蠱 → 蹇
Hexagram 18: Work on the Decayed → Hexagram 39: Obstruction
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 5, 6).
Line 2
九二 幹母之蠱。不可貞。
Nine in the second place means: Setting right what has been spoiled by the mother. One must not be too persevering.
Line 5
六五 幹父之蠱。用譽。
Six in the fifth place means: Setting right what has been spoiled by the father. One meets with praise.
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
執蕡炤犧，為風所吹；火滅無光，不見玄黃。
Holding a hemp torch to illuminate the sacrifice; it is blown out by the wind. The fire dies and there is no light -- one cannot see dark from bright.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind beneath the mountain extinguishes the guiding flame, and the transformation freezes into water upon the mountain — the impassable Obstruction. Holding a hemp torch to illuminate the sacrificial beast, the wind blows it out. The fire dies and all light vanishes; one cannot distinguish dark from bright. The ritual is ruined: the sacrificial fire, meant to connect human and divine, is snuffed by the very wind that should ventilate the mountain's corruption. From Work on the Decayed to Obstruction, the path forward is blocked by the very forces meant to clear it. Water atop the mountain cannot flow downward — one must turn back and cultivate inner virtue before attempting the crossing again.
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