Line 5 of
Hexagram 38: 睽
“Polarising” — King Wen #38 · 六五
Line 5 六五
悔亡，厥宗噬膚，往何咎？
The fifth SIX, divided, shows that (to its subject) occasion for repentance will disappear. With his relative (and minister he unites closely and readily) as if he were biting through a piece of skin. When he goes forward (with this help), what error can there be?
— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1882 (public domain)
The Changed Hexagram 之卦
Line 5 changing turns hexagram 38 into䷉ Hexagram 10: 履 — “Treading”Read line 5 of hexagram 10 →Reading This Line
In the received Zhouyi text, line 5 of hexagram 38 is a yielding (yin) line occupying the fifth line, the place the tradition treats as the ruler's position of the figure. The classical line statement — 悔亡，厥宗噬膚，往何咎？ — is what commentators from the Ten Wings onward have read as the figure's own commentary on this one position. James Legge's 1882 rendering, quoted above, keeps the imagery of the original: each line of a hexagram is read as a stage of the same picture, and this page collects the source text for that stage. If you treat the line as moving in the traditional way, flipping it alone produces the changed hexagram linked above; readers have long used that pair of figures to compare a situation as given with the same situation one line different. As always with classical divination texts, this is presented for cultural and reference interest — the text itself carries no prediction about any modern reader's situation.
Questions About Hexagram 38 Line 5
What does line 5 of hexagram 38 say?
The received text reads: 悔亡，厥宗噬膚，往何咎？ In James Legge's 1882 translation: “The fifth SIX, divided, shows that (to its subject) occasion for repentance will disappear. With his relative (and minister he unites closely and readily) as if he were biting through a piece of skin. When he goes forward (with this help), what error can there be?”
Which hexagram does line 5 change hexagram 38 into?
Changing only line 5 of hexagram 38 (睽, “Polarising”) gives hexagram 10 — 履 (lǚ, “Treading”). This is the classical way a changed hexagram is derived from moving lines.
Are line pages available for every hexagram?
Yes. Every one of the 64 hexagrams now has six line pages — one per line from the bottom line up to the top line — each with the classical Chinese text, Legge's 1882 translation, and the changed hexagram that line produces when it moves.
1 Legge, James. The Yi King, Sacred Books of the East vol. XVI (1882), public domain. Classical Chinese from the received Zhouyi text. · For reflection and reference — not financial, medical, or life advice.