大有 → 坎
Hexagram 14: Great Possession → Hexagram 29: The Abysmal Water
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 5, 6).
Line 1
初九 无交害。匪咎。艱則无咎。
Nine at the beginning means: No relationship with what is harmful; There is no blame in this. If one remains conscious of difficulty, One remains without blame.
Line 3
九三 公用亨于天子。小人弗克 。
Nine in the third place means: A prince offers it to the Son of Heaven. A petty man cannot do this.
Line 4
九四 匪其彭。无咎。
Nine in the fourth place means: He makes a difference Between himself and his neighbor. No blame.
Line 5
六五 厥孚交如。威如。吉。
Six in the fifth place means: He whose truth is accessible, yet dignified, Has good fortune.
Line 6
上九 自天祐之。吉无不利。
Nine at the top means: He is blessed by heaven. Good fortune. Nothing that does not further.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
天地九重，堯舜履中；正冠垂裳，宇宙平康。
Heaven and earth in nine tiers; Yao and Shun walk the middle way. Straightening the crown, letting robes hang; the cosmos is level and at peace.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Heaven and earth extend through nine layers, and Yao and Shun tread the middle path. They straighten their caps and let their robes hang long, and the cosmos rests in peace and health. The verse celebrates the most idealized vision of sage governance: Yao and Shun, the legendary paragons, need only dress properly and stand in the center for the world to order itself. The image echoes the Confucian ideal of ruling by moral example alone. From Great Possession to The Abysmal, fire over heaven enters doubled water, the deepest peril. Yet the verse describes perfect serenity. The connection lies in constancy: only the sage who has mastered inner virtue can navigate the abyss with the composure of Yao and Shun. Constant practice and repeated teaching — the Abysmal's counsel — is what makes such serenity possible.
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