豫 → 觀
Hexagram 16: Enthusiasm → Hexagram 20: Contemplation
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 4, 5, 6).
Line 4
九四 由豫。大有得。勿疑。朋盍簪。
Nine in the fourth place means: The source of enthusiasm. He achieves great things. Doubt not. You gather friends around you As a hair clasp gathers the hair.
Line 5
六五 貞疾。恆不死。
Six in the fifth place means: Persistently ill, and still does not die.
Line 6
上六 冥豫。成有渝。无咎。
Six at the top means: Deluded enthusiasm. But if after completion one changes, There is no blame.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
十里望烟，散渙四方；形容滅亡，終不見君。
Gazing at smoke ten li away, it scatters in four directions; form and figure vanish -- in the end the lord is never seen.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder breaks from the earth, but what rises is only smoke — visible from ten miles off, dissolving in all four directions. Forms vanish into nothing; in the end, the lord is never seen again. The verse paints a scene of dissolution: a signal fire or burning camp that produces only dispersing haze, no solid presence. From Enthusiasm to Contemplation, the transformation is hauntingly precise. Contemplation's image is wind moving over the earth, the ancient king touring his realm to observe the people. But here there is nothing left to observe — only scattering smoke where substance once stood. Enthusiasm that produces no lasting form becomes mere spectacle, witnessed from a distance and soon forgotten.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store