Hexagram 11: Peace → Hexagram 19: Approach

Peace
Earth / Heaven
Approach
Earth / Lake
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 1 changing line (line 3).

Line 3

九三 无平不陂。无往不復。艱貞无咎。勿恤其孚。于食有福。

there is not
pínglevel
without
slope
there is no
wǎnggoing
without
return
jiāndifficult
zhēnto persist
without
jiùmistake
do not
worry
these
certainties
in
shínourishment
yǒufind
happiness

Nine in the third place means: No plain not followed by a slope. No going not followed by a return. He who remains persevering in danger Is without blame. Do not complain about this truth; Enjoy the good fortune you still possess.

Trigram Changes

Upper TrigramEarth Earth
Lower TrigramHeaven LakeThe Creative → The Joyous

Yilin Verse

舉被覆目,不見日月;衣裘簟床,就長夜室。

Pulling the quilt over the eyes, seeing neither sun nor moon. Clad in furs upon the mat and bed, one enters the chamber of the long night.

— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE

Commentary

Earth above heaven, Peace's light is deliberately extinguished. A quilt is pulled over the eyes, blocking out sun and moon entirely. Dressed in fur robes upon a bamboo mat, the figure enters the chamber of the long night — a euphemism for the burial room. This is a funeral scene: the deceased is laid out in full garment, sight and light sealed away forever. The verse's tone is ritual rather than tragic, recording the rites of preparation with somber precision. From Peace to Approach, earth above the lake — authority descends to meet what lies below. The transformation captures the paradox of death as the ultimate approach: the living descend toward the dead, and governance of the unseen realm begins.

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