臨 → 未濟

Commentary

Earth above the lake meets fire above water — Before Completion's unfinished crossing. Appointed to office despite inferior virtue, one loses both ministers and servants. The hunt yields no game; the dogs find nothing to bite. Everything that should produce results fails: leadership without merit, hunting without quarry, hounds without prey. The verse diagnoses the root cause as moral insufficiency — 'ren lie de bo,' ability too slight and virtue too thin. From Approach to Before Completion, the elder's oversight reaches toward a conclusion that never arrives. Fire above water in Wei Ji means the fox's tail gets wet just before reaching the far bank. The unqualified ruler's failure is not bad luck but structural: without adequate virtue, no crossing can be completed.