泰 → 蹇
Hexagram 11: Peace → Hexagram 39: Obstruction
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 5).
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 5
六五 帝乙歸妹。以祉元吉。
Six in the fifth place means: The sovereign I Gives his daughter in marriage. This brings blessing And supreme good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
居如轉丸，危不得安；東西不寧，動生憂患。
Dwelling is like a rolling ball; danger allows no peace. East and west find no rest; every move breeds worry and trouble.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Earth above heaven, Peace rendered unstable as a rolling ball. One's dwelling spins like a marble, danger permits no rest. East and west alike offer no tranquility; every movement generates fresh anxiety. The image of living upon a rolling sphere captures radical instability — not a single catastrophic event but a perpetual absence of firm ground. From Peace to Obstruction, water pools atop the mountain, blocking the path forward. The transformation deepens the predicament: the rolling instability of Peace becomes the frozen impasse of Obstruction, where the gentleman turns inward to cultivate virtue because no outward movement is possible. When the ground itself will not hold still, the only stability is internal.
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