乾 → 屯
Hexagram 1: The Creative → Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 6).
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 3
九三 君子終日乾乾。夕惕若厲。无咎。
Nine in the third place means: All day long the superior man is creatively active. At nightfall his mind is still beset with cares. Danger. No blame.
Line 4
九四 或躍在淵。无咎。
Nine in the fourth place means: Wavering flight over the depths. No blame.
Line 6
上九 亢龍有悔。
Nine at the top means: Arrogant dragon will have cause to repent.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
陽孤亢極，多所恨惑，車傾蓋亡，身常憂惶；乃得其願，雌雄相從。
Yang, solitary and at its extreme, meets much resentment and bewilderment. The cart overturns, the canopy lost; the body is ever anxious and afraid. Yet at last the wish is gained; female and male follow together.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Pure yang reaches its solitary extreme — isolated, regretful, confused. The carriage overturns and its canopy is lost: status collapses when ambition outstrips support. Yet the verse pivots sharply: desire is fulfilled, male and female come together at last. From Creative to Difficulty at the Beginning, heaven's lonely drive encounters the birth-struggle of cloud and thunder. Zhun's image — rain and thunder at the threshold of creation — requires precisely this: yang's overextension must break down before new life can emerge. The overturned carriage is not final defeat but the necessary humbling that allows union. What was isolated becomes paired; what was rigid becomes generative.
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