大有 → 困
Hexagram 14: Great Possession → Hexagram 47: Oppression
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 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 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
膚敏之德，發憤忘食；虎豹禽說，為王求福。
A keen and diligent virtue; so engrossed he forgets to eat. Tigers and leopards are captured and persuaded; he seeks blessings for the king.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
A person of keen intelligence and swift virtue throws himself into learning so intensely he forgets to eat. Tigers and leopards are captured and tamed, enlisted to seek blessings for the king. The phrase 'forgetting to eat in passionate pursuit' directly echoes Confucius's self-description in the Analects. The taming of fierce beasts adds a political dimension: wild forces brought under disciplined control to serve the sovereign. From Great Possession to Oppression, fire above heaven becomes lake above water — the drained marsh, exhaustion. Yet the verse shows how one navigates oppression: through devotion so total it transcends physical privation. The ardent scholar forgets hunger; the tamed beasts serve willingly. Oppression is endured through unswerving commitment to purpose.
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