坤 → 頤
Hexagram 2: The Receptive → Hexagram 27: Nourishment
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 1, 6).
Line 1
初六 履霜堅冰至。
Six at the beginning means: When there is hoarfrost underfoot, Solid ice is not far off.
Line 6
上六 龍戰于野。其血玄黃。
Six at the top means: Dragons fight in the meadow. Their blood is black and yellow.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
自衛反魯，時不我與。冰炭異室，仁道隔塞。
Returning from Wei to Lu; the times do not favor me. Ice and charcoal in separate rooms; the way of benevolence is blocked.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Earth upon earth yields to mountain above thunder — Nourishment. Returning to Lu from the state of Wei, the time has not favored me. Ice and charcoal dwell in separate rooms; the Way of benevolence is blocked. This directly alludes to Confucius, who traveled from Wei back to Lu lamenting that the age refused his teachings. Ice and charcoal in separate chambers — incompatible substances that cannot coexist — capture the sage's isolation from the political order he sought to nourish. Mountain above thunder, the image of Yi, depicts the mouth: careful about what enters and exits. From the Receptive to Nourishment, the earth that should sustain the sage instead starves him. Confucius's frustrated return embodies nourishment denied — the moral food he offered rejected by a world that preferred its own poison.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store