乾 → 漸
Hexagram 1: The Creative → Hexagram 53: Development
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 4).
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
陽低頭，陰仰首。水為災，傷我足。進不利，難生子。
Yang bows its head, yin raises its face. Water brings disaster, injuring my feet. Advancing is not favorable; it is hard to bear children.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Yang bows its head while yin lifts hers — the natural order inverted. Water becomes disaster, injuring the foot. Advance is unfavorable; bearing children is difficult. From Creative to Development, wind grows above the mountain like trees that take decades to mature. Jian counsels gradual, patient progress, the wild goose advancing step by step to higher perches. Yet the verse shows the inversion that blocks development: when yang submits and yin dominates, the slow upward growth that Jian requires is disrupted at its root. Water, which should nourish the mountain's trees, instead floods and destroys. Even the most fundamental act of creation — bearing offspring — becomes obstructed when the natural sequence is reversed.
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