泰 → 剝
Hexagram 11: Peace → Hexagram 23: Splitting Apart
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 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 2
九二 包荒。用馮河。不遐遺。朋亡。得尚于中行。
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。
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.
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
淵涸龍憂，箕子為奴；午叔隕命，殷破其家。
The pool dries up, the dragon grieves; Jizi is made a slave. Wu Shu loses his life; Yin shatters its own house.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Earth above heaven, Peace drains away as the pool runs dry and the dragon despairs. Jizi, the Viscount of Ji, uncle of the Shang tyrant Zhou, is reduced to slavery — feigning madness to survive his nephew's murderous court. 'Wu Shu' likely refers to Bigan (比干), another uncle of King Zhou, who was disemboweled for his remonstrance. Yin is shattered and its ruling house destroyed. The verse catalogs the final collapse of the Shang dynasty through its three loyal ministers' fates. From Peace to Splitting Apart, the mountain crumbles upon the earth. The transformation mirrors the dynasty's disintegration: what was once elevated is stripped layer by layer until nothing remains.
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