore, because yin tames yang, it can tether but cannot hold fast; this also symbolizes that what is tamed is small.

Internally strong and externally gentle, the Second and Fifth are both yang, each occupying the center of a trigram and being active in service; this holds the image of being firm yet able to abide in the center so that one's aspirations can be carried out, which is why the divination indicates that it should attain success.

However, restraint has not reached its utmost and the beneficial moisture has not yet been dispensed; hence there is the image of 'dense clouds, but no rain from our western outskirts.' Dense clouds are yin things, and the western outskirts are a yin quarter.

'Our' refers to King Wen speaking of himself. When King Wen elucidated the Changes at Youli, he looked toward Qizhou in the west, which was precisely the time of Xiaoxu. When a diviner obtains this, the judgment corresponds to its image.

Explaining the name and meaning of the hexagram by its structure: 'The yielding attains the proper place' refers to the Six dwelling in the Fourth Place; 'above and below' refers to the five yang lines.

In terms of the hexagram's virtues and structure, the yang can still attain success.施 (dispense) is pronounced shǐ-chì.

'Still moving onward' means that restraint has not reached its extreme, and its vital breath is still advancing upward.

Wind possesses qi but lacks physical substance; it can restrain for a moment but cannot sustain it for long, hence it is the image of The Taming Power of the Small. 'Refining one's cultural virtue' speaks of being unable as yet to accumulate deeply and dispense widely.

In the Sequence of Hexagrams for Xiaoxu: After Holding Together, there must inevitably be something accumulated and restrained; hence it is received by The Taming Power of the Small.

When things adhere and attach to one another, gathering occurs, and gathering is taming/accumulating. Furthermore, when they draw near and hold together, their wills restrain and accumulate with each other; this is why Xiaoxu follows Bi (Holding Together).

'Taming' means halting; when halted, things gather. As a hexagram, Xun is above and Qian is below. Qian is an entity naturally belonging above, yet here it dwells beneath Xun.

Now, in halting and restraining the firm and strong, nothing is more effective than gentle compliance; being tamed by Xun is why it is called taming.

However, Xun is yin, and its substance is yielding and compliant; it can only soften the firm and strong through gentle compliance, but lacks the power to stop it by force. This represents the small way of taming.

Furthermore, the Fourth line, as a single yin line, attains its proper position and is delighted in by the five yang lines; gaining the position, it obtains the way of yielding gentleness, and can thus tame the will of the host of yang lines; therefore it constitutes taming.

The Taming Power of the Small means using the small to tame the great: what is tamed and gathered is small, and the matter being restrained is small, because it is yin.

The Tuan Commentary focuses solely on Six in the Fourth Place taming the various yang lines as the primary principle forming the hexagram, without elaborating on the two trigrams, because it highlights what is essential. Clouds are the breath of yin and yang.

When the two vapors intersect and harmonize, they restrain each other, solidify, and become rain. Yang initiating and yin responding is compliant, hence harmonious; if yin initiates before yang, it is discordant, hence unharmonious. If discordant, rain cannot form.

Although the gathering of clouds is dense, that they do not form rain is because they come from the western outskirts.

Northeast is the yang direction, while southwest is the yin direction; since the initiative comes from the yin quarter, they are discordant and cannot produce rain. Viewed from a human perspective, clouds always arise from distant regions, hence they are called 'outskirts.'

Speaking from the Fourth line's perspective, it says 'our.' The one who tames the yang is the Fourth line, the master of this taming.

This explains the principle of the hexagram's formation: Being yin and occupying the Fourth Place, while dwelling in an upper position, the yielding attains its proper place. The five yang lines above and below all respond to it and are tamed by it.

Using a single yin to tame five yang lines, it can tether them but cannot hold them fast; therefore it is The Taming Power of the Small.

When the Tuan Commentary explains the meaning of a hexagram's formation, adding the word 'say' (yue) is due to the natural flow of the phrasing in double-name hexagrams; among single-name hexagrams, only Ge has 'yue,' which is likewise due to rhetorical momentum.

This is spoken in terms of the hexagram's inherent talent: Strong internally and gentle externally, it is vigorous yet capable of compliance. The Second and Fifth lines dwell in the center, embodying firm centrality.

The nature of yang is to ascend, and the lower trigram is Qian, whose aspiration is to advance. The firm dwelling in the center means being firm and obtaining the center, as well as possessing central firmness.

Speaking of taming the yang is based on yielding gentleness; speaking of attaining success is due to firm centrality. In terms of hexagram formation, it is yin taming yang; in terms of hexagram talent, yang is firm and central.

Possessing such talent, even though the taming is small, it can achieve success. The way of small restraint cannot accomplish greatness, just as dense clouds cannot produce rain.

When yin and yang intersect and harmonize, they consolidate each other to produce rain; when the two breaths are discordant and yang still presses upward and forward, no rain can form.

Because the breath from our yin quarter initiates first, discord prevents rain, and the dispensing of benefits has not yet been enacted. That The Taming Power of the Small cannot achieve greatness is just like the clouds from the western outskirts being unable to produce rain.

Qian's firmness and strength are tamed by Xun.

The nature of firmness and strength can only be halted and restrained by yielding compliance; yet while yielding compliance can restrain it, it cannot permanently bind and control its firmness and strength—it merely pacifies and tethers it with gentle yielding.

Hence it is The Taming Power of the Small. The noble person observes the meaning of Xiaoxu to refine his cultural virtue. Restraining and gathering carry the meaning of storing up.

What the noble person stores up, in its great aspect, consists of the enterprises of moral virtue and statecraft; in its small aspect, it consists of literary expression and talents.

The noble person contemplates the image of Xiaoxu to refine his cultural virtue; when compared to moral principle and righteousness, cultural virtue is relatively small.

Being unable to tame the great, it merely halts the will of the firm and strong; hence their will moves onward, and through this they attain success.

This refers to Six in the Fourth Place; the principle of the hexagram's formation resides in this line. The structure contains no second yin line to divide its correspondence, so the lines above and below all respond to it.

Having attained its position and having both above and below respond to it, the Third line cannot encroach upon it; this is the meaning of The Taming Power of the Small.

The momentum of small restraint is sufficient to produce dense clouds, but coming 'from our western outskirts,' it is not yet sufficient to make rain. How do we know it cannot yet make rain?

For rain to form, yang must press upward against yin, and yin must be able to hold it fast, after which they steam together into rain.

Now, it cannot check the 'returning to the way' of Nine at the Beginning, nor hold fast the 'drawn back into returning' of Nine in the Second Place; Nine in the Third Place, moreover, is inferior because it cannot return.

Those below are still pressing forward, so how could the beneficent rain be dispensed? Hence there are dense clouds but no rain, precisely because they are still moving forward. How is this clear? Only when yin can hold it fast does it finally rain.

Top Nine alone is able to block the path of Nine in the Third Place; therefore Nine in the Third Place cannot advance and 'the spokes burst from the wagon wheel.' Because it can block its path and dwell peacefully at the top, it attains 'already rained and already resting.'

If the Fourth and Fifth lines were both as adept at taming as Top Nine, rain would surely fall. Thus, viewing the hexagram as a whole, it can only accomplish the dense clouds of small restraint.

If yin is insufficient to consolidate yang, then even if it reaches its height, with dense clouds arising from our western outskirts, it cannot make rain. The rain not yet falling means that the dispensing of benefits has not yet been enacted.

The Tuan Commentary speaks of the structure of the entire hexagram, hence it says 'dense clouds, but no rain.' The Xiang Commentary addresses the virtue of each individual line, hence it says 'already rained and already resting.'

Not yet being able to carry out the dispensing of benefits, one can only refine one's cultural virtue and nothing more.

The correct meaning states: Restraining only in a small measure, it tames Nine in the Third Place alone.

Nine at the Beginning and Nine in the Second Place can still march forward with firmness and strength; thus the firm aspiration attains success above, hence 'The Taming Power of the Small brings success.'

In Daxu, Qian is below and Gen is above; Gen is a yang trigram that can halt external things, stopping this firmness and strength of Qian; what it tames is great, hence it is called Daxu.

In this hexagram, Xun is above and Qian is below; Xun is yin, yielding in nature and harmonious, unable to halt and restrain the Qian below, taming only Nine in the Third Place. What it tames is narrow and small, hence it is named Xiaoxu.

The correct meaning states: 'Dense clouds, but no rain' means that when yang ascends, if yin can halt and restrain it, the two vapors pressing against each other produce rain.

Now, it is only capable of restraining Nine in the Third Place; its vapor being halted produces merely dense clouds, while Nine at the Beginning and Nine in the Second Place still push through upward, which is why it cannot make rain.

'From our western outskirts' means that the dense clouds gather from our western outskirts; being far away from us, their moistening benefits cannot be carried out, merely gathering in the western outskirts.

The correct meaning states: 'The yielding attains the proper place' refers to Six in the Fourth Place. Occupying a yin position with a yin line, it is said to attain the proper place.

This hexagram has only a single yin line, and the yang lines above and below all respond to it, hence it is called 'The Taming Power of the Small.' This explains the hexagram's name.

Saying that in this hexagram's taming Six in the Fourth Place only tames Nine in the Third Place below it, while Nine at the Beginning and Nine in the Second Place cannot be obstructed, yet stating that 'above and below respond to it'—if differentiated in detail, the meaning of small restraint is that it should only halt what is below; even the three yang lines cannot all be restrained, only Nine in the Third Place is restrained.

If judged in broad terms, all five yang lines above and below collectively respond to Six in the Fourth Place, hence it is said 'above and below respond to it.'

Even though the Fourth line is responded to, that does not prevent it from being entirely incapable of restraining firmness and strength. From 'strong and gentle' to 'benefits not yet dispensed.'

The correct meaning states: 'Vigorous yet gentle, firm in the center and its aspiration carried out, hence it attains success' means that being internally strong and meeting external gentleness, the firmness expresses itself outward without being crushed, and its aims are realized.

In this light, the aspiration of firmness and strength achieves success; this explains 'success.'

As for 'dense clouds, but no rain, still moving onward,' the reason there are dense clouds without rain is that it cannot restrain the various yang lines; Nine at the Beginning and Nine in the Second Place can still advance upward, so the yin and yang vapors are unblocked, hence no rain falls; this explains 'dense clouds, but no rain.'

'From our western outskirts, benefits not yet dispensed' explains the meaning of 'from our western outskirts.'

The reason dense clouds produce no rain and accumulate from our western outskirts is that the dispensing of moisture has not yet circulated everywhere; thus they do not cover the capital city, but only gather distantly in the western outskirts.

However, clouds lingering over the capital without raining would also be a case of benefits not being dispensed; that they must be in the western outskirts indicates that, were they over the capital, even if rain had not fallen, there would still be the benefit of shade and cover, and one could not say 'benefits not yet dispensed.'

Now by saying they are in the western outskirts, it means they are far removed from dispensing benefits.

From the commentary 'the momentum of small restraint' to 'already rained and already resting.'

The correct meaning states: 'Nine in the Third Place is all the more inferior because it cannot return' means that Nine at the Beginning attains 'returning to the way' and Nine in the Second Place is 'drawn back' to achieve return, both being able to break through upward with firmness and strength, which means yin cannot hold yang fast; Nine in the Third Place, being weak and inferior, cannot return on its own, which means yang does not press upon yin; hence neither can bring rain.

Furthermore, the essence of small restraint values ascending forward; Nine in the Third Place cannot return on its own and is thus all the more inferior, which is why it says 'Nine in the Third Place is all the more inferior because it cannot return.'

'Able to block its path and dwell peacefully at the top' means Top Nine can firmly shut the path of Nine in the Third Place, avoiding encroachment by Nine in the Third Place, and dwell peacefully at the top, hence 'already rained and already resting.'

Thus, considering the hexagram as a whole, it can only accomplish the dense clouds of small restraint. This clarifies that the hexagram and its individual lines have distinct meanings.

The hexagram synthesizes the two trigrams, showing that the upper structure cannot seal the lower structure, which is why dense clouds cannot make rain. The lines merely elucidate the affair of a single line: Top Nine can hold Nine in the Third Place fast, so Top Nine has rain.

Therefore, the meaning of the hexagram differs from that of the lines. This is true for many hexagrams.

For instance, in the hexagram Bi, it says 'Holding Together brings good fortune,' but Six at the Top says 'holding together without a head brings misfortune'; in the hexagram Fu, it says 'Return brings success,' but Six at the Top says 'confused return brings misfortune.'

These are all cases where the hexagram and the line meanings stand in contrast; all others follow this pattern.

The correct meaning states: 'The noble person refines his cultural virtue': 'refine' means to beautify.

Because during this time beneficial moisture cannot yet be dispensed, it serves as a metaphor for the noble person merely cultivating and beautifying his cultural virtue, waiting for the right time to express it.

Wind represents decrees and orders; if 'wind moves across the earth,' its dispensing adheres to all things, and one could not say 'benefits not yet dispensed.'

Now wind is moving across the heavens, far removed from all things, reaching nothing to dispense benefits upon; hence it says 'wind moves across the heavens.'

Whenever the Great Symbol Commentary draws meaning for the noble person, it either takes the images of the two trigrams and models itself on them—as in 'water in the midst of the earth: The Army; the noble person容-nourishes the people and gathers the multitudes,' taking the hexagram image's sense of containment; or as in the Xiang Commentary of Treading, 'heaven above and the marsh below: Treading; the noble person discriminates between high and low,' taking the sense of high and low, noble and base.

Cases of this kind all take the two trigram images for the noble person to model his actions upon.

Alternatively, it directly takes the hexagram's name and draws from its inherent meaning, which the noble person models himself after to act in accordance with the hexagram's meaning—as in the Song hexagram, 'the noble person plans at the beginning when initiating affairs,' guarding against the source of contention without adopting the image of 'heaven and water moving in opposite directions'; or as in Xiaoxu, 'the noble person refines his cultural virtue,' not taking the image of 'wind moving across the heavens.'

All other cases follow this rule.