Hexagram 12 — Obstruction
King Wen #12 · plain-language meaning, the Image, and the classical text
Stagnation: communication fails and the great fall away. Stand firm and wait the hour out.
What Hexagram 12 Means 白话解读
Hexagram 12 places earth (坤) beneath heaven (乾) — receptive ground holding all things below, creative force pressing upward above. This is why the tradition reads it as “Obstruction”: stagnation: communication fails and the great fall away. Stand firm and wait the hour out. Whenever you cast this figure, the classical reading points back to that turning of forces.
The Image 象傳
天地不交，否；君子以儉德辟難，不可榮以祿。
(The trigrams of) heaven and earth, not in intercommunication, form Phî. The superior man, in accordance with this, restrains (the manifestation of) his virtue, and avoids the calamities (that threaten him). There is no opportunity of conferring on him the glory of emolument.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
Heaven and earth fail to meet: standstill. The wise live frugally, avoid danger, and refuse rank and pay that would trap them.— plain-English rendering by The Hexagrams2
Hexagram 12 in Real Questions 實問實答
With money and work
Obstruction describes stagnation: communication fails and the great fall away. Stand firm and wait the hour out — and that is the posture the tradition recommends for practical matters under this figure: receptive ground holding all things, held inside a larger setting of creative force pressing upward. It names a shape of timing, not a sum.
For a decision
If you cast Obstruction about a choice, the figure's counsel is the same movement it pictures: stagnation: communication fails and the great fall away. Stand firm and wait the hour out. When lines move in your cast, read them against this base — the moving lines show which part of the figure is awake for you, and the changed hexagram shows where it is heading.
Questions About Hexagram 12
What does 否 (pǐ) mean?
Hexagram 12 of the I Ching is named 否 (pǐ), usually rendered "Obstruction" in English editions. Its figure is built from earth (坤) below and heaven (乾) above — receptive ground holding all things beneath creative force pressing upward.
Is hexagram 12 a good omen?
The received text of hexagram 12 is warm: it contains 3 occurrences of 吉 (good fortune), and 1 of 無咎 (no blame). The classical verdict is broadly favourable — with the lines' own conditions attached.
What does hexagram 12 mean in love?
In a relationship reading, Obstruction points to stagnation: communication fails and the great fall away. Stand firm and wait the hour out. The figure pairs earth (坤) beneath heaven (乾) — receptive ground holding all things meeting creative force pressing upward — which is the traditional picture of how this energy behaves between two people. For how to phrase a love question before casting, see our guide to asking the I Ching about love.
What does hexagram 12 mean for career and money?
Career and money questions read Obstruction through the figure itself: earth (坤) below, heaven (乾) above — receptive ground holding all things held inside creative force pressing upward. The plain reading: Stagnation: communication fails and the great fall away. Stand firm and wait the hour out. The text carries 3 mentions of 吉 (good fortune), so it is read as workable — provided the conduct the lines describe is kept.
What do the changing lines of hexagram 12 mean?
A cast of hexagram 12 can produce moving lines. Each of the six lines has its own statement (爻辭) in the classical text below, read from the bottom up, and a moving line is read as the part of the figure that is awake for your question. When a line moves it turns into its opposite, and the whole figure becomes a second hexagram: changing every line of 12 gives hexagram 11, 泰 (Pervading). Every line also has a page of its own on this site — Line 1 through Line 6 under this hexagram — with the classical Chinese and Legge's translation side by side.
How is hexagram 12 related to the other hexagrams?
Changing every line of hexagram 12 gives hexagram 11 — 泰 (Pervading). Turned upside down it becomes hexagram 11 — 泰 (Pervading). Its nuclear hexagram — the inner pattern of lines 2 through 5 — is hexagram 53 — 漸 (Infiltrating).
Cast it yourself
Shake the tube, watch your own coins fall.
- The hexagram's classical meaning — judgment and all six lines
- Moving lines marked — but not read for you
- No account, no email, nothing to pay
Get the reading, not just the text
Same cast, read all the way through:
- Every line read for you — what each moving line means inside your question
- The changed hexagram — where your situation is heading, and how to read the turn
- A closing that answers you directly — act, wait, or say it out loud
New to casting? How it works · All 64 hexagrams
Related Hexagrams 錯綜互
The Classical Text 經文
否之匪人，不利君子貞，大往小來。
In Pi there is the want of good understanding between the (different classes of) men, and its indication is unfavourable to the firm and correct course of the superior man. We see in it the great gone and the little come.— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1899 (public domain)1
The Six Lines 爻辞
拔茅茹，以其匯，貞吉，亨。
The first SIX, divided, suggests the idea of grass pulled up, and bringing with it other stalks with whose roots it is connected. With firm correctness (on the part of its subject), there will be good fortune and progress.
包承，小人吉。大人否，亨。
The second SIX, divided, shows its subject patient and obedient. To the small man (comporting himself so) there will be good fortune. If the great man (comport himself) as the distress and obstruction require, he will have success.
包羞。
The third SIX, divided, shows its subject ashamed of the purpose folded (in his breast).
有命無咎，疇離祉。
The fourth NINE, undivided, shows its subject acting in accordance with the ordination (of Heaven), and committing no error. His companions will come and share in his happiness.
休否，大人吉；其亡其亡，繫于苞桑。
In the fifth NINE, undivided, we see him who brings the distress and obstruction to a close,--the great man and fortunate. (But let him say), 'We may perish! We may perish!' (so shall the state of things become firm, as if) bound to a clump of bushy mulberry trees.
傾否，先否後喜。
The sixth NINE, undivided, shows the overthrow (and removal of) the condition of distress and obstruction. Before this there was that condition. Hereafter there will be joy.
Line by Line 逐爻细读
1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1899), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text.2 The Image (象傳) is an ancient text in the public domain; its plain-English gloss here is original to The Hexagrams, not a quotation from any copyrighted edition. · For reflection and entertainment — not financial, medical, or life advice.