謙 → 噬嗑
Hexagram 15: Modesty → Hexagram 21: Biting Through
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4, 6).
Line 1
初六 謙謙君子。用涉大川。吉。
Six at the beginning means: A superior man modest about his modesty May cross the great water. Good fortune.
Line 3
九三 勞謙君子。有終吉。
Nine in the third place means: A superior man of modesty and merit Carries things to conclusion. Good fortune.
Line 4
六四 无不利撝謙。
Six in the fourth place means: Nothing that would not further modesty In movement.
Line 6
上六 鳴謙。利用行師。征邑國。
Six at the top means: Modesty that comes to expression. It is favorable to set armies marching To chastise one's own city and one's country.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
周師伐紂，戰於牧野；甲子平旦，天下悅喜。
The Zhou army attacks the tyrant Zhou; they battle at the Wilds of Mu. On the jiazi morning at dawn; all under heaven is pleased and joyful.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Earth holds the mountain in modesty, and now King Wu's forces march against the tyrant Zhou of Shang, fighting at the Shepherds' Wild. On the jiazi dawn — the auspicious cyclical day recorded in the Book of Documents — battle is joined and the world rejoices. The Battle of Muye was the decisive engagement that ended the Shang dynasty and founded the Zhou. From Modesty to Biting Through, fire and thunder combine in judicial force — the image of punishing what obstructs, clearing the obstacle between the jaws. The tyrant is the obstruction; Wu's army bites through it. Modesty's patient accumulation of virtue over generations — from King Wen's imprisonment through to the final campaign — culminates in a single decisive stroke of righteous force.
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