I Ching Hexagram 27
Hexagram 27: Yi (颐)
Composed of 震 (Zhen) below and 艮 (Gen) above · nourishment · mouth · moderation · sustenance
The Judgment
颐：贞吉。观颐，自求口实。
Yi: holding to what is right is good. Look at the jaw - it goes and gets its own food. The hexagram covers both mouths in one: what you take in, and what you feed someone else.
Translation notes
- 观颐: Wilhelm renders "Contemplation of the mouth" — 观 is the ordinary verb to look at and examine, the same one that opens Hexagram 20, and the second half of the clause - 自求口食, the jaw seeks its own food - tells you what to look for. Read together the instruction is narrower than contemplation: watch how nourishment actually happens here, and note that in the case of most people it means going out and getting it yourself.
- 颐: Wilhelm renders "Nourishment" — 頤 is literally the jaw and mouth, and the same graph is the ordinary classical verb for looking after or providing for a dependent. So the name carries both directions of one idea: what a person takes in, and what a person gives. Rendering it as a noun only loses the half the line texts are actually about - six of the six lines concern the person who feeds, and only two of those concern feeding yourself.
The judgment above quotes the classical Chinese of the Zhou Yi (public domain); the English gloss and modern reading are our own. Compare with James Legge's The I Ching (Sacred Books of the East, Vol 16) , 1882 (public domain).
Quick Answers
Is hexagram 27 (Yi) good or bad?
It is good, and the source of the good is unusual: the hexagram measures you by what you give other people, not by what you acquire. Its best verdict belongs to the person who nourishes, and even that verdict includes the word strict, because the work is tiring. The bad news is concentrated in one failure, and it is social rather than practical - giving in a way that serves your own need instead of anyone's hunger.
What does hexagram 27 (Yi) mean in love?
It means a relationship is fed by what you put in, and the text cares more about the giving than the getting. In a partnership it strongly supports sustained practical care, while warning against keeping your eye on what other people have. For someone single the emphasis falls on the other half of the same word: go and get your own food, and stop comparing your provision with someone else's.
What happens when line 6 of hexagram 27 (Yi) changes?
上九 turning yin gives Hexagram 24 (Fu, Return). The present line is the summit of the hexagram - nourishing others is described as strict and good, and even a great undertaking is approved on the strength of it. The changed picture says the turn comes back the other way: after a long stretch of feeding everyone else, provision returns to you, and the cycle that had been running outward starts running inward.
The Six Lines
Read your line of interest below. Lines are read from the bottom (line 1) to the top (line 6). A changing line means the hexagram is transforming — see the related hexagrams at the bottom.
初九
舍尔灵龟，观我朵颐，凶。You leave your own spirit-tortoise and stare at my moving jaws; bad. Changing the bottom line turns Yi into Hexagram 23 (Bo, Splitting Apart).
The tortoise is your own settled knowing, and you have set it aside to watch somebody else's appetite. This line is about comparison and envy in its plainest form - the sense of your own provision quietly emptying out while you look at someone else's table.
六二
颠颐，拂经于丘颐，征凶。The jaw is inverted: against the ordinary way, at the grave-mound, one chews. Going forth is bad. Changing line 2 turns Yi into Hexagram 41 (Sun, Decrease).
Feeding the dead instead of the living, and getting the direction of nourishment backwards. The line is harsh about a version of giving that serves your own need to give rather than anyone's hunger, and it says plainly that pressing on from there makes things worse.
六三
拂颐，贞凶，十年勿用，无攸利。Contrary to the jaw. Firmness here is bad. Do nothing for ten years, and there is no advantage in it. Changing line 3 turns Yi into Hexagram 22 (Bi-Grace).
The same reversal as the line above and a much heavier sentence: hold firm and it goes badly, so the instruction is to stop using that approach altogether for a long time. The only advantage in the whole line is the absence of one, which is a strong way of saying there is nothing to do here yet.
六四
颠颐吉，虎视眈眈，其欲逐逐，无咎。The jaw inverted - and it is good. The fixed gaze of a tiger; the desires chasing one another. No blame. Changing line 4 turns Yi into Hexagram 21 (Shi He, Biting Through).
Turned the right way round, the inverted jaw receives instead of biting, and that is the good version. The tiger's stare is the watchful, unblinking attention of someone who is not chasing, while the desires do chase each other - so this line pairs real focus with a warning about appetite that will not settle.
六五
拂经，居贞吉，不可涉大川。Against the ordinary way. Dwelling in what is right is good; you must not cross the great water. Changing line 5 turns Yi into Hexagram 42 (Yi-Increase).
The one place where going against the grain works - but only from a settled position, and explicitly not for anything large. Sustain the arrangement you are in and feed people there; do not treat the reversal of your own plan as a reason to attempt a major move.
上九
由颐，厉吉，利涉大川。From nourishment: strict, and yet good. It is favourable to cross the great water. Changing the top line turns Yi into Hexagram 24 (Fu, Return).
The satisfaction of being the one who nourishes, and the last line calls it strict as well as good. Sustaining other people is unfashionable, tiring, and it is the thing the hexagram judges most highly - and it is exactly the line that authorises a large undertaking on the strength of what you have been giving.
Hexagram 27 in Love, Career & Decisions
Love & Relationships
Judgment: a nourishing hexagram, pointing in both directions at once. Single: 自求口食 says go and get your own food - do not expect to be provided for, and do not mistake being looked after for being supplied. 初九 is the trap in its plainest form, setting aside your own settled sense of what you want in order to watch somebody else's enjoyment. Partnered: 上九 rates feeding another person as strict and good at once, the most honest description of the job available in the book. 六四 adds the item to watch - the tiger's fixed attention is good, the desires chasing one another is not. The closing line still authorises a large step.
Feed someone this week in a way that costs you time rather than money, and stop comparing your arrangement with someone else's.
Career & Work
Judgment: favourable for the sustaining role - mentor, manager, support, craft, the person whose output is other people's capability. Signal: the hexagram's highest verdict, strict but good, goes to the one who nourishes rather than the one who is fed, so investing in other people's growth returns something to you. Two warnings come with it. 六二 and 六三 treat a reversed jaw - giving in a way that serves your own need rather than anyone's hunger - as the cardinal error, with 六三 offering a decade of no advantage. 六五 is practical: if you are feeding everyone else, stay put until your own means are secure.
Take responsibility for one other person's growth this quarter, and check that your own work is not stalled on a small component nobody is tracking.
Making a Decision
Conditional yes - the decision to take on the nourishing, supporting role is favoured, and a decision to abandon your own means in order to do it is not. The judgment itself contains the test: 自求口食, the jaw goes and gets its own food. Ask whether your arrangement sustains you on its own before you commit further to sustaining everyone else. 六5 is the explicit boundary for anything large - dwelling correctly is good, but do not cross the great water while you are running against the ordinary order of things. The opposite error is 初9, and it is the more common one: sitting still, setting aside what you already know, and watching how other people are doing. Proceed on the giving, provided you are also being fed.
Commit to the supporting role only once your own provision is secure, and set the boundary in writing rather than in intention.
Health & Wellbeing
Tone: moderating and unhurried, with an appetite for rhythm rather than plans. The image's own instruction is 节饮食 - moderate what you eat and drink - and 慎言语, be careful with your speech, which in this hexagram is the same advice applied to the other end of the mouth. The energy signal is regular and modest: this is a hexagram for eating at roughly the same hours in roughly the same amounts, not for a new regime, and the 厉 of the top line suggests the nourishing work is tiring whether or not you enjoy it. Keep expectations of your own reserves realistic. For entertainment and reflection only, not medical advice.
Fix the hours of your meals and your sleep rather than the contents, and let the food be ordinary for a few weeks.
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