否 → 井
Hexagram 12: Standstill → Hexagram 48: The Well
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 4, 6).
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 6
上九 傾否。先否後喜。
Nine at the top means: The standstill comes to an end. First standstill, then good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
杜口結舌，心中怫鬱；凶災生患，無所告冤。
Mouth shut, tongue tied; the heart seethes within. Fierce disaster breeds calamity; there is no one to tell the wrong.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven and earth stand sealed as one shuts the mouth and ties the tongue, heart churning with suppressed anguish. Calamity breeds disaster, and there is nowhere to plead one's grievance. From Standstill to The Well, Pi's blocked world meets water drawn up by wood — Jing's image of the community well that serves all who come. Yet the verse is The Well's negation: the well that should give voice and sustenance is sealed. The tongue is tied, the mouth is shut, and the wronged person has no court of appeal. Jing counsels that 'the gentleman encourages the people and urges mutual aid,' but when speech itself is forbidden, the well's rope is cut. The water exists below; the bucket simply cannot reach it.
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