I Ching Hexagram 27: Nourishment - Meaning, Changing Lines and Guidance

I Ching hexagram 27, called Yi or Nourishment, shows Mountain above Thunder and draws the shape of an open mouth. Hexagram 27 asks what you are taking in and who you are feeding. This guide covers the Judgement, the Image, all six changing lines, the nuclear and opposite hexagrams, and how hexagram 27 reads for a decision, a relationship and work.

What does I Ching hexagram 27, Nourishment, mean?

I Ching hexagram 27 means nourishment: what feeds a person, who supplies it, and whether that supply is worth taking in. The Chinese name is Yi, a character for the jaw and cheeks, and the six lines draw an open mouth, a firm line at the bottom and another at the top for the lips, four broken lines forming the hollow between them. King Wen's sequence places Yi at 27, after hexagram 26, the Taming Power of the Great, and the Sequence of Hexagrams commentary gives the reason plainly: once things have been accumulated, they can be used to nourish. Hexagram 27 meaning therefore stretches across food, money, teaching, attention, and the words that leave the same mouth food enters. The reading is not a blessing or a warning on its own. Yi describes a container and asks what is going into it. The Miscellaneous Notes commentary sharpens this by saying Yi is nourishing what is correct, which is why almost every line is judged by the source and direction of the nourishment rather than by its quantity. Draw hexagram 27 nourishment and you are asked to audit intake, not handed a result.

The line structure carries the meaning without any commentary at all. Two yang lines sit at the outer edges of hexagram 27 and four yin lines fill the middle, which makes the hexagram look like a large version of the trigram Li, fire, blown up to six places. Traditional readers call this shape an open jaw or an eye. In terms of who feeds whom, the arithmetic is stark: two providers, four dependents, and that imbalance is the pressure running through the whole of Yi. The strong first line can feed itself and is tempted to envy anyway. The strong top line has to feed everything above the middle. The four weak lines between them are all hungry, and the six line texts of hexagram 27 are six different strategies for getting fed, ranked. Because the center of hexagram 27 is empty, practitioners describe Yi as a question about capacity rather than possession. A mouth is neutral. It takes in medicine or poison at the same speed.

Why is I Ching hexagram 27 named after the jaw?

Hexagram 27 is named Yi, the jaw and cheeks, because the jaw is where nourishment is decided. Nothing enters the body without passing it, and nothing is said without moving it. Naming the hexagram after the mechanism rather than the meal keeps attention on the act of taking in.

Is hexagram 27 about physical food or something wider?

Hexagram 27 covers physical food and every other kind of intake. Classical commentary on Yi runs from grain and drink to the education of a prince and the sustaining of the people. Readers today apply hexagram 27 to income, diet, study material, media, and the company a person keeps.

Where does hexagram 27 sit in the King Wen sequence?

Hexagram 27 sits between hexagram 26, the Taming Power of the Great, and hexagram 28, Preponderance of the Great. Accumulation comes first in that order, then nourishment, then overload. Yi is the moment stored resources start being spent on feeding something, and the moment misuse becomes possible.

Which two trigrams form I Ching hexagram 27 and why do they produce Nourishment?

I Ching hexagram 27 is formed by Gen, the Mountain, above and Zhen, the Thunder, below, and the pairing produces nourishment because it is the anatomy of a working jaw. Gen means keeping still. Zhen means arousing movement. Set the still trigram over the moving one and you have what a mouth does when it chews: the upper jaw holds fixed while the lower jaw drives. Neither trigram alone gives nourishment. Motion without a stable frame is noise, and stillness without motion never processes anything. Yi needs both, which is why hexagram 27 mountain over thunder is read as a functioning intake system rather than as appetite. The Image adds the seasonal picture of the same arrangement, thunder rumbling at the foot of a mountain, the spring storm that wakes the roots while the mountain does not move. In a practical reading of hexagram 27, the Gen half is your structure, standards, and limits, and the Zhen half is your drive, hunger, and initiative. Trouble in a hexagram 27 situation is usually one half operating without the other.

The order matters, and the I Ching proves it a few hexagrams later. Reverse the two trigrams of hexagram 27, putting Thunder above and Mountain below, and you get hexagram 62, Preponderance of the Small, a completely different reading about staying low and attending to minor things. Movement above a fixed base is a bird flying past. Movement below a fixed cap is chewing. The same two trigrams give nourishment in one order and modest small action in the other, a demonstration that in the I Ching position carries as much information as content. A second structural note is worth having in front of you when interpreting hexagram 27. Gen and Zhen hold the only strong lines in the hexagram, one each, at the extremes. Zhen's yang line is at the very bottom, the beginning of movement. Gen's yang line is at the very top, where stillness completes itself. Everything between them is receptive, so the middle of Yi belongs to whichever end is supplying it.

What does the Gen trigram contribute to hexagram 27?

Gen, the Mountain, contributes stillness and limit to hexagram 27. It supplies the fixed upper jaw, the standard that does not move while everything else is processed. In interpretation, the Gen half of Yi is discipline, restraint, and the willingness to hold a boundary about what gets accepted.

What does the Zhen trigram contribute to hexagram 27?

Zhen, the Thunder, contributes movement and appetite to hexagram 27. It supplies the lower jaw, the active side that reaches, bites, and starts things. In a reading of Yi, the Zhen half is drive and hunger, the energy that has to be present or nothing is ever taken in at all.

Why is thunder at the foot of the mountain the image of hexagram 27?

Thunder at the foot of the mountain is the image of hexagram 27 because spring thunder wakes dormant life at the base while the mountain above stays unmoved. Stirring below, containment above. That is nourishment as the I Ching describes it, growth quickened inside a form that holds.

What do the Judgement and the Image of I Ching hexagram 27 say?

The Judgement of I Ching hexagram 27 reads: Providing nourishment. Perseverance brings good fortune. Pay attention to the providing of nourishment, and to what a person seeks to fill their own mouth with. The Image reads: At the foot of the mountain, thunder. The superior man is careful of his words and temperate in eating and drinking. Two things stand out. First, the Judgement of Yi splits nourishment into two directions and asks about both. How you feed others is a question of character, what you feed yourself is a question of judgement, and hexagram 27 refuses to separate them. Second, the good fortune in hexagram 27 is conditional on perseverance, meaning correct and continued conduct rather than a lucky outcome. The Image then narrows the whole hexagram to one organ and two disciplines. Words go out of the mouth and food goes into it. Wilhelm's translation, the version most English readers meet, is blunt here: the counsel is not to eat well and speak well but to be careful and temperate, a discipline of restraint at the one place where a person meets the world in both directions.

Practitioners tend to treat the Judgement of hexagram 27 as a diagnostic pair of questions to ask about the actual situation on the table. Question one, what is being served here and by whom. Question two, what am I reaching for and why. The line texts of Yi then supply the ranked answers, since each of the six describes a different way of getting fed. The Image is where hexagram 27 becomes practice rather than description. Pairing speech with diet under a single instruction is a specific claim, not a metaphor: both are appetites, both feel small in the moment, both compound. The careless remark and the careless meal come from the same slackness in the same place. Traditional commentary extends the Image from personal habit to public duty, since a ruler who cannot govern his own mouth is not fit to arrange the feeding of a country. Applied to a reading, hexagram 27 asks for one unglamorous act of self-restraint before it asks for anything strategic.

What does perseverance brings good fortune mean in hexagram 27?

In hexagram 27, perseverance brings good fortune means the promise is attached to sustained correct conduct about nourishment, not to the situation itself. Yi does not guarantee supply. It says that if you keep feeding the right things in the right direction, and keep doing it, the outcome turns favorable.

Why does the Image of hexagram 27 pair words with eating?

The Image of hexagram 27 pairs words with eating because the mouth is the single opening working in both directions. Food enters, speech exits, and Yi treats both as consumption habits governed by the same restraint. Careless speech and careless eating are the same failure at the same gate.

Does the Judgement of hexagram 27 promise success?

The Judgement of hexagram 27 promises good fortune only to perseverance and then hands back a question about sources. Yi answers a query with an examination. Success in hexagram 27 depends entirely on what the questioner is taking in and who they are feeding.

What do changing lines 1, 2 and 3 of I Ching hexagram 27 mean?

The first three changing lines of I Ching hexagram 27 are the difficult half, and all three describe nourishment sought in the wrong direction. Line 1, the strong line at the base, is capable of feeding itself and throws that away out of envy. Line 2 is weak and begs, first downward and then upward, from anyone who might supply it. Line 3 sits at the top of the Thunder trigram, restless and appetite-driven, chasing gratification that will not nourish anything. Movement in the lower trigram of Yi is unregulated, since the Mountain that steadies the jaw has not yet been reached. That is why these three lines carry the harshest verdicts in hexagram 27, including its only ten-year prohibition. Read as a group, hexagram 27 changing lines 1 through 3 diagnose failures that look different and share a root: the questioner has stopped judging the source. When one of them moves in a reading, the instruction is subtractive. Stop the intake that is going wrong before considering what to add, because Yi treats a bad source as worse than an empty mouth.

Line 1 of hexagram 27 is worth dwelling on because it is the only line in the hexagram where the questioner already has everything needed. The magic tortoise of the text was believed in Chinese lore to live on air alone, and its shell was the medium of the oldest divination, so the animal carries both self-sufficiency and access to insight. The line shows that tortoise being let go while its owner watches somebody else eat, mouth drooping. The failure in hexagram 27 line 1 is not scarcity. It is comparison. Lines 2 and 3 then show what dependence looks like once self-sufficiency has been surrendered. Line 2 has no proper correspondent above, since the fifth line is also yielding, so it turns to whatever is nearest. Line 3 abandons the question of correctness altogether, and its ten-year sentence is the I Ching's way of marking a full cycle, a habit that has to run all the way out first.

What does changing line 1 of hexagram 27 mean?

Line 1 of hexagram 27 reads that you let your magic tortoise go and look at me with the corners of your mouth drooping, and the verdict is misfortune. It marks a person with genuine self-sufficiency who abandons it out of envy for what someone else is being given.

What does changing line 2 of hexagram 27 mean?

Line 2 of hexagram 27 turns aside from its path to seek nourishment from the hill, and says that continuing to do this brings misfortune. It describes chronic dependence, asking whoever is closest rather than earning support, and the warning is specifically about repetition rather than one request.

What does changing line 3 of hexagram 27 mean?

Line 3 of hexagram 27 turns away from nourishment, warns that perseverance here brings misfortune, and adds that one should not act this way for ten years. It marks gratification pursued in place of real sustenance, and hexagram 27 gives it the longest prohibition in the hexagram.

What do changing lines 4, 5 and 6 of I Ching hexagram 27 mean?

The upper three changing lines of I Ching hexagram 27 reverse the verdict, because in the Mountain trigram the seeking is done for others rather than for oneself. Line 4 turns to the summit for nourishment and is told this brings good fortune, then given a startling image: spying about with sharp eyes like a tiger with insatiable craving, no blame. Line 5 is the ruler of hexagram 27, weak in a strong place, unable to feed the people from its own resources, so it leans on the strong line above, which brings good fortune but forbids crossing the great water. Line 6 is the source of nourishment itself, the strong top line on which the whole upper half of Yi depends, and it alone is told that crossing the great water furthers. The pattern in hexagram 27 changing lines 4 through 6 is consistent. Intensity, dependence, and ambition are permitted here provided the nourishment flows outward to those who need it. Line 4 hunts hard because it has mouths to feed. Line 5 borrows strength openly. Line 6 accepts the danger of being the supply.

The tiger in line 4 of hexagram 27 is one of the most quoted images in the hexagram, and it is easy to misread as greed. The distinguishing detail is the phrase no blame attached to an insatiable craving, which the I Ching rarely grants. What makes the tiger's stare acceptable in Yi is its object. Line 4 is a minister position, correctly placed, holding correspondence with the strong first line below, and its hunger is on behalf of the people beneath it. Relentless searching is exactly right when you are not the one eating. Line 5 of hexagram 27 shows the opposite temperament, a ruler honest enough to admit the resources are not personally there and to defer to the sage above. Its prohibition on crossing the great water is a scale limit rather than a rebuke: borrowed strength runs daily operations and cannot carry a great undertaking. Line 6 carries the weight of the whole hexagram, which is why commentators treat the top line as the governing line of Yi.

What does changing line 4 of hexagram 27 mean?

Line 4 of hexagram 27 turns to the summit for nourishment with good fortune, spying about with sharp eyes like a tiger with insatiable craving, and receives no blame. It marks aggressive, focused resource-seeking that is legitimate because the resources are being gathered to feed others.

What does changing line 5 of hexagram 27 mean?

Line 5 of hexagram 27 turns away from the path, promises good fortune to perseverance, and states that one should not cross the great water. It shows a leader too weak to supply the people alone, rightly leaning on the strong sixth line, and therefore barred from large undertakings.

What does changing line 6 of hexagram 27 mean?

Line 6 of hexagram 27 names itself the source of nourishment, says awareness of danger brings good fortune, and declares that crossing the great water furthers. It is the strongest position in Yi, carrying responsibility for everyone fed by it, and the only line licensed for a great undertaking.

What are the nuclear and opposite hexagrams of I Ching hexagram 27?

The nuclear hexagram of I Ching hexagram 27 is hexagram 2, the Receptive, pure yin, and the opposite hexagram is hexagram 28, Preponderance of the Great. Both come straight from the line structure. Take the inner lines of Yi, positions two through four and three through five, and each set gives three broken lines, the trigram Kun. Doubled, that is hexagram 2, so the hidden interior of hexagram 27 is total receptivity, an empty vessel with no content of its own. That is a precise description of a mouth and an unusually clean result, since few hexagrams have a nuclear hexagram this pure. Change every line of hexagram 27 and the strong outer pair becomes weak while the four hollow middle lines become solid, producing hexagram 28, Lake above Wind, the sagging ridgepole. Hexagram 27 is empty at the center and firm at the edges. Hexagram 28 is packed at the center and weak at the edges. Reading them together clarifies both: Yi is capacity waiting to be filled, and Da Guo is capacity already exceeded.

Hexagram 27 also belongs to a small club that shapes how it is read. Turn Yi upside down and it is unchanged, because its line pattern is symmetrical from top to bottom. Only eight hexagrams in the I Ching have this property, among them hexagram 1, hexagram 2, hexagram 29 and hexagram 30. In a system where most hexagrams are paired with their own inversion, a self-inverting hexagram has to be paired with its complete opposite instead, which is why hexagram 27 is matched with hexagram 28. The symmetry has interpretive weight too. Nourishment looks the same from either end, which is the structural argument behind the Image's insistence on watching what goes in and what comes out. Traditional readers add one more observation about the shape of hexagram 27: solid, hollow, solid is the pattern of the trigram Li, fire, so Yi is sometimes called the great Li.

Why is the nuclear hexagram of hexagram 27 pure yin?

The nuclear hexagram of hexagram 27 is pure yin because lines two through five of Yi are all broken, so both inner trigrams are Kun and the nuclear hexagram is hexagram 2, the Receptive. The interior of hexagram 27 has no content of its own, only capacity to receive.

How does hexagram 27 differ from hexagram 28?

Hexagram 27 and hexagram 28 are exact line-by-line opposites. Hexagram 27 is hollow in the middle with firm ends, a mouth ready to be filled. Hexagram 28 is dense in the middle with weak ends, a ridgepole bending under load. One reads as capacity, the other as excess.

Why does hexagram 27 look the same upside down?

Hexagram 27 looks the same upside down because its line pattern is vertically symmetrical, strong at both ends with four broken lines between. It is one of only eight self-inverting hexagrams in the I Ching, and that symmetry is why Yi is paired with its opposite, hexagram 28.

What does I Ching hexagram 27 advise when you are making a decision?

I Ching hexagram 27 advises you to examine the supply behind a decision before judging the decision itself. Yi rarely answers a yes or no question in those terms. It answers by asking what the plan will run on, where that fuel comes from, and whether the source is one you would depend on for as long as the commitment lasts. A venture that looks sound but is fed by borrowed enthusiasm, an unreliable backer, or somebody else's approval is the situation the lower lines of hexagram 27 describe. On timing, hexagram 27 leans toward preparation over launch. Crossing the great water, the classical phrase for a major undertaking, is forbidden at line 5 and furthered only at line 6, so a big move is permitted solely from genuine strength. The rest of Yi is a period of intake, when the useful work is building the supply rather than spending it. Since hexagram 27 counsels restraint at the mouth, decisions under it are often improved by saying less about them while they are still forming.

A workable method with hexagram 27 is to list what the decision consumes and check each item for source and direction. Money, hours, attention, goodwill from other people, and physical energy all count. Direction is the part readers skip. Yi distinguishes sharply between resources you draw toward yourself and resources you gather to pass on, and line 4 shows the same relentless behavior earning no blame in the second case while lines 2 and 3 earn misfortune in the first. If a decision feeds mainly you, hexagram 27 wants the source to be unimpeachable. If it feeds people who depend on you, the hexagram grants far more latitude in how hard you hunt. Hexagram 27 also flags a failure mode worth naming: substitution. Line 3 chases what tastes like nourishment and is not, which in a modern decision shows up as motion mistaken for progress, activity that feels productive while nothing accumulates.

Does hexagram 27 favor waiting or acting?

Hexagram 27 favors intake and preparation over launching, with one exception. Crossing the great water is barred at line 5 of Yi and furthered at line 6, so a major move is sanctioned only from real strength. Elsewhere in hexagram 27 the productive work is building the supply.

What question should you ask when hexagram 27 answers a decision?

When hexagram 27 answers a decision, ask what the plan will feed on and where that comes from. Yi judges by source and direction, not by size of opportunity. A promising venture running on an unreliable supply is the situation the lower lines of hexagram 27 warn about.

What does crossing the great water mean in hexagram 27?

Crossing the great water in hexagram 27 means undertaking something large and irreversible. Yi mentions it twice with opposite verdicts: line 5 forbids it because the ruler is leaning on borrowed strength, and line 6 furthers it because that line is the source of nourishment itself.

What does I Ching hexagram 27 mean for a relationship?

For a relationship, I Ching hexagram 27 asks who is feeding whom and whether the arrangement is honest. Yi is the hexagram of supply, so it reads a partnership as a system of intake: attention given, reassurance requested, emotional labor absorbed. When hexagram 27 appears for a relationship question, the answer is usually visible in the balance sheet. One person is providing and one is being provided for, and the hexagram wants to know whether both would say so out loud. Two line warnings tend to apply. Line 1 of hexagram 27 describes envy, the partner who has their own resources and abandons them to resent what someone else is getting, and Yi calls that misfortune rather than unfairness. Line 2 describes chronic asking, turning to whoever is nearest instead of standing on one's own path. The Image of hexagram 27 lands hard in relationship readings too, since being careful of your words is the most transferable instruction in the hexagram. Most damage in a hexagram 27 relationship goes out through the mouth rather than in.

Hexagram 27 does not treat dependence as a flaw by itself. Line 5, a weak ruler leaning openly on the strong line above, receives good fortune, and the reason is candor. The dependence is acknowledged, the supplier is the right one, and the limits are respected, so nothing large is attempted on borrowed strength. Applied to a couple, Yi distinguishes between someone who says plainly that they need support right now and someone who extracts it while claiming not to need it. The first is line 5, the second is line 2. For new relationships, hexagram 27 counsels patience on the specific grounds that you are still finding out what the other person feeds on, which is knowable only by watching over time. For long relationships, Yi points at accumulated habits, the recurring conversation that consumes energy without nourishing either person. Hexagram 27 in a relationship reading rarely calls for a dramatic change. It calls for changing the diet.

Is hexagram 27 a good sign for love?

Hexagram 27 is favorable for love when nourishment flows in a direction both people acknowledge, and unfavorable when one person is quietly living off the other. Yi grades by honesty about supply rather than by feeling. A relationship where the giving is named and mutual reads well under hexagram 27.

What does hexagram 27 say about a dependent partner?

Hexagram 27 separates two kinds of dependence. Line 5 depends openly on the right source and receives good fortune. Line 2 turns aside from its own path to take from whoever is nearest, and Yi warns that continuing brings misfortune. The difference is candor and choice of source.

How does the Image of hexagram 27 apply to arguments?

The Image of hexagram 27 tells the superior man to be careful of his words, which in an argument means restraint at the exact moment restraint feels least available. Yi treats speech as intake in reverse, so the same discipline governing appetite governs what you let out during conflict.

What does I Ching hexagram 27 mean for work and money?

For work and money, I Ching hexagram 27 points at income sources, running costs, and what the working mind is being fed. Yi is a hexagram about a supply chain, so in a career reading it asks where the money comes from, how many sources there are, and whether any of them is the hill that line 2 turns aside to beg from. A single dependent client, or a role sustained by borrowing against future effort, is a hexagram 27 situation. On spending, the Image applies without translation, since temperate in eating and drinking reads cleanly as living below your intake. Hexagram 27 also covers professional nourishment: training, mentorship, the material you read, the standards you absorb from people around you. Line 4 gives permission to hunt for resources with a tiger's focus when you are responsible for feeding others, which in work terms is the manager fighting for a team's budget. What Yi will not sanction is a career fed by envy of what a peer is being handed.

The two trigrams of hexagram 27 give a quick diagnostic for a working situation. Thunder below is initiative, hustle, and the willingness to go get things. Mountain above is standards, structure, and the limit that says no. A business showing the Zhen half alone consumes everything within reach and processes none of it. A business showing the Gen half alone has excellent standards and no intake. Hexagram 27 works only when both are running, and a reading of Yi usually indicates which is missing. On money, hexagram 27 favors the unglamorous work of stabilizing supply over the exciting work of expanding, which follows from line 5's ban on crossing the great water. Consolidate income, diversify away from a single source, cut the outflow that produces nothing, and reserve the large move for the position line 6 describes. Yi rewards a person who knows exactly what they are living on.

What does hexagram 27 say about a job offer?

Hexagram 27 evaluates a job offer by what it will feed you and what it will make you feed. Yi asks whether the role provides genuine sustenance, meaning skill, stability, and standards, or only the appearance of it. Salary alone is the kind of surface answer line 3 of hexagram 27 warns about.

Does hexagram 27 indicate financial gain?

Hexagram 27 indicates attention to supply rather than a promise of gain. Yi favors securing and diversifying income over expanding it, since line 5 forbids crossing the great water. Financial improvement under hexagram 27 usually comes from stabilizing sources and trimming outflow, not from a windfall.

How does line 4 of hexagram 27 apply at work?

Line 4 of hexagram 27 applies at work to anyone gathering resources on behalf of other people. The tiger's relentless searching earns no blame in Yi because the hunt is for a team, a budget, or a payroll. The same intensity pursued for oneself falls under the warnings of lines 2 and 3.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is I Ching hexagram 27 a good omen or a bad omen?

I Ching hexagram 27 is conditional rather than good or bad. The Judgement of Yi promises good fortune to perseverance, then immediately attaches a test: pay attention to how nourishment is provided and to what a person is trying to fill their own mouth with. Three lines of hexagram 27 carry misfortune, all of them describing intake taken from the wrong source. Same hexagram, opposite verdicts, decided by direction.

What is the Chinese name of I Ching hexagram 27?

The Chinese name of I Ching hexagram 27 is Yi, written with the character for the jaw and cheeks. The same character appears in ordinary Chinese usage for nurturing and caring for health, so the name carries both the anatomy of the mouth and the act of sustaining life. English translations render hexagram 27 as Nourishment, Providing Nourishment, or The Corners of the Mouth, all pointing at the same jaw that opens and closes.

What does the magic tortoise in line 1 of hexagram 27 mean?

The magic tortoise in the first line of hexagram 27 stands for a source of nourishment you already possess and do not need to be given. Chinese tradition held that the tortoise could live on air alone, needing no ordinary food, which made it an emblem of self-sufficiency and of the shells used in early divination. Line 1 shows someone setting that tortoise aside to stare enviously at another person's meal, and the verdict is misfortune.

What does hexagram 27 become when all six lines change?

When all six lines of hexagram 27 change, the result is hexagram 28, Preponderance of the Great, Lake above Wind. Hexagram 27 is hollow in the middle with firm lines at both ends, the picture of a mouth. Hexagram 28 inverts that exactly: four strong lines packed into the center, weak lines at top and bottom, a ridgepole sagging under its own load. The two sit side by side in the King Wen sequence as a matched pair.

Does I Ching hexagram 27 mean I should change my diet?

I Ching hexagram 27 is read literally about food often enough that the question is fair, and the Image does say the superior man is temperate in eating and drinking. In practice, readers treat food as one channel of intake among several, since hexagram 27 also covers money taken in, teaching absorbed, attention spent, and company kept. Diet is the most concrete place to start applying Yi, and rarely the only place the question points.

Which line of hexagram 27 permits crossing the great water?

The top line of hexagram 27, the strong sixth line, is the only place in Yi where crossing the great water is furthered. Its text names this line the source of nourishment and adds that awareness of danger brings good fortune. The fifth line of hexagram 27 says the opposite, that one should not cross the great water, because the ruler there leans on borrowed strength. Great undertakings are licensed at the top of Yi and nowhere else in it.

What is the difference between I Ching hexagram 27 and hexagram 15?

I Ching hexagram 27, Nourishment, and hexagram 15, Modesty, both counsel restraint but for different reasons. Hexagram 15 concerns how you position yourself relative to others and recommends lowering your standing. Hexagram 27 concerns supply, and its restraint is about what passes through the mouth in both directions. Hexagram 15 asks where you stand. Hexagram 27 asks what you are living on.