泰 → 蠱
Hexagram 11: Peace → Hexagram 18: Work on the Decayed
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 6).
Line 1
初九 拔茅茹。以其彙。征吉。
Nine at the beginning means: When ribbon grass is pulled up, the sod comes with it. Each according to his kind. Undertakings bring good fortune.
Line 6
上六 城復于隍。勿用師。自邑告命。貞吝。
Six at the top means: The wall falls back into the moat. Use no army now. Make your commands known within your own town. Perseverance brings humiliation.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
敏捷敬疾，如猨升木；彤弓雖調，終不能獲。
Nimble and swift as a gibbon climbing a tree. Though the vermillion bow is tuned, in the end it cannot catch its quarry.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Earth above heaven, Peace confronts an elusive quarry. The target moves with startling agility — nimble and swift as an ape scaling a tree. Though the vermilion bow is drawn and tuned, it cannot secure the catch. Speed and skill are insufficient when the prey is simply more agile than the hunter. The verse does not moralize; it simply records the frustration of a well-prepared effort that meets a more capable adversary. From Peace to Work on the Decayed, wind stirs beneath the mountain, disturbing stagnation. The transformation suggests that when direct pursuit fails, one must address the underlying rot — not chase the symptom but repair the structure.
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