I-Ching Hexagram 27
頤 Nourishment
Also known as Mouth Corners
The jaws of the mouth, the channel of sustenance. The figure concerns what goes in and what comes out — food, words, influences.
nourishment · jaws · sustenance
The Story
A cook ran a small kitchen at the edge of a market. She was particular about what she bought, slow with what she prepared, and exact about what she served. She refused to sell to those who ate while arguing. "The food enters you," she said. "It becomes your thoughts. I will not sell thoughts to a fool." Her kitchen was always full. A scholar from the capital, observing her, wrote: "What is taken in, one becomes. Guard the mouth — for both food and speech — as you would guard a gate into the self."
The Judgment
Perseverance brings good fortune. Pay attention to providing nourishment and to what a person seeks to fill their own mouth with.
The Image
At the foot of the mountain, thunder: the image of providing nourishment. Thus the superior person is careful of their words and temperate in eating and drinking.
Interpretation
The jaws of the mouth, the channel of sustenance. The figure concerns what goes in and what comes out — food, words, influences. It asks: are you nourishing yourself, and those around you, with what truly sustains?
Trigrams
The Six Lines
- First (Bottom) You let your magic tortoise go and look at me with the corners of your mouth drooping. Misfortune. Envying another's nourishment while your own is abandoned.
- Second Turning to the summit for nourishment, deviating from the path to seek nourishment from the hill. Continuing to do this brings misfortune. Looking in the wrong direction for sustenance; the corruption deepens with habit.
- Third Turning away from nourishment. Perseverance brings misfortune. Do not act thus for ten years. Nothing serves to further. A refusal of real sustenance; a long time before recovery.
- Fourth Turning to the summit for provision of nourishment brings good fortune. Spying about with sharp eyes like a tiger with insatiable craving. No blame. Turning upward is correct here; reach purposefully toward worthy nourishment.
- Fifth Turning away from the path. To remain persevering brings good fortune. One should not cross the great water. Stay home and cultivate rather than launch new ventures; not the moment for bold moves.
- Sixth (Top) The source of nourishment. Awareness of danger brings good fortune. It furthers one to cross the great water. Those who feed others bear responsibility; but with care, the great works succeed.