I Ching Hexagram 22: Grace - Meaning, Changing Lines and Guidance

I Ching Hexagram 22, Grace (Bi), is the hexagram of form and presentation, built from Mountain above Fire. Its Judgement grants success but confines it to small matters. This guide covers the trigrams, the Judgement and Image, all six changing lines, and the nuclear and opposite hexagrams.

What does I Ching Hexagram 22 (Grace) mean?

I Ching Hexagram 22, Grace, is the hexagram of form, presentation, and the beauty that surrounds a thing without being the thing itself. Its Chinese name is Bi, written with a plant element sitting above the old cowrie-shell sign for valuables, and translators render it as Grace, Ornament, Adornment, Elegance, or Beauty. Hexagram 22 answers questions about how something looks, is framed, is dressed, or is presented, rather than about what it is made of. The Judgement grants success and then limits it: Grace has success, and in small matters it is favorable to undertake something. In this tradition Hexagram 22 is neither a warning against beauty nor a promise of substance. It says decoration works, within its range. A well-set table improves a meal it cannot cook. Readers who draw i ching hexagram 22 are usually being told that the surface of their situation is doing real work, and that they should attend to it deliberately instead of pretending it does not matter. The specific error the hexagram names is confusing the two layers: mistaking polish for the object, or arguing a case on style when the case needs evidence. Grace makes things acceptable and cannot make them true.

The commentary tradition attached to Hexagram 22 gives beauty an unusually serious job. The Tuan commentary on Bi observes the ornament of heaven to understand the changes of the seasons, and observes the ornament of humanity to shape and complete the world. The two phrases in that passage, tianwen and renwen, became the ordinary Chinese words for astronomy and for the humanities, a real trace of how far this small hexagram about decoration reached. The same commentary describes the situation as brightness held within limits, civilized and yet restrained, which is exactly the arrangement of the two trigrams. A traditional anecdote repeated in later Chinese sources has Confucius drawing Bi and looking displeased, on the grounds that a gentleman should want plain substance rather than ornament. The story makes the hexagram's own point, since Hexagram 22 ends with simple grace, white and unadorned. The arc of hexagram 22 meaning runs from a man decorating his toes at the bottom line to a man who has removed decoration entirely at the top. Grace is not rejected along the way. It is used, exhausted, and set down.

What is the Chinese name of I Ching Hexagram 22?

The Chinese name of I Ching Hexagram 22 is Bi, written with a plant element over the cowrie-shell radical for goods and value. Wilhelm and Baynes translate it as Grace, Legge as Ornament, and others as Adornment, Elegance, or Beauty. All point at one idea: value made visible through form.

What line structure does Hexagram 22 have?

Hexagram 22, Grace, is built from the bottom up as yang, yin, yang, yin, yin, yang: a solid first line, a broken second, a solid third, broken fourth and fifth lines, and a solid line at the top. The lower half is Li, fire, and the upper half is Gen, mountain.

Is Hexagram 22 (Grace) a favorable hexagram?

Hexagram 22 is mildly favorable rather than strongly so. Grace has success, but the Judgement restricts the scope to small undertakings, and no line promises great fortune. The best outcomes in i ching grace are quiet: perseverance rewarded at the third line, embarrassment turning to good fortune at the fifth, and no blame at the top.

Which two trigrams form Hexagram 22, and why does Mountain over Fire produce Grace?

Hexagram 22, Grace, is formed by the trigram Gen, Mountain, above the trigram Li, Fire, and the combination produces Grace because a fire burning at the foot of a mountain lights the rock face without altering the mountain at all. That is the whole meaning in one image. Li contributes brightness, clarity, and clinging: it is the trigram of what illuminates and what depends on something else to burn. Gen contributes stillness and boundary: it is the trigram of keeping still, the mountain that does not move and cannot be argued with. Set the bright, dependent trigram beneath the still, immovable one and you get exactly what ornament is, a light thrown across a surface it does not change. The mountain gains a glow at dusk. In the morning it is the same mountain. This is also why Hexagram 22 restricts itself to small matters. Firelight at the base of a slope reaches a few dozen feet up the rock and leaves the summit in darkness, so the beautifying effect is genuine but bounded. In family terms the pairing is the middle daughter, Li, working beneath the youngest son, Gen, brightness serving under limit rather than spreading without restraint.

The Tuan commentary reads the arrangement of Hexagram 22 line by line rather than trigram by trigram. A soft line comes down and adorns the firm lines, which is the broken second line sitting between two solid ones and softening them; and a firm line ascends to adorn the soft, which is the solid top line crowning the two broken lines beneath it. Ornament, in this reading, is what yin and yang do to each other when neither is trying to dominate. The contrast that clarifies hexagram 22 grace best is Hexagram 56, The Wanderer, which uses the same two trigrams in the opposite order: fire on the mountain rather than fire at its foot. A grass fire running along a ridge consumes what it touches and moves on, which is why 56 describes the traveler who cannot stay. Put the fire underneath and it becomes lamplight. Hexagram 22 also has almost no line resonance to work with. The first and fourth lines correspond, but the second and fifth are both yin and the third and sixth are both yang, so most of the hexagram is acting alone.

Which trigram is on top in Hexagram 22?

Gen, the Mountain, is the upper trigram of Hexagram 22, and Li, Fire, is the lower. Gen is two broken lines under a solid one, and it carries the meanings of stillness, stopping, and boundary. Its presence above Fire keeps the brightness of Hexagram 22 decorative rather than consuming.

What does the Li trigram contribute to Hexagram 22?

Li, Fire, contributes brightness, clarity, and dependence to Hexagram 22. Li is solid, broken, solid, and its classical attribute is clinging, since flame has no body of its own and must attach to fuel. Ornament likewise clings to what it decorates, exactly as the second line's beard clings to the chin.

How is Hexagram 22 different from Hexagram 56, which uses the same trigrams?

Hexagram 22 places Fire below Mountain and Hexagram 56, The Wanderer, places Fire above it. Fire at the foot of the mountain lights the slope and stays put, producing Grace. Fire on top burns across the ridge and passes on, producing the restless traveler with no lasting place.

What does the Judgement of Hexagram 22 say about success in small matters?

The Judgement of Hexagram 22 reads: Grace has success. In small matters it is favorable to undertake something. The first clause is a genuine yes. Presentation succeeds, courtesy succeeds, the right form works. The second clause is the constraint that makes hexagram 22 meaning usable, because it names the scale at which the yes applies. Small matters here does not mean trivial matters. It means undertakings whose outcome actually turns on form: an introduction, a proposal document, an apology, an interview, a repaired courtesy, the way a difficult message is worded, the choice of when and where to raise something. In all of these the presentation is not a coating on the decision; it substantially is the decision. Hexagram 22 says go ahead. What the Judgement withholds is the large undertaking, the one whose outcome turns on resources, evidence, or force. A merger does not close because the deck was elegant. A structural problem in a business does not resolve because the announcement was well written. Grace has no leverage there, and the classical language is careful about it: the phrase is favorable to undertake something small, not favorable in every undertaking, which is the formula other hexagrams use when the scope is unlimited.

The Judgement of i ching hexagram 22 is worth comparing with the hexagrams that surround it in the King Wen sequence, because the difference in wording is the whole lesson. Hexagram 21, Biting Through, is favorable to let justice be administered, a Judgement about applying force to an obstruction. Hexagram 23, Splitting Apart, which follows Grace, says it does not further one to go anywhere at all. Grace sits between an active verdict and a total prohibition, and it gets a permission slip with a size limit on it. Practically, Hexagram 22 answers the question how rather than the question whether. If you asked whether to pursue something and drew Grace, the hexagram has changed the subject to the manner of pursuit. Readers who force Hexagram 22 to give a large yes end up disappointed, not because the hexagram lied but because they read past the qualifier. There is also a timing hint in the Judgement. Small undertakings are favorable now, which implies a window rather than a standing condition. Fire at the foot of a mountain is an evening phenomenon, and the Chinese commentators noted that its beauty is at its greatest just before it goes out.

What counts as a small matter under Hexagram 22?

Under Hexagram 22, a small matter is any undertaking whose outcome turns on form: how a message is worded, when a request is made, how an apology is delivered, how a proposal looks. These are small in scale, not in importance. The large matters Grace excludes are those decided by resources, evidence, or authority.

Does the Judgement of Hexagram 22 promise success?

The Judgement of Hexagram 22 promises success, then bounds it. Grace has success is an unqualified statement about ornament doing its work, and the next clause limits favorable undertakings to small ones. Hexagram 22 promises that effort spent on presentation is not wasted, and promises nothing about outcomes presentation cannot reach.

What should you not attempt when Hexagram 22 appears?

When Hexagram 22 appears, do not settle a contested question by presentation alone; the Image of Grace is explicit that controversial issues must not be decided this way. Do not launch a large undertaking on the strength of how good it looks, and do not use polish to postpone a conversation about substance.

What does the Image of Hexagram 22 advise about deciding controversial issues?

The Image of Hexagram 22 reads: Fire at the foot of the mountain, the image of Grace. Thus does the superior man proceed when clearing up current affairs, but he dare not decide controversial issues in this way. The advice is a division of labor between two kinds of business. Current affairs are the running matters of a day, the ordinary administration that has to move: correspondence answered, schedules set, routine approvals, the steady traffic of small decisions. Firelight is enough for that work, and Hexagram 22 says to handle it with a light touch, good form, and speed. Controversial issues are the contested ones, where interests conflict and someone will lose. The Image forbids settling those by the light of Grace, and the reason is optical rather than moral. Firelight at the base of a mountain flatters what it touches and hides what it does not reach, so a case decided by that light will be decided on the part that happened to be lit. Anyone who has watched a contested decision go to the best-presented option rather than the best option has seen the failure this Image warns about. Grace is a working light for routine business and a dangerous light for judgment.

The contrast the Image is drawing becomes sharper against Hexagram 21, Biting Through, the hexagram immediately before Grace and its structural twin. The Image of Hexagram 21 tells the ruler to make the penalties clear and enforce the laws, which is precisely the handling of controversial issues that Hexagram 22 refuses. Where 21 supplies teeth, 22 supplies manner, and the sequence puts manner second because the tradition treats form as what finishes a settled matter rather than what settles it. Applied to modern work, the Image of Hexagram 22 maps onto a distinction most people already feel. Meetings that run on norms, courtesy, and good chairing dispose of a great deal of business efficiently. The moment a genuine conflict of interest enters the room, those same norms start protecting whoever is most fluent. Hexagram 22 says the practitioner sees this coming and changes instruments: get the disputed thing out of the graceful setting and into a process with evidence and a decision rule. That is a working boundary rather than cynicism about beauty, and drawing it correctly is most of what Hexagram 22 asks.

What does clearing up current affairs mean in Hexagram 22?

Clearing up current affairs in the Image of Hexagram 22 means dispatching the ordinary running business of a day: routine approvals, correspondence, arrangements, and the small decisions that need form more than deliberation. The phrase covers uncontested matters, where doing them elegantly and doing them correctly amount to the same thing.

Why does the Image of Hexagram 22 forbid deciding controversial issues by Grace?

The Image of Hexagram 22 forbids deciding controversial issues by Grace because firelight illuminates unevenly. It brightens what stands close to the flame and leaves the rest of the mountain dark, so a contested case judged in that light is judged on its best-presented portion. The better presenter would simply win, which is what the Image guards against.

How does the Image of Hexagram 22 apply to modern work?

At work, the Image of Hexagram 22 tells you to sort business into two piles. Routine matters go through the graceful channel: good format, courteous wording, quick turnaround. Genuinely contested matters leave that channel for a process with stated criteria and evidence, since otherwise the most fluent presenter wins.

What do the first three changing lines of Hexagram 22 mean?

The first three changing lines of Hexagram 22 track a person acquiring ornament from the ground upward, and each one tests whether the decoration is earned. The nine at the beginning lends grace to his toes, leaves the carriage, and walks. He declines a ride to which his standing does not entitle him and goes on foot instead, and the ornament in question is the modest one of doing so without complaint. The six in the second place lends grace to the beard on his chin. A beard has no motion of its own; it moves when the jaw moves, and the line is a plain statement that ornament follows substance and cannot lead it. The nine in the third place is graceful and moist, with the counsel that constant perseverance brings good fortune. Here the ornament has become comfortable, even luxuriant, and the danger is being lulled by a well-appointed situation into thinking the work is done. Together the lower trigram Li gives the reader an escalating comfort problem, from the toes to the face to a life that has become pleasant, and answers it each time by pointing back to what the decoration is attached to.

Reading the lower half of the hexagram 22 changing lines as one movement clarifies why the counsel gets sterner as it rises. At the first line the stakes are almost nothing, so walking instead of riding costs only pride, and the tradition treats it as the cheapest available practice in choosing substance over display. At the second line the illusion is stronger, since a well-groomed beard genuinely does improve a face, and the corrective is structural rather than moral: whatever the beard does, the chin decides. By the third line the person is established, and the phrase graceful and moist carries a hint of being oiled, glossy, softened by prosperity. This is the only line in Hexagram 22 that attaches a warning to good fortune rather than granting it outright, and the warning is constancy. The third line is also the top of the fire trigram, the brightest point of Li, which is why the pleasure peaks here and why the commentators put the danger here too. None of these three lines condemns comfort. All three ask whether it is resting on anything.

What does the first line of Hexagram 22 mean?

The nine at the beginning of Hexagram 22 reads: he lends grace to his toes, leaves the carriage, and walks. It describes someone declining a status marker he has not earned and going on foot. In a reading it counsels refusing the borrowed advantage or the inflated title, and taking the slower, plainer route.

What does the beard on the chin mean in the second line of Hexagram 22?

The six in the second place of Hexagram 22 lends grace to the beard on his chin, the tradition's image of pure ornament. A beard has no motion of its own and follows wherever the jaw goes. Improve the chin and the beard improves with it; groom the beard alone and nothing has changed.

What does graceful and moist mean in the third line of Hexagram 22?

The nine in the third place of Hexagram 22 is graceful and moist, constant perseverance brings good fortune. Graceful and moist describes a glossy, well-oiled condition, prosperity that has begun to soften the person in it. The line attaches a condition to the comfort: only sustained perseverance keeps the pleasant position from decaying.

What do the fourth, fifth, and top changing lines of Hexagram 22 mean?

The upper three changing lines of Hexagram 22 move from ornament toward plainness and end by dropping it. The six in the fourth place asks grace or simplicity, then answers with an image: a white horse comes as if on wings, he is not a robber, he will woo at the right time. A rider approaches at speed, is mistaken for a threat, and turns out to be a suitor, so the line is about a doubt that resolves in favor of the other person once the delay is over. The six in the fifth place gives grace in hills and gardens, where the roll of silk is meager and small, bringing humiliation but good fortune in the end. Someone in a high position visits a modest place and can offer only a small gift, feels the embarrassment of it, and is honored anyway because the sincerity is visible. The nine at the top is simple grace, no blame. The Chinese is bai bi, white grace, ornament reduced to bare white, and it is where Hexagram 22 has been heading from the start. Having climbed through toes, beard, gloss, hesitation, and a thin roll of silk, the hexagram arrives at a form that needs no defending.

The fourth and fifth lines of Hexagram 22 are where the hexagram admits discomfort, and both resolve well. At the fourth line the white horse and its rider carry the color of plainness, and the momentary fear of a robber is the reader's own suspicion rather than a real danger. The counsel at the right time matters as much as the reassurance, since the suitor arrives when the delay has run its course and not before. At the fifth line the meager roll of silk is a small bolt of cloth offered where a larger gift is expected, and the word rendered humiliation is closer to stinginess or embarrassment than disgrace. The line is one of the clearest statements in the I Ching that a modest gift honestly given outranks a lavish one. The top line completes the arc: ornament has been carried as far as ornament goes and comes out white, which is why the sequence commentary says that when adornment is exhausted, Splitting Apart follows. Reaching simple grace before that exhaustion arrives is what i ching grace trains a reader to do.

What does the white horse in the fourth line of Hexagram 22 mean?

The six in the fourth place of Hexagram 22 reads: grace or simplicity, a white horse comes as if on wings, he is not a robber, he will woo at the right time. The white horse is a fast approach that looks alarming and proves to be courtship. The line advises against reading an oncoming person as a threat, and counsels patience.

What does the meager roll of silk in the fifth line of Hexagram 22 mean?

The six in the fifth place of Hexagram 22 gives grace in hills and gardens, where the roll of silk is meager and small, humiliation but in the end good fortune. A small bolt of silk offered where more is expected causes embarrassment, and the sincerity behind it is recognized anyway. The honest modest gift outranks the impressive one.

Why is simple grace at the top of Hexagram 22 the best line?

The nine at the top of Hexagram 22, simple grace, is the strongest line because ornament has been carried to its limit and returned to plain white, needing no justification. Its verdict is no blame, the quiet clearance the I Ching gives a position with no exposure left in it. The ascent of Hexagram 22 exists to reach this point.

What are the nuclear, opposite, and paired hexagrams of Hexagram 22?

Hexagram 22 has three structural relatives, and each one names something the surface reading of Grace leaves out. The nuclear hexagram, built from the inner lines two through four and three through five, is Hexagram 40, Deliverance, formed by Thunder above Water. That is what sits inside Grace: a knot coming untied, tension released, a storm that clears the air. The opposite hexagram, produced by reversing all six lines, is Hexagram 47, Oppression, Lake above Water, where the water has drained away beneath the lake and words are no longer believed. Grace is a surface that persuades; its exact inverse is a surface with nothing left underneath it. The paired hexagram, produced by turning Hexagram 22 upside down, is Hexagram 21, Biting Through, Fire above Thunder, the hexagram of applied force and enforced penalties. Hexagrams 21 and 22 are the same figure viewed from opposite ends, which is why they sit next to each other in the King Wen sequence, and why the tradition treats justice and ornament as two faces of one operation. What follows Grace is Hexagram 23, Splitting Apart, where adornment has been carried to exhaustion and begins to flake away.

The nuclear hexagram is the most useful of the three for a live reading, because Hexagram 40, Deliverance, tells you what Grace is quietly accomplishing while it attends to appearances. Deliverance is the hexagram of the released tension, the moment the thunderstorm breaks and the pressure drops, and its own counsel is to forgive mistakes and deal gently with wrongdoing. Hidden inside Hexagram 22, that says the real function of good form in a tense situation is to let people climb down without losing face. The courtesy is not decoration on the resolution; it is the mechanism of the resolution. The opposite hexagram works as a warning rather than a description. Hexagram 47, Oppression, observes that a person in that condition has words but is not believed, and the shortest route from Grace to Oppression is using presentation as a substitute for substance until the credit runs out. On the pairing with Hexagram 21, the sequence commentary is blunt: things should not be united carelessly, so after Biting Through comes Grace. Force settles the question, and form makes the settlement livable.

What is the nuclear hexagram of Hexagram 22?

The nuclear hexagram of Hexagram 22 is Hexagram 40, Deliverance, Thunder above Water. It is built from the inner trigrams of Grace: lines two through four form Kan, water, and lines three through five form Zhen, thunder. It adds that the hidden work of Grace is releasing tension and letting a difficulty untie itself.

What is the opposite hexagram of Hexagram 22?

The opposite hexagram of Hexagram 22, obtained by changing every line to its counterpart, is Hexagram 47, Oppression, Lake above Water. Where Grace has a surface that persuades, Oppression has exhausted resources and a speaker whose words carry no credit. It shows what remains when the presentation of Grace is spent with nothing behind it.

Which hexagram is the pair of Hexagram 22 in the King Wen sequence?

Hexagram 21, Biting Through, is the paired hexagram of Hexagram 22, since turning Grace upside down produces it. Hexagram 21 is Fire above Thunder and concerns enforcement, clear penalties, and biting through an obstruction. The sequence places Grace immediately after it because form is what finishes a matter that force has already settled.

How should you read Hexagram 22 for a decision, a relationship, or work?

Hexagram 22, Grace, gives the same instruction in all three domains and applies it differently: work on the form, and do not let the form stand in for the substance. For a decision, Hexagram 22 usually means the question has been misframed. You asked whether, and Grace answered how, which points to a choice that will turn on presentation, timing, and manner rather than on the merits, and to a strong warning against settling anything contested by that route. For a relationship, Hexagram 22 confirms attraction, courtesy, and pleasure in each other, and it points to the fourth line, where the approaching rider proves to be a suitor and not a robber. It does not confirm depth already tested. For work, Hexagram 22 favors anything presentational: a portfolio, a proposal, a redesign, an interview, a repaired professional courtesy, a difficult message that needs the right wording. It does not favor a structural fix, because no amount of polish repairs a broken model. In each case the honest reading of hexagram 22 grace is to do the surface work seriously, at the scale the Judgement allows, and to keep a clear eye on what the surface is sitting on.

One practical habit makes Hexagram 22 far more useful in a live reading. When Grace comes up, write down what the substance actually is in your situation, in one plain sentence, before you read a word of the line texts. The hexagram is about the relationship between an object and its ornament, and it cannot be applied until you have named the object. Do this and the answer usually arrives fast, because the line that moved will point at either the object or the ornament. The second habit is watching which line changes, since the six hexagram 22 changing lines differ more than in most hexagrams. A first line asks you to give up a borrowed advantage. A second line says stop improving the presentation and go work on the thing. A third line says your comfortable position needs constancy to hold. A fourth line says the person you are wary of is not a threat. A fifth line says offer the small honest gift and accept the awkwardness. A top line says take the decoration off, the plain version is ready. Those are six genuinely different pieces of advice from one hexagram about beauty.

What does Hexagram 22 mean for a decision?

For a decision, Hexagram 22 means the outcome turns on form, timing, and manner rather than the raw merits, and it reframes a whether question into a how question. Grace supports the small presentational move and refuses the large one. If the decision is contested, take it out of the graceful setting and decide it on evidence.

What does Hexagram 22 mean for a relationship question?

For a relationship, Hexagram 22 confirms attraction, courtesy, and enjoyment, and reserves judgment on depth. Its fourth line, where a white horse arrives and the rider proves to be a suitor rather than a robber, is the classic reassurance against misreading someone's approach as a threat. Grace says the surface is good and asks you to check under it.

What does Hexagram 22 mean for work and career?

For work, Hexagram 22 favors presentational undertakings: portfolios, proposals, redesigns, interviews, and the careful wording of a difficult message. Effort spent there is rewarded, at the small scale the Judgement allows. Hexagram 22 does not favor using presentation to cover a structural problem, since polish on a broken model produces Hexagram 47, Oppression.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does I Ching Hexagram 22 mean in a reading?

I Ching Hexagram 22, Grace, means that form and presentation are carrying real weight in your situation, and will carry you only so far. Its Judgement reads: Grace has success. In small matters it is favorable to undertake something. The hexagram advises attending to how a thing is framed, worded, or timed, while refusing to let that framing substitute for substance. Hexagram 22 is a yes to polish and a no to bluff.

Is hexagram 22 grace a good sign for a relationship question?

Hexagram 22, Grace, is a warm but qualified sign for a relationship. It confirms attraction, courtesy, and pleasure in each other's company, and it points to the six in the fourth place, where a white horse arrives and the rider is not a robber but a suitor who will woo at the right time. What Hexagram 22 does not confirm is depth already tested. Whether the relationship has structure underneath is a question the hexagram declines to answer.

What are the changing lines of Hexagram 22 and which one is most favorable?

The hexagram 22 changing lines run: grace in the toes, leaving the carriage to walk; grace to the beard on the chin; graceful and moist, with perseverance bringing good fortune; grace or simplicity, with a white horse arriving; grace in hills and gardens with a meager roll of silk, humiliation but good fortune at the end; and simple grace, no blame. The nine at the top, simple grace, is the most favorable, because ornament there has been stripped back to plain white.

What does simple grace at the top line of Hexagram 22 mean?

Simple grace, the nine at the top of Hexagram 22, is plain white ornament: decoration carried so far that it returns to bareness and needs no defense. The Chinese phrase is bai bi, white grace, and it is the resolution the hexagram has been climbing toward. Read practically, it means removing the last layer of persuasion. The unadorned version of your proposal or your work is now the strongest version, and its verdict is no blame.

What hexagram does Hexagram 22 become if all six lines change?

If all six lines of Hexagram 22 change, the reading moves to Hexagram 47, Oppression, formed by Lake above Water. Reverse every value in Grace and you get a situation where the water has drained out from under the lake, resources are exhausted, and words are not believed. Hexagram 22 is a surface that persuades; Hexagram 47 is a surface with nothing left beneath it.

Why does Hexagram 22 say success only in small matters?

Hexagram 22 confines success to small matters because its Image is fire at the foot of the mountain, and such a fire lights the rock in front of it while leaving the summit dark. The light is real, decorative, and local. Applied to a question, Hexagram 22 means your presentational move will work at the scale of an interview, a proposal, or a repaired courtesy. It will not settle a structural problem or a contested claim.

What is the difference between Hexagram 22 (Grace) and Hexagram 21 (Biting Through)?

Hexagram 21, Biting Through, and Hexagram 22, Grace, are the same six lines viewed from opposite ends, which makes them a King Wen pair. Hexagram 21 is Fire above Thunder and deals in enforcement: an obstruction is bitten through and penalties are applied. Hexagram 22 is Mountain above Fire and deals in presentation: nothing is forced, and the situation is given a shape people can accept. What force settles, form finishes.