未濟

Hexagram 11: Peace → Hexagram 64: Before Completion

Peace
Earth / Heaven
䷿
未濟
Before Completion
Fire / Water
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 6).

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 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.

Line 4

六四 翩翩。不富以其鄰。不戒以孚。

piānfluttering
piānfluttering
no
enrichment
making use of
one's
línneighbors
avoid
jièlimit
the ways
trust

Six in the fourth place means: He flutters down, not boasting of his wealth, Together with his neighbor, Guileless and sincere.

Line 6

上六 城復于隍。勿用師。自邑告命。貞吝。

chéngthe city walls
falls back
into
huángthe moat (a dry ditch at the base of a wall)
do not
yòngengage
shīthe military
in
home town
gàoannounce
mìngthe decree
zhēnto persist
lìnembarrassing

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

Upper TrigramEarth FireThe Receptive → The Clinging
Lower TrigramHeaven WaterThe Creative → The Deep

Yilin Verse

實沈參墟,以義討尤;次止結盟,以成霸功。

Shi Chen and the Shen constellation, by righteousness they punish the offender. Halting to form an alliance; thereby they achieve a hegemon's glory.

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

Commentary

Earth above heaven, Peace ratified through astral mandate and alliance. 'Shichen at the Shen constellation's field' invokes the Zuo Zhuan tradition (Duke Zhao Year 1): Shichen, son of the high god Gaoxin, presided over the Shen star, which became the astral patron of the state of Jin. 'By righteousness the offender is punished' — just war is waged under heaven's sanction. The armies halt, a covenant is sealed, and hegemonic achievement follows. From Peace to Before Completion, fire hovers above water, and the gentleman discerns things to place them properly. The transformation shows that even a triumphant alliance remains a work in progress: the covenant is signed, but the final crossing is yet to be made.

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