坤 → 解
Hexagram 2: The Receptive → Hexagram 40: Deliverance
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 2 changing lines (lines 2, 4).
Line 2
六二 直方大。不習无不利。
Six in the second place means: Straight, square, great. Without purpose, Yet nothing remains unfurthered.
Line 4
六四 括囊。无咎无譽。
Six in the fourth place means: A tied-up sack. No blame, no praise.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
北辰紫宮，衣冠立中。含和建德，常受天福。
The Feng and Shan sacrifice at Mount Tai — heaven and earth communicate. Mist gathers on all sides; the sun illuminates the golden summit.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Earth upon earth transforms into thunder above water — Deliverance. The original verse reads: 'The Pole Star dwells in the Purple Palace; robed and crowned, one stands at the center. Embracing harmony and establishing virtue, one constantly receives heaven's blessings.' The Purple Palace (Zigong) is the celestial enclosure around the Pole Star — the emperor's cosmic counterpart, standing motionless while all stars revolve. Thunder and rain, the image of Jie, represent the release of tension — the storm that breaks the drought. From the Receptive to Deliverance, the earth's patient endurance reaches the moment when accumulated pressure dissolves. The centered sovereign who embodies harmony and virtue is precisely the one who can grant pardons and forgive faults — Jie's fundamental act of release and relief.
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