謙 → 大畜
Hexagram 15: Modesty → Hexagram 26: Great Taming
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 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 2
六二 鳴謙。貞吉。
Six in the second place means: Modesty that comes to expression. Perseverance brings good fortune.
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
目不可合，憂來搖足；悚惕為懼，去我邦域。
Eyes cannot close; worry comes and the feet fidget. Trembling with fear and dread; one departs from the homeland.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Earth holds the mountain, yet eyes cannot close, and worry makes the feet twitch restlessly. Fear and trembling seize the heart, driving one to flee the homeland. The verse portrays sleepless anxiety escalating into exile — a visceral image of someone whose body betrays their terror before the mind decides to run. From Modesty to Great Taming, heaven is stored within the mountain, and the noble one studies the words and deeds of the ancients. Yet here the mountain that should contain and discipline becomes a prison of accumulated dread. The transformation suggests that what is tamed inwardly can become unbearable: heaven pressed into the mountain generates pressure that erupts as panic. Great Taming demands the capacity to hold enormous force; when that capacity fails, flight is the only relief.
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