乾 → 兌
Hexagram 1: The Creative → Hexagram 58: The Joyous Lake
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 3, 6).
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 6
上九 亢龍有悔。
Nine at the top means: Arrogant dragon will have cause to repent.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
鷁飛中退，舉事不進，眾人亂潰。
The yi-birds fly and retreat mid-course; undertakings do not advance. The multitude scatters in disarray.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
The yi-bird takes flight but retreats mid-course. Undertakings stall before completion; the assembled crowd scatters in disarray. The 'yi retreating in flight' is a famous omen from the Spring and Autumn Annals, Duke Xi year sixteen: six yi-birds flew backward over the capital of Song, interpreted as a portent of regression and disorder. From Creative to The Joyous, paired lakes should represent shared delight and mutual learning. Yet the verse shows the dissolution of joy: the collective that should be studying and celebrating together collapses into chaos. When the bird of initiative reverses course, all communal momentum is lost. Dui's joy requires sustained forward motion; without it, the gathering disintegrates.
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