Eradicating

Confronting a tenacious obstacle. Biting through and picking things clean until the essential is revealed. Confront problems. Bite through obstacles. Use severe measures to clarify what is right. Don’t cover things up. Beware of inaccuracy, delay, not probing deeply. Cooperate fully with authorities. Make clear, quick and incisive judgments.

噬嗑, 亨, 利用獄.

##### Symbolic This hexagram represents an open mouth (cf. hexagram 27) with an obstruction (in the fourth place) between the teeth. As a result the lips cannot meet. To bring them together one must bite energetically through the obstacle. Since the hexagram is made up of the trigrams for thunder and for lightning, it indicates how obstacles are forcibly removed in nature. Energetic biting through overcomes the obstacle that prevents joining of the lips; the storm with its thunder and lightning overcomes the disturbing tension in nature. Recourse to law and penalties overcomes the disturbances of harmonious social life caused by criminals and slanderers. The theme of this hexagram is a criminal lawsuit, in contradistinction to that of Sung, CONFLICT 6, which refers to civil suits. ##### Judgment BITING THROUGH has success. It is favorable to let justice be administered. ##### Judgment Comments When an obstacle to union arises, energetic biting through brings success. This is true in all situations. Whenever unity cannot be established, the obstruction is due to a talebearer and traitor who is interfering and blocking the way. To prevent permanent injury, vigorous measures must be taken at once. Deliberate obstruction of this sort does not vanish of its own accord. Judgment and punishment are required to deter or obviate it. However, it is important to proceed in the right way. The hexagram combines Li, clarity, and Chên, excitement. Li is yielding, Chên is hard. Unqualified hardness and excitement would be too violent in meting out punishment; unqualified clarity and gentleness would be too weak. The two together create the just measure. It is of moment that the man who makes the decisions (represented by the fifth line) is gentle by nature, while he commands respect by his conduct in his position. ##### Image Thunder and lighting: The image of BITING THROUGH. Thus the kings of former times made firm the laws Through clearly defined penalties. ##### Image Comments Penalties are the individual applications of the law. The lawsspecify the penalties. Clarity prevails when mild and severepenalties are differentiated, according to the nature of the crimes.This is symbolized by the clarity of lighting. The law is strengthenedby a just application of penalties. This is symbolized by the terrorof thunder. This clarity and severity have the effect of instillingrespect; it is not that the penalties are ends in themselves.The obstructions in the social life of man increase when there is alack of clarity in the penal codes and slackness in executing them.The only to strengthen the law is to make it clear and make penaltiescertain and swift.