履 → 蒙
Hexagram 10: Treading → Hexagram 4: Youthful Folly
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 4, 5).
Line 1
初九 素履往。无咎。
Nine at the beginning means: Simple conduct. Progress without blame.
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 5
九五 夬履。貞厲。
Nine in the fifth place means: Resolute conduct. Perseverance with awareness of danger.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
兩人相絆，相與悖戾；心不同爭，訟忷忷然。
Two men entangled together, perverse and contrary toward each other. Hearts at odds, they quarrel; their lawsuit rages furiously.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven above the lake demands clear distinctions, but here two people entangle each other in mutual obstruction. Hearts disagree, resentment festers, and quarrelsome litigation erupts noisily on all sides. The verse captures the antithesis of Treading's ideal: instead of recognizing hierarchy and conducting oneself with care, both parties cling to grievance and neither yields an inch. The cacophony of 'xiongxiong' — the onomatopoeia for angry clamor — underscores how completely decorum has collapsed. From Treading to Youthful Folly, the transformation reveals how failed conduct breeds confusion. Mountain spring water emerges below but cannot yet find its course — the disputants lack the wisdom to see beyond their own positions, trapped in the fog of immaturity where every conflict seems equally urgent and no teacher has yet appeared to show the way.
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