否 → 蠱
Hexagram 12: Standstill → Hexagram 18: Work on the Decayed
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 5).
Line 2
六二 包承。小人吉。大人否。亨。
Six in the second place means: They bear and endure; This means good fortune for inferior people. The standstill serves to help the great man to attain success.
Line 3
六三 包羞。
Six in the third place means: They bear shame.
Line 4
九四 有命无咎。疇離祉。
Nine in the fourth place means: He who acts at the command of the highest Remains without blame. Those of like mind partake of the blessing.
Line 5
九五 休否。大人吉。其亡其亡。繫于苞桑。
Nine in the fifth place means: Standstill is giving way. Good fortune for the great man. "What if it should fail, what if it should fail?" In this way he ties it to a cluster of mulberry shoots.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
鴟鴞破斧，沖人危殆；賴其忠德，轉禍為福，傾危復立。
The owl breaks the axe, imperiling the loyal man. Relying on his faithful virtue, disaster transforms into fortune; the tottering one stands upright again.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven and earth stand apart as the owl threatens and the axe is broken — two Shijing poems layered into a single crisis. 'Chi Xiao' is the Duke of Zhou's ode: an owl menaces the nest, representing enemies threatening the young Zhou state. 'Po Fu' celebrates the eastern campaign that crushed the rebellion of the Three Monitors. The verse combines destruction and salvation: the owl attacks and the axe shatters, placing the loyal man in mortal danger, yet through his steadfast virtue the disaster becomes a blessing and the tottering state stands firm again. From Standstill to Work on the Decayed, stagnation transforms into the wind trapped beneath the mountain — corruption that must be confronted and repaired through moral renewal.
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