Line 3 of
Hexagram 43: 夬
“Displacement” — King Wen #43 · 九三
Line 3 九三
壯于頄，有凶。君子夬夬獨行，遇雨若濡，有慍無咎。
The third NINE, undivided, shows its subject (about to advance) with strong (and determined) looks. There will be evil. (But) the superior man, bent on cutting off (the criminal), will walk alone and encounter the rain, (till he be hated by his proper associates) as if he were contaminated (by the others). (In the end) there will be no blame against him.
— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1882 (public domain)
The Changed Hexagram 之卦
Line 3 changing turns hexagram 43 into䷹ Hexagram 58: 兌 — “Open”Read line 3 of hexagram 58 →Reading This Line
In the received Zhouyi text, line 3 of hexagram 43 is a strong (yang) line occupying the third line, at the threshold between the lower and upper trigrams — in the received text a classic place of unease. The classical line statement — 壯于頄，有凶。君子夬夬獨行，遇雨若濡，有慍無咎。 — 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 43 Line 3
What does line 3 of hexagram 43 say?
The received text reads: 壯于頄，有凶。君子夬夬獨行，遇雨若濡，有慍無咎。 In James Legge's 1882 translation: “The third NINE, undivided, shows its subject (about to advance) with strong (and determined) looks. There will be evil. (But) the superior man, bent on cutting off (the criminal), will walk alone and encounter the rain, (till he be hated by his proper associates) as if he were contaminated (by the others). (In the end) there will be no blame against him.”
Which hexagram does line 3 change hexagram 43 into?
Changing only line 3 of hexagram 43 (夬, “Displacement”) gives hexagram 58 — 兌 (duì, “Open”). 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.