觀 → 升
Hexagram 20: Contemplation → Hexagram 46: Pushing Upward
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 4 changing lines (lines 2, 3, 5, 6).
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 5
九五 觀我生。君子无咎。
Nine in the fifth place means: Contemplation of my life. The superior man is without blame.
Line 6
上九 觀其生。君子无咎。
Nine at the top means: Contemplation of his life. The superior man is without blame.
Trigram Changes
Yilin Verse
清人高子，久屯野外；逍遙不歸，思我慈母。
The men of Qing under Gao, long encamped in the open fields; roaming at ease, they do not return -- longing for my dear mother.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind over earth observes idle soldiers longing for home. The Men of Qing under Commander Gao — the garrison of the Shijing ode 'Qing Ren' — linger endlessly on the frontier, whiling away time without purpose. They wander but never return, and the soldier thinks of his kind mother far away. The Shijing poem satirizes Duke Wen of Zheng for stationing Gao Ke's troops at the border with no mission, wasting military strength on an idle garrison. Earth over wind forms Pushing Upward, which rises gradually through sustained effort. From Contemplation to Pushing Upward, the contrast bites: the hexagram of methodical ascent meets men stuck in purposeless stagnation. Their potential energy, never directed upward, dissipates into homesickness.
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