乾 → 革
Hexagram 1: The Creative → Hexagram 49: Revolution
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 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 6
上九 亢龍有悔。
Nine at the top means: Arrogant dragon will have cause to repent.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
玄黃虺隤，行者勞疲。役夫憔悴，踰時不歸。
Sickly and staggering, weary; the traveler toils in exhaustion. The conscript is haggard and worn; he does not return for ages.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Dark and yellow, stumbling and sick — the traveler labors in exhaustion. Conscripted workers grow gaunt and haggard; months pass and they do not return home. 'Dark and yellow' echoes the Kun hexagram's top-six line: 'Dragons fight in the wild, their blood is dark and yellow,' signifying extreme conflict. From Creative to Revolution, fire burns within the lake — the image of radical transformation. Yet this verse shows revolution's human cost: the laborers who bear the burden of upheaval on their bodies. Ge demands change but does not promise it will be painless. The conscripts' wasting frames are the price that revolution extracts from those who carry it out, even when the change is righteous.
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