27. Nourishment
Nourishment is hexagram 27 of the 64 in the I Ching, also known as the Book of Changes (in Chinese Yí, 頤).
What you feed shapes you; what you take in later speaks back out of your own mouth.
Core image
This hexagram is about nourishment in the widest sense: food, words, attention, the influences a person takes in and gives back out. The image is the mouth and jaw: taking in, sending out. What becomes clear here is that a life turns not on what you have, but on what you let in and what you bring forth.
Tension
The tension lies in how easily we take in without testing. We feed ourselves and others without looking at what it actually does. So care can turn into weakening, and scarcity into restless hunger. Not everything that fills you feeds you.
Distortion
Nourishment goes wrong when the mouth matters more than the source. Then we chase satisfaction, approval, sheer consumption. What comes in no longer strengthens the life, only the dependence.
Stance
Test what you feed, and what feeds you. Don't take in everything within reach, and don't say everything that rises in you. Good nourishment builds ground, rhythm, and dignity. Character is eaten slowly here.
Closing line
Much of the damage starts not with what we do, but with what we let in, day after day.
Plain-language entrances.
Derived addresses for this hexagram. They help search and recognition, but do not change the source meaning.
hexagram 27 voeding en aandacht
Hexagram 27 gaat over voeding: wat je voedt, waar je door gevoed wordt en hoe aandacht vorm krijgt.
Changing lines of hexagram 27
- Line 1. At the start, nourishment is sought in the wrong place. The eye goes to what glitters rather than what sustains. This line warns against hunger that cannot tell one thing from another.
- Line 2. Here nourishment is sought outside its proper order. From that comes dependence, or a kind of humbling. What you need does not justify just any source.
- Line 3. At this point the wrong feeding turns stubborn. You already know something isn't truly nourishing, yet you keep returning to it. This line shows how hunger can deceive itself.
- Line 4. Here feeding others becomes a task that can be carried well. The mouth is no longer used for oneself alone. That is what makes this line fruitful.
- Line 5. This line knows the responsibility of nourishment but cannot take it on lightly. Support or direction is still needed from elsewhere. That is no disgrace, as long as you hold the weight of it seriously.
- Line 6. When nourishment is at its best, it becomes a source rather than a consuming. Then not only your own life is fed, but the lives of others. This line carries great responsibility and great blessing at once.
Related hexagrams
Frequently asked questions about hexagram 27
What does hexagram 27, Nourishment, mean in the I Ching?
What you feed shapes you; what you take in later speaks back out of your own mouth. This hexagram is about nourishment in the widest sense: food, words, attention, the influences a person takes in and gives back out. The image is the mouth and jaw: taking in, sending out. What becomes clear here is that a life turns not on what you have, but on what you let in and what you bring forth.
What does hexagram 27 (Nourishment) ask of you?
The tension lies in how easily we take in without testing. We feed ourselves and others without looking at what it actually does. So care can turn into weakening, and scarcity into restless hunger. Not everything that fills you feeds you.
Read what is in motion in your situation.
A hexagram only takes on meaning in relation to your own question. Ask one and read what appears.