臨 → 咸
Hexagram 19: Approach → Hexagram 31: Influence
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
Line 1
初九 咸臨貞吉。
Nine at the beginning means: Joint approach. Perseverance brings good fortune.
Line 2
九二 咸臨吉。无不利。
Nine in the second place means: Joint approach. Good fortune. Everything furthers.
Line 3
六三 甘臨。无攸利。既憂之。无咎。
Six in the third place means: Comfortable approach. Nothing that would further. If one is induced to grieve over it, One becomes free of blame.
Line 4
六四 至臨。无咎。
Six in the fourth place means: Complete approach. No blame.
Line 5
六五 知臨。大君之宜。吉。
Six in the fifth place means: Wise approach. This is right for a great prince. Good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
泱泱沸溢,水泉為害,使我無賴。
Waters surging and boiling over; the springs become a bane, leaving me destitute.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Earth above the lake meets the lake gathered upon the mountain — Influence's mutual attraction. Yet the waters here are not gentle: vast and boiling over, springs and floods become a scourge, leaving one destitute. The lake that should nurture instead erupts, overwhelming what it touches. From Approach to Influence, mutual attraction turns destructive when feeling overflows all containment. The lake atop the mountain in Xian should moisten the summit gently — but this verse shows what happens when emotion boils over: the very receptivity that enables connection becomes a flood that strips away all resources. Influence without measure is indistinguishable from catastrophe.
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