履 → 鼎
Hexagram 10: Treading → Hexagram 50: The Cauldron
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 5).
Line 1
初九 素履往。无咎。
Nine at the beginning means: Simple conduct. Progress without blame.
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
履虎躡蛇，貶損我威；君子失車，去其國家。
Treading on the tiger, stepping on the serpent; my authority is diminished and damaged. The noble man loses his carriage; departing from his state and home.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven above the lake — one treads on the tiger and steps upon the snake, and authority is diminished. The gentleman loses his carriage and departs his homeland. This verse directly invokes Hexagram 10's defining image: 'treading on the tiger's tail.' But here the walker also tramples a snake, doubling the peril. The result is exile — loss of vehicle (status) and country. The verse dramatizes the worst outcome of failed conduct in a world of predatory power. From Treading to the Cauldron, fire blazes above wind-fed wood, transforming raw material into sacred offering. Even from disgrace, something can be refined — but only through the fire of total remaking, not through return to the old path.
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