شش خطی 21
از میان برداشتن، گاز زدن و عبور کردن، ریشه‌کن کردن (Shi He)

Biting through has the meaning of the mouth closing when eating something. In the body of the hexagram, the yangs on the top and bottom symbolize lips, the three yins symbolize teeth, and the yang in the middle represents something in the mouth. Also the qualities of the hexagram are fire , luminous, above, and thunder , active, below: Acting with unfailing clarity, acting only after clear understanding, it has the meaning of action that is not in vain; therefore it is called biting through.

This hexagram represents the study of investigating things and finding out principle; it follows on the previous hexagram of overseeing. In overseeing, two yangs oversee four yins, whereby to advance yang and gather medicine. However, the medicinal substances have different degrees of gravity and energy, the firing process has intervals of time; the slightest miss can produce a tremendous loss; so this work of finding out principle is indispensible.

Excellence or inferiority in learning to comprehend essence and life is all a matter of finding out principle. Understanding one part, you can practice one part; understanding ten parts, you can practice ten parts. If you know essence but not life, or know life but not essence, or know striving but not nonstriving, or know nonstriving but not striving, or know the medicinal substances but not the firing process, or know the start but not the finish, this is all incomplete investigation of principle, which will inevitably result in failure of practice.

If you want to act on something, you should first understand it; first understanding, then acting, all actions will be as you will. This is why biting through, using action within understanding, is developmental. Action with clarity is always based on understanding; its development and fruition may be symbolized by the administration of justice. Nothing in the world is harder to administer than justice; if the true conditions of justice are not clear, right is considered wrong and wrong is considered right—arbitrarily applying penalties, the calamity extends to the innocent, mistakenly injuring essence and life.

Practice of the Tao is like administering justice: Discerning true and false, right and wrong, is like the judge deciding good and bad; getting rid of falsehood and keeping truth, so as to preserve essence and life, is like the justice administration rewarding the good and punishing the bad, so as to alleviate the burden of injustice. When you investigate and find out true principle, it is clear in the mind and evident in practice; fully realizing essence and perfecting life, it is unfailingly developmental and beneficial.

Biting through is when the mouth closes in the process of eating something. Above is fire , below is thunder ; the fire accompanying thunder is lightning. This is thunder and lightning in the same place. Thunder shakes things, lightning illumines things. Within punishment there is reward, within killing there is vivifying. It is like when eating something the mouth must close; it does not move at random, and when it moves it discerns the flavor of the food. This is the image of biting through.

What the kings of yore saw in this was that when violent and vicious people walk inescapably into the jaws of death, it is because they do not know there is criminal law; therefore they established laws clarifying major and minor penalties so that people would know that they should not commit crime. When there were those who did not accept the rule of the kings and intentionally transgressed even though they knew the laws, the kings assessed the gravity of their offenses, proclaiming uniform laws so that people would know the law cannot be escaped.

First informing people with clarifications, then punishing offenders with authority, life and death are clear, punishment and reward are both used. When those who execute the law do not impose unjust punishments, and those subject to the law accept the consequences of their deeds, there is no barrier between the two sides. This is represented as biting through.

Penalties and laws were explained and established by ancient kings for the sake of the world and the livelihood of the people. Those who administer laws should emulate the ancient kings in first clarifying them before executing them, in order to avoid mistakenly injuring life.

The people who have false ideas about attainment of the Tao, who are unable to first thoroughly examine its principles, but take up practice recklessly and get sidetracked in auxiliary methods, either clinging to emptiness or sticking to form, wishing to seek long life but instead hastening death, are like the criminals in the times of the ancient kings. They are chewing on nothing, they have nothing to get their teeth into—what is the benefit in fact?