坤 → 漸
Hexagram 2: The Receptive → Hexagram 53: Development
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 3, 5, 6).
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 5
六五 黃裳。元吉。
Six in the fifth place means: A yellow lower garment brings supreme good fortune.
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
探懷得蚤,無有凶憂。所願失道,善居漸好。
Reaching into the robe, finding only a flea; yet no ill omen follows. What was wished for strays from the path, but a good dwelling gradually improves.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Earth upon earth yields to wind above mountain — Development. One reaches into one's breast and finds a flea — no cause for alarm. What was hoped for has missed its mark, but dwelling in patience, things gradually improve. Wind atop the mountain, the image of Jian, depicts trees growing slowly on the mountainside — development by degrees, like the wild goose's measured approach. The verse begins with a small, comic relief: a flea discovered is merely a flea, not a crisis. The larger wish has gone astray, but the counsel is to stay put and let time work. From the Receptive to Development, the earth's instant availability becomes the mountain's slow, organic growth. Jian forbids rushing; what improves does so gradually, like a tree on a ridge exposed to steady wind.
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