觀 → 乾
Hexagram 20: Contemplation → Hexagram 1: The Creative
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 1, 2, 3, 4).
Line 1
初六 童觀。小人无咎。君子吝。
Six at the beginning means: Boy like contemplation. For an inferior man, no blame. For a superior man, humiliation.
Line 2
六二 闚觀。利女貞。
Six in the second place means: Contemplation through the crack of the door. Furthering for the perseverance of a woman.
Line 3
六三 觀我生進退。
Six in the third place means: Contemplation of my life Decides the choice Between advance and retreat.
Line 4
六四 觀國之光。利用賓于王。
Six in the fourth place means: Contemplation of the light of the kingdom. It furthers one to exert influence as the guest of a king.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
蜎飛蠕動，各有所配；歡悅相逢，咸得其處。
Winged insects and creeping things, each finds its destined mate; joyfully they meet and converge -- all find their proper place.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind sweeps across the earth, the gaze of Contemplation surveying all that moves. Wriggling insects and soaring birds each find their proper mate; joyful meetings end with every creature settled in its rightful place. The verse presents a cosmological vision of natural harmony where pairing is effortless and universal — the mating of all species proceeds not by command but by innate resonance. No force is needed because the ordering principle is already at work in nature itself. From Contemplation to the Creative, observation ripens into self-generating initiative: what begins as patient watching discovers the heaven-driven vitality that animates all living things, each moving toward its destined counterpart without coercion.
The Six Lines app includes all 4,096 Yilin verses, each with original ink brush artwork and full commentary. Download on the App Store