蠱 → 夬
Hexagram 18: Work on the Decayed → Hexagram 43: Breakthrough
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 4, 5, 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 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
季秋孟冬，寒露霜降；大陰在庭，品物不生。雞犬夜鳴，家擾數驚。
Late autumn, early winter; cold dew, frost descending. Great yin fills the courtyard; living things cease to grow. Roosters and dogs cry in the night; the household is startled again and again.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind beneath the mountain descends into killing frost, and the transformation surges as the lake rising above heaven — the decisive Breakthrough of Guai. Late autumn, early winter: cold dew and frost descend. Great yin fills the courtyard; the myriad creatures cease to grow. Roosters and dogs cry in the night; the household is repeatedly startled. The seasonal imagery of the execution season — when ancient law mandated punishments be carried out — pervades the verse. The nocturnal alarm of animals signals impending crisis. From Work on the Decayed to Breakthrough, the accumulated corruption must be cut away decisively. The lake overflowing heaven is judgment reaching its climax: what has festered in darkness is finally exposed and purged, though the process is violent and unsettling.
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