Hexagram 11: Peace → Hexagram 2: The Receptive

Peace
Earth / Heaven
The Receptive
Earth / Earth
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3).

Line 1

初九 拔茅茹。以其彙。征吉。

pulling
máothatch
by the roots
thereby
uprooting its
huìwhole cluster
zhēngto expedite
promising

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 2

九二 包荒。用馮河。不遐遺。朋亡。得尚于中行。

bāoembrace
huāngthe wilderness
yòngpractical
píngto cross
river
avoid
xiáaloofness
neglect
péngcompanions
wángimpermanent
learn
shàngthe value
in
zhōngbalanced
xíngaction

Nine in the second place means: Bearing with the uncultured in gentleness, Fording the river with resolution, Not neglecting what is distant, Not regarding one's companions: Thus one may manage to walk in the middle.

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 EarthThe Creative → The Receptive

Yilin Verse

濟深難渡,濡我衣袴;五子善櫂,脫無他故。

The ford is deep, hard to cross; it soaks my robes and trousers. Five skilled oarsmen ply the sweeps; we escape without mishap.

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

Commentary

Earth above heaven, Peace's communion, opens onto a river crossing fraught with danger. The ford is deep and treacherous; water soaks through garments, clinging to waist and legs. Yet five skilled oarsmen ply their paddles, and the traveler escapes without mishap. The number five may echo the five elements in harmonious alignment, or simply mark a full complement of boatmen working in concert. Wet clothing signals genuine peril — this is no metaphorical crossing but a visceral encounter with overwhelming force. From Peace to the Receptive, the transformation traces how communal support and yielding responsiveness carry one through danger. Earth's boundless capacity to bear is the quiet strength that rescues.

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