Hexagram 12: Standstill → Hexagram 38: Opposition

Standstill
Heaven / Earth
Opposition
Fire / Lake
Changing LinesStable Lines

Changing Lines

This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 5).

Line 1

初六 拔茅茹。以其彙。貞吉。亨。

pulling
máothatch
by the roots
thereby
uprooting its
huìwhole cluster
zhēnpersistence
promising
hēngfulfilling

Six at the beginning means: When ribbon grass is pulled up, the sod comes with it. Each according to his kind. Perseverance brings good fortune and success.

Line 2

六二 包承。小人吉。大人否。亨。

bāoembrace
chéngassignments
xiǎolesser
rénone's
promise
mature
rénhuman being's
negated
hēngfulfillment

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 5

九五 休否。大人吉。其亡其亡。繫于苞桑。

xiūretiring from
the separation
mature
rénhuman being
promise
this
wángpasses
that
wángpasses
secured
with
bāothe seedlings
sāngof mulberry

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

Upper TrigramHeaven FireThe Creative → The Clinging
Lower TrigramEarth LakeThe Receptive → The Joyous

Yilin Verse

野鳥山鵲,來集六博;三鳥四散,主人勝客。

Wild birds and magpies come to gather at the gaming board. Three birds scatter in every direction; the host defeats the guest.

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

Commentary

Heaven and earth refuse to mingle as wild birds and mountain magpies gather around a liubo game board. Three birds scatter in all directions, and the host defeats the guest. Liubo was a popular Han-dynasty board game of strategy and chance; the birds playing it suggest a contest of wits among unlikely participants. From Standstill to Opposition, Pi's stagnation meets fire above and lake below — energies moving apart. Kui's image is differentiation: things that diverge can still cooperate. The scattering of three birds while the host wins suggests that opposition resolves through strategic clarity: the home player reads the board better than the visitors. In Pi's blocked world, Opposition offers the insight that divergence is not defeat — the wise player turns separation to advantage.

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