Standstill — heaven and earth estranged, a time of stagnation and blockage.
Communication breaks down and the times do not favor great plans. Withdraw, keep your integrity, and refuse to trade principle for advantage. Stagnation, like all things, will eventually turn.
stagnationwithdrawalintegritypatience
Standstill places Heaven (strong, creative) above Earth (receptive, devoted). The interplay of these two trigrams gives the hexagram its character.
The Classical Textoriginal Chinese
The Judgment · 卦辞
否之匪人，不利君子贞，大往小来。
The Image · 大象
天地不交，否；君子以俭德辟难，不可荣以禄。
The Six Lines · 爻辞
- 初六拔茅茹，以其汇，贞吉亨。象曰：拔茅贞吉，志在君也。
- 六二包承。小人吉，大人否亨。象曰：大人否亨，不乱群也。
- 六三包羞。象曰：包羞，位不当也。
- 九四有命无咎，稠离祉。象曰：有命无咎，志行也。
- 九五休否，大人吉。其亡其亡，系于苞桑。象曰：大人之吉，位正当也。
- 上九倾否，先否后喜。象曰：否终则倾，何可长也。
The judgment, image and line texts above are quoted from the original Zhou Yi. A modern Chinese translation of the full classic is available on the original-text page.