豫 → 大壯
Hexagram 16: Enthusiasm → Hexagram 34: Great Power
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3).
Line 1
初六 鳴豫。凶。
Six at the beginning means: Enthusiasm that expresses itself Brings misfortune.
Line 2
六二 介于石。不終日。貞吉。
Six in the second place means: Firm as a rock. Not a whole day. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Line 3
六三 盱豫悔。遲有悔。
Six in the third place means: Enthusiasm that looks upward creates remorse. Hesitation brings remorse.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
過時不歸,雌雄苦悲;徘徊外國,與叔分離。
Past the season and not returning; male and female grieve bitterly. Wandering in a foreign land, parted from kin.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Thunder rises from the earth, but the season for return has passed. Male and female birds grieve their separation; one wanders among foreign states, parted from a beloved uncle or brother. The verse evokes exile — someone who missed the moment to come home and now drifts in sorrow abroad. The paired birds' mourning intensifies the human pain of familial separation. From Enthusiasm to Great Power, the irony cuts deep. Thunder roars above heaven in Great Power, the image of overwhelming force and propriety observed. Yet the exile possesses none of this: no power to return, no ritual framework to rejoin the family. Enthusiasm that fails to act in time forfeits the very strength it celebrates, and Great Power becomes a mocking mirror of what was lost.
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