蠱 → 既濟
Hexagram 18: Work on the Decayed → Hexagram 63: After Completion
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 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 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
湧泉汩汩，南流不絕；壞敗邑里，家無所處。
A spring gushes and bubbles, flowing south without end; it wrecks and ruins the village -- no household can remain.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind beneath the mountain releases the underground springs, and the transformation arrives as water above fire — the precarious balance of After Completion. A bubbling spring surges forth, flowing south without end. It ruins the towns and villages; households have nowhere to dwell. The spring that should nourish instead destroys — uncontrolled water flooding settlements and displacing families. From Work on the Decayed to After Completion, the warning is pointed: even when all elements are in their proper positions (water above fire), the balance is fragile. The hexagram counsel is to 'anticipate trouble and guard against it.' The spring's destructive overflow shows that completion without vigilance slides immediately back into decay — the cycle threatening to begin again.
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