蠱 → 大壯
Hexagram 18: Work on the Decayed → Hexagram 34: Great Power
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 4, 6).
Line 1
初六 幹父之蠱。有子。考无咎。厲終吉。
Six in the beginning means: Setting right what has been spoiled by the father. If there is a son, No blame rests upon the departed father. Danger. In the end good fortune.
Line 4
六四 裕父之蠱。往見吝。
Six in the fourth place means: Tolerating what has been spoiled by the father. In continuing one sees humiliation.
Line 6
上九 不事王侯。高尚其事。
Nine at the top means: He does not serve kings and princes, Sets himself higher goals.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
陰變為陽，女化為男；治道得通，君臣相承。
Yin transforms into yang; the female changes to male. The way of governance opens; lord and minister succeed one another.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind beneath the mountain reverses polarities, and the transformation charges into thunder roaring above heaven — Great Power. Yin transforms into yang; the female changes into the male. The way of governance finds its passage, and ruler and minister sustain one another. The verse celebrates a fundamental reversal: what was passive becomes active, what was blocked now flows. The gender-transformation imagery signals not literal change but a restoration of dynamic force — the corrupted order shaking off its lethargy. From Work on the Decayed to Great Power, stagnation explodes into vigor. Thunder above heaven is power at its most manifest: the restored polarity between ruler and minister generates the momentum that drives the state forward again.
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