Daily I-Ching · Monday, June 1, 2026
噬嗑 Hexagram 21: Biting Through
Something is stuck between the teeth — an obstacle that must be forcibly removed. The hexagram is about the decisive application of justice, law, or honest confrontation.
Reflect today: Where in the day does the pattern of biting through already show itself, and what single act would answer it well?
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Today's Meaning
Something is stuck between the teeth — an obstacle that must be forcibly removed. The hexagram is about the decisive application of justice, law, or honest confrontation. Firmness is required, but it must be clear-eyed and proportionate.
Practice
- Name Biting Through. Look for the place where biting through is already shaping the day: Something is stuck between the teeth — an obstacle that must be forcibly removed.
- Practice the Image. Let the Image become conduct: the kings of old made firm the laws through clearly defined penalties.
- Answer Hexagram 21. Before the day ends, make one visible choice that fits Biting Through instead of forcing the day to answer your preference.
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The Illustrated Story
A magistrate was handed a case that had been passed between courts for seven years. Every former magistrate had written the same careful non-decision. The new magistrate read the file once, summoned both parties, and in an hour's hearing cut through every evasion. The guilty was sentenced; the innocent, released. "Why did none of us do this?" his clerks asked. "Because each of you preferred to be admired by both sides," he said. "There are times for gentleness. This was not one of them." Justice sometimes requires the tooth, and the wise do not pretend otherwise.
Continue to the full Hexagram 21 page for Judgment, Image, trigrams, and line commentary.
Open Full Hexagram 21