履 → 屯
Hexagram 10: Treading → Hexagram 3: Difficulty at the Beginning
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 4, 6).
Line 2
九二 履道坦坦。幽人貞吉。
Nine in the second place means: Treading a smooth, level course. The perseverance of a dark man Brings good fortune.
Line 4
九四 履虎尾。愬愬終吉。
Nine in the fourth place means: He treads on the tail of the tiger. Caution and circumspection Lead ultimately to good fortune.
Line 6
上九 視履考祥。其旋元吉。
Nine at the top means: Look to your conduct and weigh the favorable signs. When everything is fulfilled, supreme good fortune comes.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
轅折輪破，馬倚僕臥，後旅先宿，右足跌踒。
The shaft snaps, the wheel breaks; the horse leans and the driver falls. The rear travelers lodge before the rest; the right foot is sprained and twisted.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven above the lake, yet the path forward collapses. The cart shaft snaps, the wheel shatters, the horse stumbles and falls, and the traveler injures his right foot. Late arrivals find lodging before the early ones — every order is inverted. This is treading gone catastrophically wrong: the careful step-by-step protocol that Hexagram 10 demands has been abandoned, and chaos results. From Treading to Difficulty at the Beginning, the transformation captures the moment when failed conduct plunges one back into primordial disorder. Thunder stirs beneath gathering clouds, and what should have been an orderly journey becomes a struggle simply to begin again.
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