EN (English)
⑤
Line position 5 of 6
The fifth line
五 · Wǔ
The middle line of the upper trigram, central and in the seat of authority. In most hexagrams this is the best place on the board.
authority
the ruler
centrality
responsibility
- Position
- 5 from the bottom
- Trigram
- Upper trigram
- Place
- Yang place
- Centrality
- Central (中)
- Corresponds with
- The second line
- Classical name
- 五 (Wǔ)
What it means
The fifth is the ruler's place. It is central like the second, but in the outer trigram, which gives it both balance and standing: the classic's picture of authority that is in proportion to itself. Hexagram 1's fifth line has the dragon flying in the sky and recommends seeing the great person, and that image sets the tone for the position across the book.
Because it is a yang place, a solid line here is both central and correct, and the Judgment texts routinely explain a hexagram's good fortune by pointing at exactly that. An open line in the fifth is central but not correct, which the commentaries read generously: a ruler who governs by yielding, and who is therefore able to be advised.
Its correspondence with the second line is the classic's model relationship. A hexagram in which the fifth and second are central, correct and answering each other is about as well-ordered as the system gets.
In a reading
A moving fifth line points at the decision that actually governs the matter, and often at whoever is entitled to make it, which may or may not be you.
Its shadow is the isolation of the seat. Even here the texts keep recommending that the ruler listen downward, because the fifth line's authority is real and its information is not.
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