Hexagram 18 · line 6
Work on What Has Been Spoiled
蠱Gǔ
Not serving kings or lords; pursuing a loftier undertaking.
Line statement
上九
不事王侯，高尚其事。
Not serving kings or lords; pursuing a loftier undertaking.
The firm top line stands outside active office and declines service to kings or lords in favor of a higher aim. Changing Line 6 to yielding turns upper mountain to earth and produces Hexagram 46.
Computed position
How this place works
- Trigram position
- outer · boundary
Line 6 is the boundary of the outer trigram.
- Polarity and place
- yang in an even place: not aligned
Its yang polarity does not match the traditional even-place convention.
- Correspondence
- Line 3: same polarity
Its counterpart is Line 3; the two share a polarity, so this structural correspondence is not responsive.
One line changes