Biting through — decisive resolution of an obstruction.
An obstacle blocks the union of things and must be bitten through with firm justice. Clear the interference directly, for half-measures fail. Firmness now restores the way.
decisivenessjusticeobstaclesresolution
Biting Through places Fire (clinging, light-giving) above Thunder (arousing, moving). The interplay of these two trigrams gives the hexagram its character.
The Classical Textoriginal Chinese
The Judgment · 卦辞
亨。利用狱。
The Image · 大象
雷电，噬嗑；先王以明罚敕法。
The Six Lines · 爻辞
- 初九屦校灭趾，无咎。象曰：屦校灭趾，不行也。
- 六二噬肤灭鼻，无咎。象曰：噬肤灭鼻，乘刚也。
- 六三噬腊肉，遇毒；小吝，无咎。象曰：遇毒，位不当也。
- 九四噬干胏，得金矢，利艰贞，吉。象曰：利艰贞吉，未光也。
- 六五噬干肉，得黄金，贞厉，无咎。象曰：贞厉无咎，得当也。
- 上九何校灭耳，凶。象曰：何校灭耳，聪不明也。
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.