履 → 大壯
Hexagram 10: Treading → Hexagram 34: Great Power
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 3, 5, 6).
Line 3
六三 眇能視。跛能履。履虎尾。咥人凶。武人為于大君。
Six in the third place means: A one-eyed man is able to see, A lame man is able to tread. He treads on the tail of the tiger. The tiger bites the man. Misfortune. Thus does a warrior act on behalf of his great prince.
Line 5
九五 夬履。貞厲。
Nine in the fifth place means: Resolute conduct. Perseverance with awareness of danger.
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
虺蝮所聚，難以居處；毒螫痛甚，瘡不可愈。
Where vipers and adders gather; it is hard to dwell or stay. The venomous stings bring terrible pain; the wounds cannot be healed.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven above the lake, yet venomous serpents cluster in every direction. Vipers and pit snakes gather so thickly that the place is uninhabitable. The stings burn unbearably, and the wounds will not heal. This is Treading at its most lethal — not a single misstep on the tiger's tail, but an environment so saturated with danger that no amount of careful conduct can ensure safety. From Treading to Great Power, thunder crashes above heaven. The transformation suggests that brute strength may be the only answer when the terrain itself is poisonous. Yet Great Power also counsels restraint: the gentleman does not tread where propriety forbids, even when he has the strength to force passage.
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