Line 5 of
Hexagram 7: 師
“Leading” — King Wen #7 · 六五
Line 5 六五
田有禽，利執言，無咎；長子帥師，弟子輿尸，貞凶。
The fifth SIX, divided, shows birds in the fields, which it will be advantageous to seize (and destroy). In that case there will be no error. If the oldest son leads the host, and younger men (idly occupy offices assigned to them), however firm and correct he may be, there will be evil.
— The I Ching, trans. James Legge, 1882 (public domain)
The Changed Hexagram 之卦
Line 5 changing turns hexagram 7 into䷜ Hexagram 29: 坎 — “Gorge”Read line 5 of hexagram 29 →Reading This Line
In the received Zhouyi text, line 5 of hexagram 7 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 — 田有禽，利執言，無咎；長子帥師，弟子輿尸，貞凶。 — 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 7 Line 5
What does line 5 of hexagram 7 say?
The received text reads: 田有禽，利執言，無咎；長子帥師，弟子輿尸，貞凶。 In James Legge's 1882 translation: “The fifth SIX, divided, shows birds in the fields, which it will be advantageous to seize (and destroy). In that case there will be no error. If the oldest son leads the host, and younger men (idly occupy offices assigned to them), however firm and correct he may be, there will be evil.”
Which hexagram does line 5 change hexagram 7 into?
Changing only line 5 of hexagram 7 (師, “Leading”) gives hexagram 29 — 坎 (kǎn, “Gorge”). 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.