乾 → 謙
Hexagram 1: The Creative → Hexagram 15: Modesty
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 4, 5, 6).
Line 1
初九 潛龍勿用。
Nine at the beginning means: Hidden dragon. Do not act.
Line 2
九二 見龍在田。利見大人。
Nine in the second place means: Dragon appearing in the field. It furthers one to see the great man.
Line 4
九四 或躍在淵。无咎。
Nine in the fourth place means: Wavering flight over the depths. No blame.
Line 5
九五 飛龍在天。利見大人。
Nine in the fifth place means: Flying dragon in the heavens. It furthers one to see the great man.
Line 6
上九 亢龍有悔。
Nine at the top means: Arrogant dragon will have cause to repent.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
山險難登，澗中多石，車馳轊擊，載重傷軸。儋負善躓，跌踒右足。
The mountain is steep, hard to climb; the ravine is full of stones. The cart races, hub strikes; bearing heavy loads, the axle breaks. Carrying burdens, one is apt to stumble; the right foot twists and falls.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Mountain passes too steep to climb, ravines strewn with stones. A speeding cart strikes its axle-cap; the heavy load breaks the axle. The porter stumbles repeatedly, spraining his right foot. From Creative to Modesty, heaven's power is buried deep within the earth beneath the mountain — the image of the great voluntarily lowering itself. Yet the verse shows what happens before modesty is internalized: brute force charged at difficult terrain without accommodation. The mountain inside the earth teaches that true strength lies in leveling — reducing the high and filling the low. This stumbling, broken journey is the price of approaching Qian's mountain without Qian's willingness to bow.
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