觀 → 困
Hexagram 20: Contemplation → Hexagram 47: Oppression
Changing Lines
This transformation involves 3 changing lines (lines 2, 4, 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 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.
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
三虫作蠱，削跡無與；勝母盜泉，君不安處。
Three worms breed pestilence, traces obliterated and companions lost; at the hamlet called Shengmu and the spring called Daoqan -- the noble man finds no safe abode.
— Jiao Yanshou, Yilin (Forest of Changes), 1st century BCE
Commentary
Wind over earth watches corruption consume a household from within. Three venomous worms breed decay, trails vanish, and no one comes near. The verse then invokes the allusion of 'Overcoming-Mother' hamlet and 'Robber's Spring' — places so inauspiciously named that a gentleman refuses to enter one or drink from the other, upholding moral caution even against appearances. The gentleman cannot dwell at ease in such contaminated ground. Lake over water forms Oppression, where water drains beneath the lake, leaving emptiness above. From Contemplation to Oppression, observation discovers a landscape of total moral depletion: the water has drained away, the names themselves repel the virtuous, and the worms consume what remains.
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