Hexagram 1: The Creative → Hexagram 7: The Army

The Creative
Heaven / Heaven
The Army
Earth / Water
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 5, 6).

Line 1

初九 潛龍勿用。

qiánconcealed
lóngdragon
not at all
yònguseful

Nine at the beginning means: Hidden dragon. Do not act.

Line 3

九三 君子終日乾乾。夕惕若厲。无咎。

jūnnoble
young one
zhōngthroughout
day
qiáncreating
qiáncreating
night
anxious
ruòseeming
struggle
no
jiùblame

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。

huòsomehow
yuèto dance
zàiacross
yuāndeep
avoid
jiùwrong

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。

fēiin flight
lóngdragon
zàiacross
tiānheaven
worthwhile
jiànto see
mature
rénhuman being

Nine in the fifth place means: Flying dragon in the heavens. It furthers one to see the great man.

Line 6

上九 亢龍有悔。

kàngarrogant
lóngdragon
yǒuhas
huǐregret

Nine at the top means: Arrogant dragon will have cause to repent.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramHeaven EarthThe Creative → The Receptive
Lower TrigramHeaven WaterThe Creative → The Deep

Yilin Verse

倉盈庾憶,宜稼黍稷。國家富有,人民蕃息。

Granaries brim, storehouses overflow; fit for planting millet and grain. The state is wealthy and abundant; the people multiply and flourish.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Granaries overflow with grain; millet and sorghum thrive in the fields. The state grows rich and the people multiply. From Creative to The Army, heaven's strength sinks into the earth and becomes water hidden within the ground — the image of disciplined reserves. The Army hexagram counsels accommodating the people and nurturing the multitude, and this verse embodies its ideal outcome: not conquest but abundance so great that the nation's storehouses cannot contain it. Heaven's creative power, administered through earth's receptive order, produces not war but agricultural prosperity. The army that truly sustains a state is its harvest.

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