坤 → 夬
Hexagram 2: The Receptive → Hexagram 43: Breakthrough
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 5 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
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 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 3
六三 含章可貞。或從王事。无成有終。
Six in the third place means: Hidden lines. One is able to remain persevering. If by chance you are in the service of a king, Seek not works, but bring to completion.
Line 4
六四 括囊。无咎无譽。
Six in the fourth place means: A tied-up sack. No blame, no praise.
Line 5
六五 黃裳。元吉。
Six in the fifth place means: A yellow lower garment brings supreme good fortune.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
一簧兩舌，妄言謬語。三姸成虎，曾母投杼。
One reed, two tongues; reckless words, false speech. Three fabrications make a tiger; Zengzi’s mother throws her shuttle.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Earth upon earth yields to lake above heaven — Breakthrough. A reed pipe with two tongues speaks falsehoods and absurdities. Three beauties conjure a tiger, and Zeng's mother throws down her shuttle. The allusion is precise: three people told Zeng Shen's mother that her son had committed murder. She disbelieved the first two reports, but the third made her cast aside her weaving shuttle and flee. Lake above heaven, the image of Guai, represents decisive breakthrough — a single yin line expelled by five yang lines. From the Receptive to Breakthrough, the earth's indiscriminate reception becomes the breeding ground for slander that accumulates until it breaks through even the strongest trust. The verse warns that repeated falsehood has the force of breakthrough: lies told often enough become indistinguishable from truth.
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