臨 → 恆
Hexagram 19: Approach → Hexagram 32: Duration
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 1, 3, 4).
Line 1
初九 咸臨貞吉。
Nine at the beginning means: Joint approach. Perseverance brings good fortune.
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.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
蝗螟為賊，傷害稼穡；愁飢於年，農夫鮮食。
Locusts and borers turn to brigands, ravaging crops and grain; the year brings dread of famine -- the farmer has scarcely a morsel to eat.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Earth above the lake meets thunder and wind together — Duration's persistent rhythm. Locusts and caterpillars become plagues, ravaging crops and grain. The year is spent in anxious hunger; the farmer has little to eat. The insects embody the dark side of Duration: natural cycles that persist relentlessly include cycles of destruction. Locusts return season after season with mechanical regularity. From Approach to Duration, the elder's generous provision confronts nature's indifferent repetition. Thunder and wind reinforce each other perpetually — but perpetuity applies to blight as well as blessing. The farmer's plight reveals that endurance without intervention is merely prolonged suffering, and the constant way includes hardship as surely as harvest.
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