乾 → 蠱
Hexagram 1: The Creative → Hexagram 18: Work on the Decayed
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 4, 5).
Line 1
初九 潛龍勿用。
Nine at the beginning means: Hidden dragon. Do not act.
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
彭祖九子，據德不殆。南山松柏，長受嘉福。
Pengzu’s nine sons, grounded in virtue, face no peril. Pine and cypress of the southern mountains long receive fine blessings.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Pengzu with his nine sons stands firm in virtue, never faltering. Like the pines and cypresses of the southern mountains, they receive lasting blessing. Pengzu, the legendary figure who lived eight hundred years, here appears not as a hermit but as a patriarch whose longevity extends through his descendants. From Creative to Work on the Decayed, wind blows beneath the mountain — the image of corruption that must be repaired. Yet the verse inverts the expected gloom: where Gu signals decay, Pengzu's enduring virtue prevents it. The evergreen pines and cypresses refuse to rot. When heaven's creative power roots itself in cultivated virtue, even the hexagram of decay yields perpetual freshness.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store