謙 → 益
Hexagram 15: Modesty → Hexagram 42: Increase
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 5, 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 5
六五 不富以其鄰。利用侵伐。无不利。
Six in the fifth place means: No boasting of wealth before one's neighbor. It is favorable to attack with force. Nothing that would not further.
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
狡兔趯趯，良犬逐咋；雄雉受害，為鷹所獲。
The cunning hare zigzags and leaps; the fine hound snaps at its heels. The rooster pheasant meets its fate; captured by the hawk.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Earth holds the mountain still, but the field erupts into a hunt. The cunning rabbit leaps and bounds, the fine hound gives chase and snaps, the cock pheasant suffers harm, seized by the hawk. This is nature's hierarchy of predation laid bare — each creature both hunter and hunted in an escalating chain. From Modesty to Increase, wind and thunder reinforce each other, the noble one seeing good and emulating it, seeing faults and correcting them. The verse complicates Increase's benign image: increase for the hawk means decrease for the pheasant. The hunt reveals that the natural world's 'increase' operates through competitive pursuit, and the modest one who understands this dynamic can position wisely rather than becoming prey.
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